Another hypoglycemia attack - Am I doing something Wrong?
 

I posted a while back that my baby Murphy had a hypoglycemia attack. I got tons of feedback about getting him the Nutri-cal and also getting him to free feed. I have done both of those things and he had another attack last night. My routine is as follows: I feed him hard kibble in the AM with Nutri-cal on it so he will eat it - he gets free fed all afternoon while I am at work and than when I come home I give him a thing of wet food and he even gets snacks in between. Can someone tell me if there is something I am doing wrong or if I could be doing something else to prevent this? I hate seeing him crash like he did last night but I do not know what else I could do. He is currently just over 6 months old and weighs 4 pounds. Thanks so much for the advice and help.

So sorry to hear. CAli had 3 episodes of hypoglycemia despite my doing everything. 2 were bad enough she had to go into ER hospital. She finally grew out of it at about 6 1/2 months. Istill feed her 3 times a day and she is going to be 1 year old. Have you had blood work done on her? I would.

When Diesel was a baby I used to keep some kayro syrup in his water. I was always scared of his sugar getting so low. Hope he feels better soon.

Michelle

Have they checked his liver yet????? It seems like you are doing everything right. I would definately have the vet check him out.

Patti -

No I have not had blood work on him yet. The vet said he does not think he needs that but just said these little ones were susceptible to this kind of thing. I really feel like he is getting the nutrients he needs so that is why I am confused on why he does this every now and than. Sounds like this is just something I might have to learn to deal with until he grows out of it if he ever does. Thanks for the advice.

How do you know if your pup is having a hypoglycemic attack? I assume lethargy would be one symptom - is that right? If so, how is it different from the way a puppy runs and plays until it's exhausted and then just drops where it is to sleep a while?

I don't think Bailey has any problems, but it's good to know.

My first Lucy had hypoglycemia attacks. The doctor had us feeding her every 2 hours around the clock for 4 weeks and then we went to every 3 hours for two weeks and then went to every 4 hours for two weeks..... You need to get your pups blood sugar checked. According to how low the blood sugar is; is according how ofter your bay needs to be fed. It';s hard work but it's worth it in the end

Oh yea, we were feeding Lucy baby food.... Gerber chicken or beef.... anykind of meat babyfood. Once she was in the clean the we worked in soft dog food and then hard food.

Good luck and let me know how things are giong....

Feel free to PM me if you need to talk or have any other questions...

It can be a long road but it's sooooo worth it when you no longer ahve to wake up int he middle of the night to feed them.

Crystal

I would definately get a vet check...get another vet's opinion if your vet says that there's nothing wrong. They are supposed to grow out of it by 6 months or by the time they reach 2lbs. Something seems fishy. Please keep us updated! Hope your little one feels better soon!

I know because the breeder I received him from told me about this and I have read up on it a bunch. He acts completely different from when he is tiered. He almost acts DRUNK. His heads starts wobbling like a wobble doll and he can barely walk a straight like. It is very scary so if you have never had a problem with this or never do - you are one lucky person. :)

You neevr want a puppy to go into a full attack.... It's very scary.... They will start siezing and getting sick all over themselves. That is when nutra-cal or karon syrup come in real handy. When a puppy actually goes into an attack then they need to be taken to the vet to be put on ivs.....The karo syrup will just get their blood sugar back high and keep them going until you get them to the vet. You can also give the nutra-cal aor karo syrup through different times of the day. Just very small amounts though. You don't want your blood sugar racing at one minute and then when the syrup run off then your right back down... The best thing for hypoglycemia pups is baby food around the clock until the are strong enough to not need it.

Crystal

I just sent an e-mail to the breeder to see if she has any suggestions but I am thinking along the lines of one of the last responses and having some blood work done or a more inclusive exam from the vet. Thanks for all the suggestions. Sugar in his water might not be a bad idea either just for an extra umf! Thanks guys!

Thank you Des! He has only had it happen now 2 times but still that is 2 times too many - ya know. It is very scary and I just do not understand why it happens to him since I am feeding him lots, giving him the Nutri-cal and being very careful. I am praying he will out grow this.

On the other hand he is feeling much better today. As fast as he slips into these attacks he comes right back out of it. I can not wait to go home and tell him his vest is on its way! YEAH...thank you so much!

