Hand rearing puppies....

[divegirl]

Hi, my Yorkshire terrier gave birth to 6 puppies on tuesdaynight/wedensday morning, it was quite a shock as they weren't due til yesterday! I came down and she'd done it all by herself. She was obviously tired and looked to me to be in alittle shock....this is her third and final litter and normally I'm with her the whole time, offering tea and sympathy. Anyway, all the little ones seemed fine, but by that evening she had tottally turned her back on them and my daughter and I spent an exhauting night hand feeding all 6 of them!!!! Today she is feeding all but one of them.... So my question is....having never fed a pup for this long....Will this baby girl get her sucking reflex or is it too late? I am feeding her every 3 hours and always attempt to get her to latch on before I feed her, she is taking approx 5ml of Lactol mixed with hand expressed milk [from the mum....not me...lol] I have tried using at teated bottle but she prefers a syringe. I had to go and buy new scales yesterday so I'm unsure of any weight gain.....yesterday she was just under 3 ounces.....tiny tiny baby!!!

Any advice gratefully recieved

Lisa x

[blue eyes ;)]

i dont know about hand rearing but congratulations on your babies!,and i hope the the little girl will be ok xx

[lankeela]

Keep at it until she gets the strength to hold on to a teat - this can take several days, but it can be just that she is too weak to hold on. Try holding her on to the teat and letting her suck - that way she will get some goodness from her mother and give you a break. Just cup her in your hand and hold her in a position where she can suck without having to grip on if you see what I mean.

If the mother is not having anything to do with her, it may be that she senses something is wrong with this one and she may just fade away..Very sad but thats what would happen in the wild.

Take great care with the syringe that you don't squirt too much or she may suffocate or choke .

Oh the joys of having a litter!

[divegirl]

Thanks for that.... I think I'm doing alright. She is not being ignored by my bitch [Sally] mum is still toileting her [thank God for small mercies] and 'baby girl' happily spends all of her time with the litter, she just gets special treatment at food time. I take on board what you say about flooding the pup with milk, but she does quite happily take milk from the syringe, as well as me keep trying her with her mum [still no sucking reflex]....and you're right....So many joys from a litter.

Many thanks

Lisa x

[Carakeel]

Congratulations divegirl!!! I really hope all of the pups and Sally do well. Glad lankeela was here with good advice, as always! Best wishes! Seems like you might need a holiday after this ... LOL :o)