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Hypocalcaemia


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My Shih Tzu came down with Hypocalcaemia late on Friday evening. She has made a really good recovery however she is now losing her mind about not being with her 2 week old puppies which I am now bottle feeding. The vet said to have the pups where she can see them but she is fretting and barking almost all day. She even broke into there whelping box just to check on them and give them a sneaky feed. I don’t want to risk her getting ill again. What have others done in similar situations? Have you left your puppies in clear view of the mum or have you moved them out of sight? I just want the best for her and to have the least amount of stress for her. 
appreciate you thoughts and suggestions 

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I've not had this problem so not sure I will have any helpful suggestions. Is the mum not allowed to feed them at all? Cause I wonder if the pups could go in with her after you had fed them? What about a tight fitting t-shirt on the Mum? A sedative to ease the stress of the Mum.

What a nightmare for you both. I only live in a small house so would never be able to seperate them enough so Mum couldn't hear the pups.

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So hard - any loss of calcium by her feeding them could have a nasty outcome ,but in an ideal world it would be lovely if she could be with them ! I sympathise  :( I would be asking the vet for a calmative/sedative - poor girl will not be doing herself any good being so stressed ... I second Rebanne's suggestion of a tight tshirt or maybe a  a baby's onesie/grosuit ..with no gaps where the pups could get to the teats ! they would soon learn :)Here's a puppy in a onesie to brighten your day : r/aww

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Thanks for the suggestions about the sedative she is so stressed whining, barking and panting that this would be beneficial for her. I like the onies idea will go to the op shop today as I don’t have a local Kmart or big w. Was planning a visit to the vet today to see what they can help me with. I know it is not going to be an easy few days. My mains concerns is getting the pups to accept the bottle and ease my girls stress levels. She is such a good mum that she misses tending to them

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I have had a toy poodle that developed this, it's  also known as milk fever or eclampsia.

 

My vet only had me take the pups off her for 24 hours. She was substituted with calcium syrup, and given a chicken wing each day and of course we kept a very close eye on her. Pups were weaned at 3 1/2 Weeks onto solids.

 

You are also going to have to keep a very close eye on her teats for mastitis and if there is any sign of development, keep a warm compress on her teats.

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Update: I took my girl and babies to the vet on Monday which they gave Gracee a sedative to take Monday night to help her get a good nights sleep as she was not sleeping she slept all night. They advised that to help her not be so stressed to get someone to look after her for a couple of weeks. We made the decision to kennel her for a couple of weeks which was not an easy decision. I really miss her. Her babies are doing really well and are feeding well from bottle and gaining weight. Boy oh boy what an adjustment for me it is like have 5 newborns all over again with 3am feeds but so rewarding. My girl will be home in about 10 days and I hope she is not too annoyed with me. I opted for the pamper package at the pet resort - reiki, massages and daily walks so she might even be like “who is this human” when I go to pick her up. :-)

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8 minutes ago, Sharonk1215 said:

They advised that to help her not be so stressed to get someone to look after her for a couple of weeks. We made the decision to kennel her for a couple of weeks

Oh. 
It would need to be an absolutely fabulous resort to de-stress the poor Mum - being taken away from Home as well as losing her pups .... I hope it works for her! :love: 

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1 hour ago, Sharonk1215 said:

Update: I took my girl and babies to the vet on Monday which they gave Gracee a sedative to take Monday night to help her get a good nights sleep as she was not sleeping she slept all night. They advised that to help her not be so stressed to get someone to look after her for a couple of weeks. We made the decision to kennel her for a couple of weeks which was not an easy decision. I really miss her. Her babies are doing really well and are feeding well from bottle and gaining weight. Boy oh boy what an adjustment for me it is like have 5 newborns all over again with 3am feeds but so rewarding. My girl will be home in about 10 days and I hope she is not too annoyed with me. I opted for the pamper package at the pet resort - reiki, massages and daily walks so she might even be like “who is this human” when I go to pick her up. :-)

What ,I hope that is a joke .

 

Vet sounds like an idiot for suggesting that route too .

Im surprised a kennel would even accept her in this situation due to her condition still needing monitoring and ensuring her boobs are watched .

 

 

Yes we have had a bitch with it and she still went in the box ,light feeding to make sure she didn’t get mastitis and weaning her early 

 

She still got to mother,clean her babies and be involved .

 

Besides the obvious off bringing a bitch back home from kennels to pups ,crazy .

 

 

And yes where a breeder and run kennels and no way would we take a bitch in this scenario.

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My concern is that if something goes wrong like your dog getting mastitis the kennel staff won't notice it.  I see you know the kennel people personally and I'm sure you will be making regular calls to the kennel to check on her.

 

Did she settle in at the kennels ok.  The best person to look after your dog is you.  No one cares for them as much as you do.   

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry been busy caring for the 5 little ones cleaning, feeding them cleaning and feeding all over again. Yes I checked in on my girl every couple of days she was in good hands and one of the staff from my vet also works there so they knew to look out for her. She is home now and has settled straight back in well with her puppies. The puppies are eating and drinking from bowls and are growing and developing super fast with there differing little personalities shining through 

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In defence of the vet... sort of... most vets get very little training about whelping and aftercare of the nursing bitch.  Many come out of vet school never having witnessed a natural whelping (I talked to a few vet students who said that watching a sow farrow was as close as they came).  In my days as a breeder, I often found that breeders were a better source of information about such things that the run of the mill vet.   I had the good fortune to have a vet who was a breeder before she went to vet school.  She agreed that vet school was pretty shallow on natural whelping and aftercare.

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On 21/12/2021 at 9:23 PM, Sharonk1215 said:

Sorry been busy caring for the 5 little ones cleaning, feeding them cleaning and feeding all over again. Yes I checked in on my girl every couple of days she was in good hands and one of the staff from my vet also works there so they knew to look out for her. She is home now and has settled straight back in well with her puppies. The puppies are eating and drinking from bowls and are growing and developing super fast with there differing little personalities shining through 

Thanks for the update - glad everyone's doing well. :)

 

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