I had problems with hypoglycemia with CHloe. She was very tiny and even went into a hypoglycimic coma twice. I learned that they MUST eat at least once every 3 hours. My vet said not to rely on nutrical too much, but just to make sure that chloe ate puppy food every 2-3 hours. Also you can put a little karosyrup in the water if you think they are looking like they are not doing to well. BUt my vet said eating is the most important thing. Once I made sure chloe ate every 3 hours (which meant I had to wake up in the middle of the night to make sure she ate) we were fine. Yes she had access to food 24 hours so she could eat whenever she wanted but I made sure she did eat. If she refused her food, I had her eat a soft treat or I wetted her dry food and warmed it a little bit and sometimes I just had to hand feed her.;)

one more thing
 

Make sure he is not getting too cold at night. Chloe's 2 comas both happend during the night. The first was because she went too long without eating and the second was because she got cold(I felt like the worse mother ever. I had a blanket in her crate but apparently she would just lay on top of it). If they get cold they use a lot of energy to shiver to try and keep warm so it uses up all their body's "fuel". So once I found this out I kept chloe in a larger crate at night and kept food and water and a heating pad on one half of the crate that way if she was too warm she could get off of the heating pad and go to the other side of the crate. I really felt so bad that I had to learn things the hard way with chloe. BUt after I got the crate situated and fed her every 3 hours we never had a problem again and when she was a little over 6 months of age she started sleeping with us in our bed at night and I didnt have to worry about feeding her every 3 hours anymore. She just eats whenever she wants.

Shana -

Thanks so much for the information. You are the first person to mention the cold thing. We do keep our house very cold because we live in Florida and it is hot outside so maybe that is something I can change for him. As far as feeding him every three hours - that is hard because I have to work so it is just not do-able. I can come home and feed him at lunch but it is more like 3 times a day and that’s all I can do. Plus I just started crating him today because he was just being so bad about peeing and pooping where ever he wanted to. I am happy to know that I am not alone though. So I assume that Chloe grew out of this and hopefully mine will too huh? I was also under the assumption that it was because he was small but he just cleared 4 pounds and I know many others have small babies who have not had this problem. Any way… thanks for the information – Yorkie talk is the best!

Im so glad I could be helpful. :)

Since you cant watch him while you work just make sure he has food available to eat while your gone and I would put a little karosyrup in his water also. My girl Chloe was 8 oz when I first got her and now she is 2.9 lbs and she is a year and a half old. She grew out of it and I am not exactly sure when because after the first month that I had her(she was 3 months old when I got her) and after the hard lessons I learned I made sure she ate and was warm so we never had an issue again so she may have grown out of hypoglycemia sooner than 6 months. It wasnt until a little after 6 months that I let her sleep with us and I stopped waking up in the middle of the night to make sure she ate.

But anyways I definetly think your little one will grow out of it. Just keep a heating pad on low temp in his crate and keep it under a towel or blanket and then what I did was I kept a pee pad on the other side (even though a lot of the time chloe peed anywhere she wanted in the crate:rolleyes: ) and then I had a tray that hung on the door of her crate that held food and water. I got the large crate(it comes with the food tray) at walmart for $20-$30 I dont remember exactly how much, and then I got the heating pad there too. :)

Great information
 

This is great information!! Starsky had no problems when he was little, of course he was a husky 2.5 lbs at 9 weeks. I am getting a little girl next week who is only a little over a lb at 9 weeks. So I am a little worried about this. I do work also, but I am separating her in a crate from the other dogs while I am gone. I am not worried about her getting cold though. It is hot here and my ac doesn't work real well. I will get her her own food and water dish and maybe put some karo syrup in her water. I hope she does okay. I am a little nervous.

I would put quite a bit of nutrical on my finger and put it in his mouth before I went to bed at night and before I went to work in the morning. I like to feed my dogs dry food, but if I had one with this kind of problem I would give them some kind of wet food too. I know that there are issues with Cesar's food, but I would get some if it and feed it to him too. I've had a dog that kept getting hypoglycemia. I also heard of giving them boiled chicken. It's just trial and error until you find something that works. I can tell you are really trying hard. It's so upsetting when your baby gets sick.

Thanks so much you guys - you have all given me such great information and advice! I truly appreciate it!