dasha Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Just wondering if anyone would have any ideas why htis may be the case. I know it is hard without seeing it. My litter of Border Collie pups was born Sun night and they range in size with the largest being 310gm and the little tiny one of 180gm. the little tiny one took a bit to get started and was a bit slow. She then perked up a little but after a few hours became colder to touch and weak and with a poor suck reflex. i figured she would not suvive the night as she was not strong enough to compete with the others to get a bit of tit so I bought her inside on a hot water bottle and heating pad and got up through the night every 2 hours to feed and toilet her. This morning about 6:30 she was rather strong and vocal so gave her another feed and put her back with the mother so she could try and keep as natural as possible. I did observe her today with the litter and she was climbing on them and seemed quite strong. I did see her suckling as well so thought she may be on her way. However, this evening she went backwards again and bcame weak and quite again. So she is back inside for the night on 2 hourly feeds and hot water bottle and heat pad again. As this evening has gone on, she seems to have a real wobbly head. It just jiggles around. I am not sure if it is just weakness and she has trouble lifting her head or it is a progressive deterioration. She still doesn't suck well and so I have to slowly feed her. Has anyone had any experience with a bobbing head puppy? Or have any idea what it may be. I am using the Biolac puppy milk for her. I will prob take her to the vet in morning if I can to get her checked. If she has a worse problem than just needing a leg up to start, I would rather not drag her on if she will always just be an unwell dog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toy dog Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 (edited) Just wondering if anyone would have any ideas why htis may be the case. I know it is hard without seeing it. My litter of Border Collie pups was born Sun night and they range in size with the largest being 310gm and the little tiny one of 180gm. the little tiny one took a bit to get started and was a bit slow. She then perked up a little but after a few hours became colder to touch and weak and with a poor suck reflex. i figured she would not suvive the night as she was not strong enough to compete with the others to get a bit of tit so I bought her inside on a hot water bottle and heating pad and got up through the night every 2 hours to feed and toilet her. This morning about 6:30 she was rather strong and vocal so gave her another feed and put her back with the mother so she could try and keep as natural as possible. I did observe her today with the litter and she was climbing on them and seemed quite strong. I did see her suckling as well so thought she may be on her way. However, this evening she went backwards again and bcame weak and quite again. So she is back inside for the night on 2 hourly feeds and hot water bottle and heat pad again. As this evening has gone on, she seems to have a real wobbly head. It just jiggles around. I am not sure if it is just weakness and she has trouble lifting her head or it is a progressive deterioration. She still doesn't suck well and so I have to slowly feed her. Has anyone had any experience with a bobbing head puppy? Or have any idea what it may be. I am using the Biolac puppy milk for her. I will prob take her to the vet in morning if I can to get her checked. If she has a worse problem than just needing a leg up to start, I would rather not drag her on if she will always just be an unwell dog we've noticed the head bobbing thing with our little unwell chihuahua puppy. he sometimes walks around like as though his head is too heavy to hold up. and became very weak then perked up then went down. someone has suggested to me that he might have hypoglycemia, so we've put the puppy on nutrigel 3 times a day recommended to me by a few breeders who are experienced with puppies like this and its done wonders for our puppy. i don't know just a suggestion you might want to consider??? Edited May 30, 2011 by toy dog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Just wondering if anyone would have any ideas why htis may be the case. I know it is hard without seeing it. My litter of Border Collie pups was born Sun night and they range in size with the largest being 310gm and the little tiny one of 180gm. the little tiny one took a bit to get started and was a bit slow. She then perked up a little but after a few hours became colder to touch and weak and with a poor suck reflex. i figured she would not suvive the night as she was not strong enough to compete with the others to get a bit of tit so I bought her inside on a hot water bottle and heating pad and got up through the night every 2 hours to feed and toilet her. This morning about 6:30 she was rather strong and vocal so gave her another feed and put her back with the mother so she could try and keep as natural as possible. I did observe her today with the litter and she was climbing on them and seemed quite strong. I did see her suckling as well so thought she may be on her way. However, this evening she went backwards again and bcame weak and quite again. So she is back inside for the night on 2 hourly feeds and hot water bottle and heat pad again. As this evening has gone on, she seems to have a real wobbly head. It just jiggles around. I am not sure if it is just weakness and she has trouble lifting her head or it is a progressive deterioration. She still doesn't suck well and so I have to slowly feed her. Has anyone had any experience with a bobbing head puppy? Or have any idea what it may be. I am using the Biolac puppy milk for her. I will prob take her to the vet in morning if I can to get her checked. If she has a worse problem than just needing a leg up to start, I would rather not drag her on if she will always just be an unwell dog I would guess brain damage of some sort like a a damaged cerebellum that can occur if the bitch has had an infection of any sort during pregnancy. This is common in cats that get feline enteritis during pregnancy but it can occur in dogs as well. Hereditary Cerebellar Abiotrophy or Ataxia is another possible cause of head bobbing but I'm not sure if it can be evident that young. It is pretty rare in Borders and doesn't show up usually till a few months old but I think it can occur in the first few days in Kelpies, so maybe it is another form of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
becks Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 I would keep giving her top ups over the next few days and just see how she goes, could just be from being weak again from not getting enough to keep her going during her time back outside Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasha Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 Thanks for the info. Dancbcs I had looked that up too but like you said it is more evident at a few weeks old rather than a day. Anyway it seems Tiny didn't have enough fight and when I got up at 4:30 this am to feed her, she diesd then. She was rigid and sqeaking a little then just gasped and went. So thanks anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmkelpie Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Sorry to hear that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Poor Tiny, I was so hoping she would make it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Where and your other pups and what heat source do they have ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasha Posted May 31, 2011 Author Share Posted May 31, 2011 Readysetgo - The rest of the litter are in a heated room with their litter mates and mother for a heat source the others are all doing well and are nice and strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keira&Phoenix Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 SO sorry for your loss Dasha poor little darling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsrawesome Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 Poor little puppy sorry for your loss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlemum Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 (edited) So sorry for your loss. This is the sad side of breeding, that sometimes you do lose a puppy. From your description I was not optimistic about this puppy's chance right from the beginning, (not the size so much as the bobbing head) so probably a mercy that she went fairly quickly Edited May 31, 2011 by poodlemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasha Posted June 1, 2011 Author Share Posted June 1, 2011 Poodlemum, I agree with you. She was small and slow to start anyway. I was expecting that she was going to die the first night and didn't hold much hope. Not really disappointed as I would rather she died than have to batle to keep her going only to have her die later anyway. The other litter born yesterday are huge in comaprison and all really strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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