Injured pup - Page 1

Need some advice.  My dog had a litter of seven.  When they were two days old, she picked up one in her mouth and was turning in circles, as if she did not know what she wanted to do with it.  It let out a terrible scream, that both my wife heard and saw, her with the pup in her mouth.  It is her first litter and she was not doing well but has settled down and is doing well with the pups now.

From our recollection, the pup she picked up and then it screamed, was normal prior to this event.  The next day, we noticed that this same pup was not able to crawl and therefore was not feeding because it could not get to its mother like the other pups.  We put him to the teats and he suckled well.  We figured that he was injured that time that he screamed and took him to the vet.  The vet stated that he is to young (four days old) for an x-ray to show anything worthwhile as he has to much cartilage yet.  He could not figure out what is wrong with the puppy but did pinch the toes on all four paws and the pup screamed, so he has ruled out that it is paralized.

The vet gave the puppy a shot of cortizon and stated to bring him back the next day for another.  We did so.  That was yesterday.  There is no change in the pup and it still can not crawl but is suckling well.  We alternate between feeding it goats milk from a bottle and putting it to its mothers teat.  We are messaging all of its legs, feet and body, to help prevent bed sores, and help with possibly getting it better, but there is no improvement.  It moans and cries most of the time.

I do not want a dog that is basically going to be a "worm" when grown, but I do want to save it, no matter what the cost, if possible to get it normal or almost normal.  The vet says to give it time as he has seen miraculous recoveries in the past but he is stumped as to what is wrong with the puppy.  He says we can always put it down but we can't bring it back if we do that.  I know that it is in pain a lot but it can sleep quietly for an hour or so some times.  I figure it is some kind of spinal injury but the Vet does not think so, although he says it is possible and if it is that, there is no way he would operate on a week old pup to fix a problem like that.

Anyone have any ideas as to what it may be?  We are attached but are realistic about what may have to be done, for its own sake and for ours.  I have named him "Almost", for several reasons.  He is in my lap right now, but he can not really move his limbs, more than just a little shake now and then.  If I lie him on his back and pull up gently on his front legs, he yelps.  He does not do this when I do the same with his back legs.  His back legs and paws seem "thin", expecially the pads on his paws.

K9Hooligan, the dam may be inexperienced but has an eon of natural instinct on that to rely. There may be a serious probem with this puppy, and she is possibly aware of something neither you, me, nor your veterinarian can detect. In time it may manifest itself to become apparent. None of us want to see a baby suffer and die, but that is the dog world and the expression "survival of the fittest" is appropriate for what is happening.

Years ago I had a similar concern with a pup who was much smaller than her littermates. She had a difficult time nursing for the first two (2) weeks as her larger (there were ten more) siblings easily pushed her away from the dam. I bottle fed her occassionally and made sure that she got a good share of dam's milk. She survived and became a nice adult female save for the fact that she was well over medium size.

And, she could have injured the puppy, but normally this does not happen from a gentle mouth grip. A dam will not normally grip her puppies with her mouth unless they are very small and she intends to move them to a safe place. She could have accidentally injured the puppy, or sensed the puppy was not normal and was preparing to remove it from the litter. These are dogs, and while most of our behavour is learned, most of theirs is instinctual.

All that said, I also would not give up easily and would try to hand-raise the puppy until I saw a definite problem that would affect the quality of life for this puppy.

Good Luck,

Bob-O

K9hooligan,

I am not a Vet.  I have worked for a Vet for a lot of years.  I would ask your Vet, him/her their honest opinion what to do for this little guy.  Turn the table and ask them what they would honestly do,if this were thier pup?  Be ready for the worst, I would expect they would put it down.

I have seen many times where bitches will kick a pup out of a litter, they ALWAYS do it for a reason.  They know.  There may have been a problem with this pup that only she knew about.  If you make the decision, just know the little guy isnt suffering anymore.  If he can only rest for an hour comfortably, then there is really something wrong with him.  I HOPE I am wrong, but don't allow him to suffer. 

