Do you have a heart warming story about hand reared puppies?

[Emz]

Molly, my 3 year old bitch whelped on Sunday. I was delighted when the first puppy out, was kicking and screaming healthily. In 15 minutes the whelp was over and she had given birth to two others, which were almost twice the size of the first. They were sadly still born. I picked up the surviving pup and checked her over. She was perfectly healthy but tiny, only 100g!
Monday morning off we went to the vets. She was active, her heart was strong and her lungs were clear. She hadn’t even lost any weight in the first 24 hours! So I was pretty happy, that is until he said she had a less than 50/50 chance.
That was 6 days ago and she is still here. She has hourly feeds of 1-2mls, with intermittent mils of water if she is looking a little dehydrated. She is gaining weight steadily but she still only weighs 132g.

There have certainly been more tears than smiles in the last few days. I’m hoping that will change.

Does anyone have a similar story that had a happy ending?

[paulb]

sorry cant help other than wish you all the best of luck and send positie thoughts from us to you and the litle one

[lexi]

Byron's breeder has a black bitch who whelped four puppies 10 weeks ago. Two were stillborn and the remaining two weighed in at 110gr each. Here's the link to her site  http://www.levana.ch/  Unfortunately it's in German but I think the pictures speak for themselves. Just click on "Musty's Welpen".

Best of luck to you, your Molly and her pup!

[Deb H]

My oldest Henry was hand reared. His mum had a litter of ten and Henry and his brother were really tiny I am told. Sadly his brother didn't make it but Henry was a little fighter. The breeder told us once he was able to feed from his mum he used to crawl along the top of her body to get a teat whilst the other were at the bottom.So sorry you have lost two of your babies, I really hope your little girl makes it.

[paulb]

  Unfortunately it's in German but I think the pictures speak for themselves. Just click on "Musty's Welpen".

Best of luck to you, your Molly and her pup!

off thread  know but a way to read non english sites (if you dont know already )is to use alta vista's babel fish, copy the address and paste it into the space on babel fish,
it's great (usually although it misinterprest the odd word)

paul

[bluegirl]

Penny gave birth to her first litter last year and she delivered 11 pups all a week early. 2 sadly died.
The 10th pup that she delivered did not seem to come round, Penny licked him, but nothing happened so I picked him up, gave him a rub and shook him down to help remove secretions but still no movement. He seemed to draw a breath every now and again and that was it. We tried for over 30 mins, but as he still had a heart beat, albeit very slow and signs of respirations we couldn't give up.
The vet didn't think he'd make it but gave him something which I presume was for his lungs and sent us home. She didn't even think it was worth trying to feed him.
I couldn't let him just go so closely watched by Penny i was giving him honey and water and lactol out of a syringe throughout the night and trying to squeaze a few drops of Penny's milk into his mouth.
By morning he was still there, not much different, but alive so we carried on the same for a further 2 days. By day 3 he could move a little bit so I continued to try to put him on Penny's teat. I'd make sure each feed I put him on a back teat first so he got the best milk. His birthweight was 213g, but he just kept losing weight till he was 184g by day 4. It eventually took another week to get him back to his birthweight.
The vet thought he may also be brain damaged, but he wasn't and by 8 weeks old he was just like the rest. He's gone to live with a very special family, but he will always remain my special little boy. He won his right to life with honours.

I truly hope your little girl makes it too.

[Luvly]

This Little bundle was handreared 

and we loved them so much we kept 4 my sister kept 2 we now have those two back as her working times have changed to days away   the others have there holidays here  so its turned out really nice 
It was very hard work with me getting up at 9am which would be lovely if I hadn't been going to bed at 6 am  it was very hard work but we were determind not to loose our babies although at the start we were very worried about them at times so we changed our formula to a homemade with the advice of a handrearing expert  who gave us a great formula to make up that really was the life saver 

I really hope your little one makes let us know how shes getting on

[Sharon]

I have also hand reared 2 litters, the first a litter of 5 pups, all survived in fact one of them is Clairep4's Bella, when they left here they were slightly smaller than normal, but they are all happy healthy dogs.   By the time they were a week old, they were all 3oz UNDER birth weight and didn't get back up till they were 2 weeks old.   Second litter exactly the same, another litter of 5 healthy pups, all survived and all doing really well.

