DogBreeder

Once the pups and the mother had been examined the consultant came to talk to us. We were told that they were concerned about the puppy with breathing difficulties and also our "Little Man". While little man didn't have breathing problems as such, he was rather snuffly. The other four puppies were considered healthy at this stage.

We had to fill in paperwork and before leaving we asked to be contacted at any time of the day or night should circumstances change.

Before we went to the VRCC we went home to dig up the body of the puppy that had died in case they wanted to post mortem her. Having done that, we drove straight to Basildon.

By the time we got to the VRCC, the second puppy had died.

A vet took the dead puppy from us and then took the mother and the remaining six puppies. The puppies were placed in an oxygen tent and immediately started on antibiotics.

This was a sunday.

Having found the dead puppy, we examined the rest of the litter to make sure that they were ok and were horrified to discover that two more were having problems with their breathing. We phoned our vet and met him at the surgery within half an hour with the bitch and seven puppies. Our vet examined the two poorly puppies and then x-rayed them plus a healthy puppy. It was easy to see that the pup who was having the most trouble breathing had lungs full of fluid. The second puppy also had fluid in his lungs but not to the extent of the first pup. A healthy puppy had good clear lungs.
Our vet told us that he needed to refer them to a Veterinary Hospital where they could receive specialist care. We were referred to the Veterinary Referrals Cancer & Critical Care Centre in Basildon, Essex. Their website can be seen here....

http://www.vrcc.co.uk/

When the pups were 2 and a half weeks old, my husband returned from work at 3am and discovered that one of the pups had breathing difficulties. The puppy appeared almost flat in appearance and was gasping. Her gums and tongue were very pale.

We phoned the vet and he said that he thought that the puppy had suffered a crush injury. We thought that maybe the mother had trampled on the pup (there had been fireworks that evening outside) or had laid on it even though we had pig rails. The vet said there was nothing he could do and that we should keep the puppy warm and hope that the breathing regulated.

This puppy was dead by 6am the next morning.

At two weeks old, I wormed the whole litter with Drontal wormer and cut all their toe nails. Most of them had their eyes open at this stage.

It was when I started bottle feeding the little pup that I noticed that his suction almost seemed too strong. His tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth and I needed to prize it down to get the teat of the catac feeder into his mouth in order for him to feed properly. I took him to the vet when he was 7 days old to get him checked over.

Our vet had a good look in his mouth, listened to his heart and declared that the pup was ok but he was a poor "do-er". His tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth because his mouth was dry through not feeding regularly. His suck reflex was good and strong and the vet considered him worth trying to save.

Five days after the birth, we noticed that one of the puppies was not gaining weight. I weighed him and he was 5oz. I checked for a cleft palate and all seemed in order so I took the decision to bottle feed him. I fed him every four hours and two hourly in between the bottle feeds, I "plugged" him onto his mother so that he had her milk too.

Our bitch started whelping five days early. She was massively pregnant and we were not surprised that the litter was putting in an early appearance. She gave birth to eight puppies and the whelping took five hours from start to finish. The pups were all good weights - the smallest was 6oz and the largest was 8 oz.

My husband and I have been breeding dogs for 12 years. We aren't commercial breeders by any means. The most we have ever bred is 2 litters in one year and our pups are born and raised indoors with an extremely noisy family.

Up until recently, all our experiences of breeding have been positive. The only "downsides" have come from people and not the dogs.

I thought it might be an idea to write down recent events in a public blog so that other people can read it.