I have seen people bottle feed and tube feed puppies to keep them going and then later have to put them down because of other underlying problems, mega esophogus, blind puppies and often neurological disorders.

Giving this pup Cortizon, will only mask the problem and could possibly create more at a later date.  Steroids are hard on adults, much less a tiny pup. 

I know this is a very difficult decision, and I am sorry if I have offended you or made you sad.  Just think of this little guy and whats best for him.   I wish you the best of luck.

Keep us posted and God bless. 

JUSTK9S

You should wait and see.  Infant puppies are VERY resiliant.  If he was healthy to begin with and was injured by his mom - chances are he will recover and be 100%.  He may just be bruised and hurting.  Help him get to the milk, make sure he nurses every 2 hours or so.  Put him on the nipple. Make sure the mom is cleaning him and treating him like the others.  Make sure he doesn't get away from the other puppies and gets cold - keep him warm and make sure he's cleaned (so he pees and poops) and nurses.  IF he wasn't healthy before this happened, then there is nothing you can do anyway.  He may fade.  If he fades then there was something wrong, or a serious injury when mom picked him up.  If there is a genetic problem or serious injury (ie perforated gut, punctured internal organ etc) then he'll fade and die.  Don't kill yourself trying to save him.  But as long as he's nursing, help him get to the nipple, keep him warm (with the other puppies will be enough) and make sure she's cleaning him.  He will probably recover and be just fine - the more time that goes by and he's still nursing and gaining weight, the less chance there is permanent injury.  Good luck I hope he does great.

molly

At 5 or 6 days old they crawl.  I agree with Molly as far as what to do for now.

Thank you to all for your advice and concern.  The puppy (named "Almost") did not make it.  I fed him at midnight and he did not take it well, but did get enough in him.  I then got up at 2 am to feed him again and he had passed.  Very sad.  I believe he had internal injuries that the Vet could not determine.

The other puppies are doing great.

Thanks again.

Sorry to hear.  Good luck with the rest.

when a small delicate animal is bitten, there does not have to be external injuries, or even any signs of injury, for there to be internal injuries.  If the mom bit down with any pressure at all, he could have have perforations of any of his organs - perhaps his stomach so he couldn't process the milk properly even though he was still nursing - perhaps the gut which would have had the same result, or his fecal matter may have leaked into his abdomen, causing toxidity.  Blood in the abdomen, same thing.  Or even just a shock to the body could be enough to cause an infant pup to not be able to recover.  I had hoped since he was still nursing that he would be ok, infants can be very resiliant to injury - but not serious injury.  Sorry he didn't make it.

on the female's defense, if she's a first-time mother especially, or young, or extremely high-drive or protective of her pups, sometimes they will pick the pups up.  This is a sign of nervousness - only experienced mothers would pick up pups to move them, doing this very deliberately and gently.  In 13 years of breeding high-drive strong-temperament GSDs, I have never had a mother who picked up puppies, to move them or anything else.  If I see them even trying to mouth puppies, I firmly correct this behavior.  They might mean well, but picking up an infant pup can do damage even to the point of being fatal.  I don't allow it if I can prevent it - but my girls have never seemed to want to put their mouths on the puppies so all has worked out ok though I always keep a close eye on the young first-time mothers and keep everything quiet, dark around them for the first week at least, so they don't worry about anything coming near their puppies.

molly

One of my bitches hid her entire new born litter in the "grass"  of Easter baskets she found stored inside a cabinet. I left her alone for a few hours and when I went to the whelping box, no puppies!!! She showed me where they were and I put them back in the box and closed the cabinet door knowing she'd do it again the moment I left .

Blitzen, I would have freaked if I had come into the room expecting to see the puppies that were there before, and saw an empty box.  Yikes, would have had to jump-start my heartbeat again after that.

molly