9wk old little boy with septicemia...please help!

[CougrGroomr]

Hello everyone. I'm new here, but so glad I found this site. Our new 9wk old, Merlin, has been battling a severe intestinal infection, which we originally thought was parvo, because of his severe state, but the negative test results proved otherwise. This is day 4 of sub-q IV fluids, forced syringe feedings, and more meds and antibiotics than any one human would probably take, but he's a trooper and is fighting with everything that he has. His white blood cell count was extremely low, which presented a very poor prognosis, but he's getting stronger and more alert with every day. My question is, how do we get him interested in eating and drinking for himself again, when/if he does pull through? Will it just happen on its own or will we need to entice him? Any other advice anyone has to share for a puppy that's pretty much convalescent and is in danger of major hypoglycemia and dehydration? Thanks in advance.

[chestermama]

Hello there poor baby I hope he gets better soon, you can boil up chicken and rice which is bland and baby food, make sure it does not have onion powder in it, sometimes you have to entice him or he may just eat. He needs to eat frequently to make sure he does not get hypoglycemic, have some nutrical on hand when he comes home. How much does he weigh and how long have you had him, and wet food may help as well it has alot of moisture in it.

[Verbena]

Great advice .

Hello and welcome to YT. I hope your little one gets better soon. Good thoughts and blessings go out to you both

[Yorkiemom1]

Poor little soul. I was curious what you were feeding before he became ill....I know feeding raw diet can cause this issue, as their little intestinal flora is not built up enough to handle raw food and what it takes to digest these foods. When he gets thru this, he will need bland meals....my 9 week old babies are on gruel made with a little goats milk, Royal Canin Puppy Starter mousse. You can add a teaspoonful of Gerber baby food chicken to that mix if he is reluctant to eat...and let him lick it off your finger, progress to licking it up out of a shallow saucer. I also give mine Dr.Millers Pet Nutra-Drops,1cc every 4 hours around the clock....it assists with the stress of weaning and contains the glucose needed to prevent any issues with hypoglycemia brought on by not eating/weaning. You can even mix 2-3cc in with the gruel you are feeding...they LOVE this stuff and will take it happily and it is not as sticky and messy as Nutra-Cal. I would also ask the vet about probiotics added to the baby's food....

[cummins]

Sorry to hear you are having to go thru this,please keep us updated

[CougrGroomr]

Thanks for the well-wishes guys. We're feeding him a combination of science diet A/D wet, with equal parts nutri-cal and Karo syrup, at the advice of the vet. He's getting roughly 3cc every 2.5 hours, to keep his sugar up, and we're backing off the sub-q fluids to 100cc a day, while trying to reintegrate fluids orally by alternating between water and pedialyte. The poor guy absolutely despises the force feeding by syringe, but won't eat on his own. I feel like he's not safe enough yet for us to stop the force feeding and wait until he gets hungry on his own, because it will undo any glucose stability we've created for him and start the hypoglycemic snowball effect all over again.

We weren't sure where he got the infection from because we'd only had him 24 hours before he got sick, but the couple we bought him from turned out to be breeders moonlighting, which I would have turned away from had I not already fallen in love with him. Their home wasnt very clean and we noticed he had fleas when we got him, so there's no telling what he was exposed to.