saved a puppies life today

Owlet

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
2,750
1,886
Colorado
Parrots
Lincoln (Eclectus), Apollo (Cockatiel), Aster (GCC)
I'll warn you that this can be a graphic read

I'm still shaking from it, it's been a long day. As some of you may know, I work with a dog breeder. It's mostly all good and we usually have perfectly healthy puppies. We had a momma due today and we had 9 confirmed puppies that we were expecting from an xray we did a few days prior. The first 4 puppies were birthed relatively easily, they were very strong and took to nursing immediately. They weighed 280-320grams which is a nice healthy weight.

This is where things get complicated, if you know about breeding you generally dont want too long to pass in between births otherwise there may be complications. 2 hours is like the max you want to go. And we were getting to that 2 hour mark without a puppy so we were getting concerned and preping to bring momma to the repo vet that we have on speed dial. My boss decided to try feathering her first (running your finger along her cervix) to try and encourage contractions (we didnt do this till now because the moms, and this mom specifically, generally hate it, it can be painful) we had success with this and the pup came out, however he was pale as a ghost and not breathing. We didnt have much hope for the little guy but we starting rubbing him trying to get him going and after a bit he started to gasp for air which was a good sign and we kept going and brought the oxygen in front of him. I kept going like that for ~45 min while my boss handled the rest of the babies being born (they were like shooting out now) he started to pink up a bit and cry which was an amazing sign. We kept going until we felt like he had enough mouth control to give him some nurture mate which is a supplement that's kind of like fake colostrum and helps perk the puppy up. At this point he was perked up enough that we felt comfortable enough setting him in the incubator with the oxygen and some more heat.

I barely wanted to take my eyes off him but we were still expecting 1 more pup and I had to take care of the others that were born (weigh them, mark down their information, etc) so we just let him be and he kept getting stronger and stronger. He was eventually breathing pretty evenly, no more gasping, and be was wiggling around, rooting for a nipple. So we pulled most of the puppies off mom for a little (they had already gotten a nice belly full of milk so it was okay, we left the newer pups though) and propped him up to a nipple and he started nursing! we were ecstatic because he went from this literally lifeless puppy to being able to hold himself up and nurse.

Hes still got a long way to go, hes only 200grams and hes a lot weaker than the other pups and with 8 siblings he has a lot of competition. We are hopeful that if we keep ontop of making sure he gets a turn to nurse that he can catch up and live a happy healthy normal life.

Here are some picture, hes the yellow collar pup (or the collarless on in the last pic)

20210525_172948.jpg

20210525_173546.jpg

20210525_174028.jpg

20210525_173309.jpg

20210525_153649.jpg
 
OP
Owlet

Owlet

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
2,750
1,886
Colorado
Parrots
Lincoln (Eclectus), Apollo (Cockatiel), Aster (GCC)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #2
small update: he was doing very well all night and regularly latching but he ended up only gaining 4 grams which isnt great (his siblings gained 20-80 grams) and he stopped latching for us. it was really upsetting and we were sure we were gonna lose him but we started tube feeding and he was keeping the formula down which is good. My boss had the idea to try and stimulate him to potty so we did that and... there was a lot of poop. so much. Turns out he wouldnt latch because he was constipated. Hes totally fine now and has gone back to latching for us. Way to scare me puppy D:
 

noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
You are awesome! That baby needed you and you saved a life!!! Keep an eye on him, in case you need to supplement with hand feeding--high fives though, for real!
 
OP
Owlet

Owlet

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
2,750
1,886
Colorado
Parrots
Lincoln (Eclectus), Apollo (Cockatiel), Aster (GCC)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #7
You are awesome! That baby needed you and you saved a life!!! Keep an eye on him, in case you need to supplement with hand feeding--high fives though, for real!

yeah we are thinking about supplementing with some formula feeding to help him catch up with his siblings The formula just isnt as good as mom milk so if we can we want him to get as much milk from his mom as possible.

For some reason mom isnt stimulating him to potty even though she doesnt appear to be rejecting him so we have to do that, which isnt a big deal it's easy enough to do it would just be better if mom would do it. idk if it's because she wont or shes just not able to stimulate him enough to get him going. This is a really big litter after all
 
OP
Owlet

Owlet

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
2,750
1,886
Colorado
Parrots
Lincoln (Eclectus), Apollo (Cockatiel), Aster (GCC)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #8
We took day 1 photos today so here he is with a couple of his sibs

IMG_3295.JPG

IMG_3263.JPG

IMG_3368.JPG
 

Skarila

Well-known member
Parrot of the Month 🏆
2021 Parrot of the Year 🏆
Apr 19, 2021
766
Media
86
Albums
5
2,660
Hungary
Parrots
✻Csillam the rescued budgie
✻Pascal the Emma's (Venezuelan) Conure

Previous owned:
✻Archibald the cockatiel (fostered 6 months)
✻RIP - 28 YO Zeleni the mischievous IRN
✻RIP -Sunny the budgie
Gorgeous puppies!!! I am so happy that in the end all puppies are alive and well. What a little fighter...!

I know how scary the whole thing can be, I remember when my small dog was expecting (not planned at all....) but it seems the father was a HUGE dog so... Things got very complicated. Out of I think 5 puppers, only 1 survived, sadly they were too big and one or two weren't even fully developed... Luckily in the end the momma survived and her single pup.

I don't think I'd ever go through that ever again, so props to you..!!
 
OP
Owlet

Owlet

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
2,750
1,886
Colorado
Parrots
Lincoln (Eclectus), Apollo (Cockatiel), Aster (GCC)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #11
Small update: Seems the constipation issue isnt isolated to the little guy. I dont know if mom is just overwhelmed with so many puppies or what. at least it's something we can easily help with.

edit: we also think Yellow might have swimmers syndrome which is pretty much splayed legs and corrected just the same but we cant do much about it until he starts learning to walk.
 
Last edited:
OP
Owlet

Owlet

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
2,750
1,886
Colorado
Parrots
Lincoln (Eclectus), Apollo (Cockatiel), Aster (GCC)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #12
Heres an updates look at this litter, they're growing very well and the little Yellow collar is still the smallest but has just about caught up with everyone else. Hes at 520 and the next smallest is 570. The biggest is like 970 but shes a good like 200-300 grams bigger than the rest. Shes massive.
We've pretty much determined Yellow does not have swimmer syndrome. As he gained weight his spindly legs started to be less spindly and be under him in a more proper position.

They are just under two weeks old and have begun opening their eyes. Theyll be running around before we know it.

20210604_104539.jpg
 
OP
Owlet

Owlet

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
2,750
1,886
Colorado
Parrots
Lincoln (Eclectus), Apollo (Cockatiel), Aster (GCC)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #14
Little guy is doing great. Hes the smallest of the litter still but he is walking excellently and has lots of energy and is super playful

20210626_135655.jpg
 

Most Reactions

Latest posts

Top