Dealing with a Premature Litter

I got a call from a breeder asking for my help. She had a litter of preemie puppies and only one was still alive. She had admitted that the pup had the best chance of survival with myself and my co-breeder and asked that we please help. We agreed and did everything we could to try and save this puppy.

Preemie puppies rarely survive. In this case, the first two were stillborn and a third of the average birth weight. The next two puppies had come out and faded very fast. They were also both a third of the normal birth weight, approximately 2 oz. They were about the size of your thumb with very little hair. Then this little mouse was born at 85 grams (3 oz.). Average pups for this breed are 160 to 180 grams (6 to 7 oz.). We named him Mousey.

My co-breeder and I were hopeful that we could likely save this puppy, so I flew over and picked up the preemie puppy and the dam. Preemie puppies are weak, chill easily, and usually do not know how to swallow as the sucking reflex is not ready.

He would not nurse and needed to be tube fed (canine milk replacer and a little bit of glucose—Karo, honey or Nutri-Cal). Make sure you add in some of the dam's colostrum, retrieved by hand.

A puppy needs 1 cc for every ounce of body weight every 2.5 to 4 hours.

He also needed to be kept at approximately 95-100° F, much warmer than newborn puppies. But be careful not to burn him. He will need to be hydrated more because of the heat. It is OK to leave the preemie puppy in a warm box with the dam, but ONLY if she tucks him in close; otherwise he should be in a separate incubator box. The reason you need to keep the puppy warmer is the puppy is supposed to be inside the dam for another week. The dam's temperature is 99° to 101° F. However, with the warmer temperature you risk the chance of dehydration.

It is best to keep a puppy warm in an incubator, however if you do not have one you can also use other warm draft-free spots, such as a heating pad wrapped around a soft-sided crate. Inside are warm bean bags to hold in the heat.

Taking care of a preemie puppy is a 24-hour job, feeding and pottying every two hours nonstop. Therefore my co-breeder and I were rotating our time with the puppy.

On the third night the caregiver reports: Still hanging in there. Didn't look good at 3 a.m.; sounded like it was hard for him to breathe. I have been giving Nutri-Cal. He has been in a very warm box by himself.

This is what I did for him:

• I assisted him with his pooping and peeing(massaging his voiding area till I got him to void)
• when it was time for him to eat, I took him to mom (she cleaned him up well)
• I tried him on a teat and he had attempted to nurse which told me he was hungry
• then I tube fed him the Nutri-Cal
•I massaged him and if he was acting "alert" (wiggling around), I tried putting him back with his mom again
•then back into his warm box.

He seemed better at 5 a.m.

Day 1 he was 87 grams (3 oz.) and very dehydrated.
Day 2 he was 97 grams
Day 3 he was 107 grams.

A very good scale that weighs to the gram, or to less than an ounce, is very important and a MUST.

Unfortunately this story does not have a happy ending. Mousey did not make it. He had a bad night and died in my hands. As breeders we do what we can to save the puppies. Sometimes things are beyond our and our vet's control. The vet feels this boy was 8 to 10 days preemie, and he had very low odds of survival.

All you can do is throw everything at him, and hope for the best. The lungs were not developed.
A pup up to five days early has a great chance at survival.

A pup 5 to 7 days early needs TLC and has a good chance at survival.

A pup 8 to 10 days early needs EVERYTHING done and more, and has a poor chance at survival.

A pup over 10 days early will not survive.

 
Courtesy of MistyTrails and Seantiago Havanese

So You Want to Breed Pros and Cons of Inbreeding To Breed or Not To Breed? Whelping Puppies: Breeding age Reproduction: (The Heat Cycle): Signs of Heat Breeding Tie Dog Pregnancy Calendar Pregnancy Guide Prenatal Care Pregnant Dams Full-Term Mucus Plug Whelping Whelping Kit First and Second Stage of Labor Third Stage of Labor Sometimes Things do not go as Planned Dam Almost Dies on Day 6 Whelping Unfortunate Troubles Water (Walrus) Puppies C-Sections C-Section Due to Large Dead Puppy Whelping Puppies: C-section Pictures Dam Day 62 PostPartum Birth to 3 weeks Puppy Nipple Guarding Pups 3 Weeks: Time to start potty training Pups Week 4 Pups Week 5 Pups Week 6 Pups 6 to 7.5 Weeks Pups 8 Weeks Pups 8 to 12 Weeks Whelping Large Breed Dogs Mastitis in Dogs Mastitis In Dogs: A Toy Breed Case Why are Toy Breeds are Harder to Train? Crate Training Showing, Genetics and Breeding Saving a Puppy: Tube Feeding Trying to Save a Fading Dachshund Puppy Whelping Stories: Three Puppies Born Whelping: All puppies do not always survive Whelping Puppies: A Midwoof Call Whelping a Full Term Preemie Whelping Small for Gestational Age Puppy C-Section Due to Uterine Inertia SubQ hydrating a Puppy Whelping a Singleton Premature Litter A Premature Puppy Another Premature Puppy Pregnant Dam Absorbing Fetus Whelping Puppies Congenital Defects Puppy with Umbilical Cord Attached to Foot Puppy Born with Intestines on the Outside Dewclaw Removal Done Wrong Whelping and Working Whelping a Messy Litter of Pups Whelping Puppies Picture Pages

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Although this section is based on a whelping of an English Mastiff, it also contains good general whelping information on large-breed dogs. You can find more whelping information in the links above. The links below tell the story of Sassy, an English Mastiff. Sassy has a wonderful temperament. She loves humans and adores children. An all-around mild mannered, wonderful Mastiff, Sassy, however, is not the best mother toward her puppies. She is not rejecting them; she will nurse them when a human places them on her to feed, however she will not clean the pups or pay any attention to them. It is as if they are not her puppies. This litter is getting mom’s milk with major human interaction, manually giving each and every pup what they need. In return, the pups will be super socialized and will make remarkable pets, however the work involved is astounding. It takes one dedicated breeder to keep this situation healthy. Thankfully this litter has just that. Read the links below to get the full story. The pages within include a wealth of information that everyone can appreciate and benefit from. C-Section in a Large Breed Dog Newborn Puppies... What you need Whelping Mastiff Puppies One to Three Days Old Things do not always go as planned (imperforate anus) Orphaned Litter (not the plan) 10 Days Old Plus ++ 3 Week Old Puppies Puppies 3 Weeks - time to start potty training Puppies 4 weeks old Puppies 5 weeks old Puppies 6 weeks old Puppies 7 weeks old Socializing the Puppies Mastitis in Dogs Whelping Large Breed Dogs Main Whelping, a new found respect

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Whelping: Close-to-Textbook Case Puppies' Progress Chart (.xls spreadsheet) Cuban Mysti Puppies: Full Term Mucus Plug - 1 Cuban Mysti Puppies: Labor Story 2 Cuban Mysti Puppies: Labor Story 3 Cuban Mysti Puppies: One-Day-Old Pups 4

 

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