It is hard work, feeding every 1 - 2 hours with the tiniest amount of milk, but when you see the weight going on and those pups getting stronger it's definitely worth it.

Good luck, keep up the good work and it will all pay off in the end.

[chelsea]

Sorry to hear you're not having a particularly good time. It's so hard hand rearing puppies, but the weight gain is a good sign!
Just carry on with what you are doing, it seems to be working!

[sarah25]

We had to hand rear our Golden Retrievers litter of 11!!! It was very hard work,we was up day & night every 2 hour's feeding them,me mom & dad was taking it in turns.

After a week of nursing 2 of the puppies we lost them and they died in our arm's when we was sitting with them  BUT the other 9 grow up to be strong happy healthy pup's and have gone to new loving home's which is the main thing  We kept one called Thyme

like chelsea says carry on what you are doing & good luck x

[lolajays]

This Little bundle was handreared 
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a366/luvlys/puppiiiiss.jpg
and we loved them so much we kept 4 my sister kept 2 we now have those two back as her working times have changed to days away   the others have there holidays here  so its turned out really nice 
It was very hard work with me getting up at 9am which would be lovely if I hadn't been going to bed at 6 am  it was very hard work but we were determind not to loose our babies although at the start we were very worried about them at times so we changed our formula to a homemade with the advice of a handrearing expert  who gave us a great formula to make up that really was the life saver 

I really hope your little one makes let us know how shes getting on

I dont suppose Lillie needs a new home lol! Shes welcome here anytime 

[tracey]

Keep up the good work... this is a hand reared baby I have hand reared a couple in the past and although exhausting, well worth it in the end.

[Jan/Billy]

Penny gave birth to her first litter last year and she delivered 11 pups all a week early. 2 sadly died.
The 10th pup that she delivered did not seem to come round, Penny licked him, but nothing happened so I picked him up, gave him a rub and shook him down to help remove secretions but still no movement. He seemed to draw a breath every now and again and that was it. We tried for over 30 mins, but as he still had a heart beat, albeit very slow and signs of respirations we couldn't give up.
The vet didn't think he'd make it but gave him something which I presume was for his lungs and sent us home. She didn't even think it was worth trying to feed him.
I couldn't let him just go so closely watched by Penny i was giving him honey and water and lactol out of a syringe throughout the night and trying to squeaze a few drops of Penny's milk into his mouth.
By morning he was still there, not much different, but alive so we carried on the same for a further 2 days. By day 3 he could move a little bit so I continued to try to put him on Penny's teat. I'd make sure each feed I put him on a back teat first so he got the best milk. His birthweight was 213g, but he just kept losing weight till he was 184g by day 4. It eventually took another week to get him back to his birthweight.
The vet thought he may also be brain damaged, but he wasn't and by 8 weeks old he was just like the rest. He's gone to live with a very special family, but he will always remain my special little boy. He won his right to life with honours.

I truly hope your little girl makes it too.

that made me cry 

[suzysu]

...sorry to hear about the two lost babies  ..got everything crossed that the little girl goes from stremgth to strength 

[Ben's mum]

Hi, sorry to hear of your loss   
I hope this gives you some hope - my Ben's litter was hand reared, he was born by caesarean, all the pups were very tiny (not sure of the weights) 2 were stillborn, but 4 tiny pups survived against the odds. Mum had an infection and was unable to look after them. So his breeder hand reared them - she was exhausted - but said it was worth it!!
When I first saw Ben he was so small, and by 7 weeks he was still a bit smaller than other cockers his age and the breeder said she wouldn't mind if we waited for the next litter, I'm so glad we didn't, he has grown into an enormous healthy bouncing thug and we love him to bits! 

good luck with your pup - I'm sure she will be beautiful

Bens mum