bunni
Posted : 2/5/2007 12:45:46 PM
Just wanted to say that so far the status can be classified as "ok." Both puppies are now nursing, and I'm positive the baby girl is getting milk because she ate so much last time milk came out of her nose. The new vet said that means they are full? The little boy is nursing, just not as well nor as long so I'm supplementing him. The vet said I will know if the formula is going in their lungs because they will cough. I called him again to ask if I should try tube feeding but he says he really doesn't think I should because they both ate well when he did it.
The little boy pooped a bit after we came home, but the little girl has only peed. Is that bad? She's eating the most, I don't understand why she's not pooping.
I'm not a vet but I have raised a whole lot of puppies and milk coming out of the nose does not indicate they are full. It more likely indicates that they have gotten milk into their lungs and are coughing it out - just like when coffee goes up your nose and you choke, then cough and it can come out your nose.
As far as your knowing if the milk goes into the lungs because they cough - this is absurd advice from a vet. By the time they cough they could already have aspiration pneumonia which - it would be my guess - is that the other ones died of. This is also the reason for tube feeding which - in my opinion - is the only way to feed a little one who is not sucking.
If you are still supplementing the last puppy you need to make sure you hold the pup at the angle that it would nurse from the mother. You can see me feeding a pup from a bottle here: [link
http://poodlejunction.com/Litters/012-061605-Sienna/puppy.htm]http://poodlejunction.com/Litters/012-061605-Sienna/puppy.htm[/link] This is how you want him, with his head in this position, not the same as you would feed a baby.
Very young puppies will cry if they are hungry unless they are too weak to in which case they need to be tube fed.
You do need to keep stimulating the little one to poop and pee by rubbing a warm damp cotton ball from her belly to her tail however, she may have pooped and you just don't know it. My mother dogs will often clean the pups as they poop so it is hardly ever visible that they have.
I'm really upset with your new vet but it's too late to do anything about that now.
I'm so sorry this has turned out badly for you and hope the mom and last baby will be ok.