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Super Mom
Ever since being involved in dogs, I was informed by my mentor and other breeders that their vets would not spay at the same time that the dog was under anesthesia for a c-section. Well the first time it was necessary for me, I did go ahead and spay as my vet did not indicate to me that this is a problem. Everything went fine and as the years went by I continued doing this same thing. At that time no one could give me a legit answer as to why some vets would not spay during a section & I knew more vets that would than wouldn’t.Some years back I went ahead & did another spay during the section. She never did bounce back and each morning for 3 days I was taking her into the vet. We couldn’t pinpoint anything but he would give her fluids & antibiotics to try to help. The 3rd day within a half hour of bringing her home from the vet she died. The autopsy showed nothing wrong with this girl at all. Hard way to learn but I will never spay during a section again.
The reason for not spaying during a section, I am told now is that the blood supply is being cut off from too many areas at once because of the puppies that were there and than removing the internal organs, that this is too much of a shock to their system.
Well the problem was her 4 babies at home which I handfed for a week, after her death by tube feeding.
During this period of time one of my girls was constantly over looking in the bed at them, almost falling in trying to look at them. It had been a year since Storm had a litter so she didn’t have milk for them. Well I thought to myself that maybe Storm could atleast keep them cleaned up for me and cuddle them so that the heat pad would not be necessary which I don’t like to use anyway. So I looked at Storm while she is trying to look into the bed at them and said “Storm would you like to have these babies? You can get in the bed if you want them!” Now even though it had been driving her crazy to see those babies up closer she had done no more than lean into the bed & look with her tail going crazy. Well apparently she understood every word I said to her because she immediately jumped into the bed and cuddled right around them and started washing them. The puppies started trying to nurse and Storm was all for it and I figured it wouldn’t hurt them to try but that I would continue to supplement. Well by the next morning when I am getting ready to tube them again, I can’t believe how fat they are when I pick them up. Everyone of those puppies had solid fat little bellies on them. Quite obviously they have been eating to their heart’s content. Now I know that they should need fed but aren’t needing it so I look at Storm and squeeze a nipple and out comes milk. What an unbelievable surprise that this girl has gotten in full milk to nurse these babies.
Now I had tried to get my Brussels Griffon to nurse them who was in a false pregnancy because she hadn’t been bred. She had just a tad of colostrum and I figured surely the puppies nursing on her would increase the milk. I would hold my Griff on my lap several times a day up until Storm took over, but the puppies nursing on her didn’t bring in any milk. I think the reason that it came it on Storm is because she wanted to be able to take care of those babies, whereas the Brussels Griffon absolutely did not want to take care of some old Yorkies puppies.
Yorkies continue to surprise me, although they shouldn’t. I guess that is why I have such a love for the breed. They are independent and ornery, but you can sure count on them no matter what. The 4 babies all survived and did take on some of the actions of their foster mother Storm. Genetics had been at work here though as they had mostly the actions of their real mother, even though she didn’t raise them.
If faced with the decision today, I would rather put them under anesthetic again at a later time for that spaying than ever chance the possibility of losing one of my girls again.
Article printed in TYT Magazine
© 2000 by Cher Hildebrand
Handraising Formulas
If you don't have another dam to use than you can tubefeed or use a bottle to feed your puppies. Below are a couple formulas used by people.
Ingredients
2/3 C Goat milk canned or Condensed canned milk
1/3 C water or Pedialyte
1 tsp Karo Syrup
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vitamins
OR
Ingredients
1 cup of canned Condensed milk or Evaporated milk
4 oz plain, full-fat yogurt
1 egg yolk
1 tsp of baby vitamins
1 envelope of Knox unflavored gelatin in addition to other ingredients will help keep stools solid.
Strain either one a couple of times to make sure there is no albumin in the mixture, although it can be used without egg at all.
There also are storebought formulas you can use, which I have used before.
If you have a sick puppy, don't feed any form of formula. This will just make things worse. A sick puppy can not digest properly. Call your Vet immediately and let them decide how to handle feeding.
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