Swollen Limb??

[emerync]

Hello I am new here and I have a problem that I hope someone can help me with. Well for starters my husband and I are bottle feeding 3 pups. The mother was not taking care of them and we knew the only chance for them to live was with us feeding them. Ok back to the problem...on of the puppies front left arm is swollen really badly. Would anyone know what this could be from?? He doesn't act like is hurting him at all. He pulls himself around with is with no problem but it doesn't look good at all. Any help would be appreciated. TIA!!!

[Dangels]

It's hard to say why the puppy's leg would be swollen.... is it possible that the mother could have stepped or layed on it? Whatever the problem, it is a health concern. The puppy should be taken to the vet ASAP.

Best of luck!

[IceyBlueSibes]

Agreed! It could be anything! Let us know what you find out!

[emerync]

Well when I got home from work yesterday my husband told me he didn't make it. He was really weak and not taking to the bottle very well. We are now down to two pups. But they are doing great! They are very stong and are doing really well with the bottle. We were feeding them every 3 hours but we have started feeding every 2 now b/c if not they are sucking on each other lol. I tell ya between two pups wanting to eat every 2 hours and our 9 month old son teething I think I am going to loose my mind.

Thanks for the quick replies.

The pup in the middle is the one that didn't make it...

[Dangels]

Aww, i'm very sorry to hear that the little puppy didn't make it.

They all look very cute! Bottle feeding puppies is always interesting. I've done that before, it's a lot of work.... can't imagine what it would be like with a 9 month old son too lol. The puppies look really good, so far. If I were you, i'd still try to get the remaining 2 puppies into the vet's office to get checked out when you can. The first couple weeks is always the hardest. Hand raising puppies can be heartbreaking when you lose one, but once you get past the first 2 weeks or so, the puppie's chances of pulling through will get a lot better. That's because until they reach around 2 weeks of age, puppies cannot regulate their body temp, fight off illness well, ect. They are lacking certain things in the mother's milk that boosts the their immune systems. I hope that everything goes well with your puppies. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll try to be of help. I once hand raised a litter of 12 Great Dane puppies from the time that they were 2 days old.... now that was a lot of work! The mother wasn't taking care of them, so that was my only option. Out of the 12 puppies, 9 of them survived. It was all well worth it when they were all big and strong enough to go to loving new homes.

Best of luck with your babies!

[emerync]

Oh my gosh...I can not imagine feeding 12 pups!!!!!! And only loosing 3...that is great. You are a good foster mom. I really wish we could take them to the vet but the finances will not allow that right now. My husband is too lazy to work so we are working with one income lol. He normally gives his puppies and adult dogs all their shots himself anyway though. I don't really have much say when it comes to his dogs. I just research for him when he needs me to.

I love the pic your dog. He/She has the coolest markings!

[Dangels]

Originally Posted by emerync

Oh my gosh...I can not imagine feeding 12 pups!!!!!! And only loosing 3...that is great. You are a good foster mom. I really wish we could take them to the vet but the finances will not allow that right now. My husband is too lazy to work so we are working with one income lol. He normally gives his puppies and adult dogs all their shots himself anyway though. I don't really have much say when it comes to his dogs. I just research for him when he needs me to.

I love the pic your dog. He/She has the coolest markings!

Well, I really hope that everything goes well with the puppies. Feeding them every two hours is good. Do you have a heating pad under their blanket to keep them warm? It's very important that young puppies stays nice and warm, since they cannot regulate their own body temp. at all when they are so young. What kind of puppies are they? Does your husband breed dogs? If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll try to help as much as possible.

Best of luck!

[emerync]

Yes we have them in a rubbermaid tote with the heating pad under a towel. We put a towel on top of the tote to keep the heat in. We check the temp inside about every 30 mins. (have a thermometer in with them) They are American Pit Bull Terriers. He has been breeding for about 5 years now and this is the first litter he has had this happen. There will not be anymore litters with this dam. She was breed by the previous owner when we got her. According to the dates from the previous owner she was due the 17th-21st, so they were early or he didn't have his dates right. Also something that puzzled us was she had 3 puppies after the afterbirth. Have you ever heard of this happening?

[Dangels]

Also something that puzzled us was she had 3 puppies after the afterbirth. Have you ever heard of this happening?

Generally, when my Great Danes have a litter, the dam's water breaks, and shortly after that she will start giving birth to the puppies. However, 3 puppies does seem like a small litter for a Pit Bull, so it is possible that she had more puppies inside of her at one time. Maybe she lost some sometime during the pregnancy, and they could have been reabsorbed or partially reabsorbed at the time the dam had given birth.. If they were lost in the earlier part of the pregnancy, it is possible that what you thought was afterbirth could have been the remains of the underdeveloped embryos or fetuses.

The fact that she appears to have had the puppies early, along with the fact that the litter was small, and that the one puppy was ill shortly after birth does make me wonder, though. Was the afterbirth grey or green-ish in color, at all?

[emerync]

She had a total of 10 puppies. But so far only 2 have made it. Most of them she would not let feed or she laid on them. No green it was just red.

[Dangels]

Hmm, what i'm wondering is if the puppies possibly have Herpes infection. That is actually a fairly common condition at kennels or breeding facilities, and you had also mentioned that you recently got the dog. Herpes in dogs is one of the most common causes of puppy death for puppies under 3 weeks of age. I'm not sure, only a vet could tell you for certain.... but it is a possiblity. It could also explain why the mother wasn't caring for the puppies well. This happened to a breeder friend of mine when she had recently gotten a new dam, and she also wouldn't care for the puppies after they were born. The vet figured that it was due to the fact that she sensed that they were ill. Below are some links with information about Canine Herpes Infection.

HERPES INFECTION IN DOGS

Herpes Virus: A Cause of Puppy Death

Canine Herpes Infection - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company!

I really hope that is not the case, and i'm not saying that it is. Just a possiblity that should always be considered when dealing with the death of young puppies.
Best of luck with everything!