First Time Litter Big Problems Help Please
 

My Yorkie delivered 5 puppies on January 17 by c section. She was a great mom except for one pup. She keeps trying to push her away. I have been up for days. The vet prescribed amoxicillin for Mom and the puppies started having diarrhea which made her tried to roll all of them. I separated them and when she settled down she nursed them. I took them to the vet after the diarrhea and that has subsided, the puppies are doing well and nursing well. The mom will not drink anything so she has had fluids subq at the vet times 3. I have tried water, sugar water chicken broth, pedialyte. She will not touch it. She is eating chicken and rice 3 or 4 times a day because she refuses puppy food. I tried adding the broth to it and she would not eat it. I thought perhaps her calcium was low so I tried to give her cottage cheese and she will not eat it. The vet has given no reason for her refusal to drink. The vet spayed her during the c section without informing me that spaying could cause her to lose her milk so I have been very concerned with her fluid intake. In addition, due to all of our problems, the tails and dew claws were not taken care of yet. I took her to the vet today and he said he would dock the puppies tails Tuesday and they will be almost 2 weeks so I am concerned about stitches and more problems. I just do not know whether to have it done or not. I have tried to change vets but no other vet will see her because the c section was performed by the other vet. Is it ok to dock the tails and remove the dew claws at 13 days old? Has anyone had a mom who would not drink when she was lacating. She acts fine other than her attempts to get rid of the runt and not drinking. She needs fluid to make milk and almost dried up a few days ago. Please help. I am not a breeder and I would never have breed her. She is seven years old and went into heat once over the years and then my male yorkie knew it before me. Thanks for your advise.

Good luck with your puppies, I hope everything works out with you and your mommie where she will come around and start drinking liquids.

tails and claws can be done but will more than likely be more painful for the pups. you need to step in as mom and supplement these pups...that means feeding them round the clock every 3-4 hours.

Oh my i hope everything gets better for you sorry you have to deal with al of this. I don't have any advice but i'm sure someone will good luck

try instant vanilla pudding with 2 cups of milk and 2 raw egg yokes mix well, let set for about 5 mins take a couple tbl spoons slightly warm it in the micro, see if she will eat that...My girls go nuts for it.

Did the vet give you a large syringe? I would force water down her giving her about 10-12 ccs each time throughout the day. If she wont open her mouth you can do it through the side.

Tail docking might hurt a bit more this late but do-able...I would make sure you have nutridrops on hand, they may come home a bit upset to eat.

hope this helps

Mom has milk now and the puppies are active and hydrated. My main problem is making sure that she gets enough fluid to keep feeding them. I did have to supplement the runt once, but she is a very good mom. She is really nervous and rarely leave them alone. Just to eat and relieve herself. I am just sick about not having the tails and dew claws done at 3 days. The vet said even if we had thought of it that it would not have been a good idea with the feeding issues at that time. I just think the sooner it is done the better and I am not sure if I should have the tails docked at 13 days. It just seems to be much worse. I wish he would have done it today at 8 days. Any experience with having the tails docked after 3 days? He said it would require stitches and mom would probably take them out. I am so exhausted and I know she is more tired than I. Thanks for any help.

I have been giving water with a large syrynge in the side of her mouth, however, I wear more than she drinks. She fights so hard that it scares me that she might aspirate into her lungs and then we will have pneumonia. So the vet gave her fluids today. I read on the internet that low calcium can cause moms to not drink, anyone ever heard of that?

I am of no help to you except to wish you luck! Bless your babies!
Hope Mom improves soon.
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glad to hear the pups are doing ok today. i think, that since this was an accidental breeding and they are just going to pet home, that you should just leave the tail and dew claws at this point. i doubt anyone is really going to care. Yorkie pups are adorable, with or without docked tails. the pups are a bit old and its going to hurt like hell.

This was an accidental breeding because of Mom's weight, however, she comes from an excellent line with many champion Yorkies. Both the Dam and Sire are AKC registered. He has several champions, but her line is incredible! I really will not know whether the puppies are show quality until they are older. But they sure have a good chance. I just want them to have good homes and I am afraid that siome potential owners will want the tails docked. I used to own a Yorkie with a tail that was not docked and I thought her tail was adorable! I was just thinking that it might be better to have it done at 9 days instead of 13. Would that make a difference?

Someone on the diet forum mentioned lactating bitches and having low calcium problems. It was suggested to feed the mother dog some tums for calcium. The pudding idea sounds good too. That would give her calcium as well. You might try that one if you haven't already.

Do a search on the diet forum for "calcium" and see if that post on tums comes up.

The whole having puppies thing sounds exhausting. Having 5 puppies is unusual for Yorkies. I have heard that two or three is the norm. I'm sure you're tired out, you poor thing. It sounds like having a baby times 5 to me. But luckily, you can at least look forward to them maturing at a much faster rate than human babies, so take heart, things will be improving very soon.

Btw, isn't there like a low-cost "Vet for Less" in your area that might do your docking and dew-claw removal for you without requiring that you are a regular patient of theirs? Or maybe the emergency clinic, if you were to tell them that you couldn't get in sooner to your own vet and you need it done like yesterday? I dunno. My regular vet was less than helpful when I consulted him after my cat had a problem with one of her paws and I had taken her to the late hour vet who could not find anything wrong. He wouldn't do anything because the other vet was treating her. I don't get it. Personally, for myself, I've switched my own doctor numerous times when one doctor couldn't come up with an answer on a problem I was having. So I don't understand why vets can't be more accepting if you want to switch.

I would try forcing water down her like Kimberly suggested. She needs to stay hydrated.

As for the tails, if you are worried about it, don't have it done. There are plenty of people who love yorkies with tails. I know if I was looking for a yorkie puppy, whether the yorkie had a docked tail or not would not concern me and I wouldn't hestitate to get a yorkie pup because she/he still had their long tail.

Best of luck with everything, I hope mom and babies will continue to do well!!!

Just be careful of how much water you give her at a time, if she asperates more harm will be done than good. Have you tried wet dog food? There is alot of water in that, not enough but it will help. YOu can always suppliment the babies with Just Born formula. Its very do-able to completely feed them if absolutely necessary. Be sure your mom is having enough calcium also.

I love tails - they are so cute!!
It sounds like it may be too painful now to have them docked, maybe you should consider just leaving them - I prefer a tail :p

go to this website it tells you about docking tails http://www.cdb.org/what_is.htm