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HYPOGLYCEMIA
Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, is
a health problem that affects many
toy breeds of puppies between 5 and
16 weeks of age, especially
extremely tiny dogs. Dog owners must
be on the lookout for it.
Hypoglycemia is recognized when a
healthy puppy suddenly becomes weak,
listless, depressed, unaware of its
surroundings, and even unable to
stand or walk. Advanced stages
include seizures before lapsing into
a coma, which is typically followed
by death.
If
your puppy becomes hypoglycemic, it
is very important that you react
IMMEDIATELY! Give the puppy Nutri-Cal,
honey, or Karo syrup. Administer
the honey or syrup with an
eyedropper or if the puppy is too
weak to take it, put it on your
finger and rub it on the roof of its
mouth. If necessary, pry it’s mouth
open.
Regardless of how you do it, make
the puppy take the honey or syrup -
it's life depends on it.
Nutri-Cal
is a fast acting, high calorie
supplement and may be given off of
your finger. It is available at
most pet stores and it's highly
recommended that some be kept
available when you have small
puppies.
Keep
the puppy warm at all times and rub
the puppy very easy, moving the head
from side to side slowly rotating
it. Also move the legs so that the
puppy will not get stiff. It may be
necessary to give the puppy a couple
of doses of honey or Nutri-Cal to
bring it back. If the puppy does
not respond, contact your vet
immediately.
Hypoglycemia can occur without
warning if a puppy is placed in a
new home, misses a meal or is
otherwise stressed.
Please remember that puppies eat
very small amounts, yet they exert
large amounts of energy. You should
leave food and fresh water down for
your puppy at ALL times. The trick
to avoiding hypoglycemia is to make
sure that your puppy eats very
well.
We
feed and recommend Pedigree puppy
hard and soft. DO NOT CHANGE THE
PUPPIES FOOD FOR THE FIRST FEW
WEEKS. If you wish to change food
later, do so gradually, after the
puppy has adjusted to its new home
and life.
A
puppy will play until it drops. It
may play so much that it is too
tired to eat. It is up to YOU as
its new owner to be responsible.
Very
small puppies must sleep about 20
out of 24 hours. Please be very
careful not to over-exert your new
puppy, especially for the first few
weeks. It is up to you to establish
a schedule for your new puppy and
your family.
Be
especially aware of the amount of
time that children play with your
puppy and make them aware that this
is a baby and must be treated like
one. It is important not to play
with your puppy so much that it
becomes exhausted.
We
recommend that you try to make the
first few days together with your
puppy as calm as possible, and
remember that this is a very
traumatic time for your puppy.
Please resist the urge to take your
new puppy to visit friends and
relatives during this period. Make
this a special time to get to know
your puppy, and for your puppy to
get to know its new home.
Remember if there is a problem with
Hypoglycemia, it will usually happen
during the first few weeks while the
puppy is adjusting, and that the
puppy will out grow the tendency as
it becomes adjusted.
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