Wow, HUGE emotional roller coaster this past Easter weekend.
Morgan’s Blenheim puppy, we’ll call him Ex-Easy Puppy, developed digestive problems and apparent nausea (hypersalivation) late Thursday. He quit nursing completely. I put him on Kaopectate, the real thing that is kaolin and pectin, plus Pedialyte.
So then he started having seizures. He had maybe six starting at midnight and then on into early Friday morning. I called my vet, thinking I was just going to have to put him down, but my vet said, no, let’s not do that just yet, let’s hope that’s low blood sugar. She added, “Last week, I had a puppy that presented just like this and that problem turned out on necropsy to be meningitis. Or it could be hydrocephalus, though the head looks normal. Or … you know what, let’s hope for low blood sugar.”
So I gave the puppy 20 cc formula by tube, which he did not appreciate, and which did not stop the seizures. I finally thought of giving him Karo syrup directly into his mouth, and I guess that did the trick because it’s now been 48 hours and no more seizures.
What I have now: a puppy who absolutely, positively will not nurse. Morgan has ample milk. Nope. This puppy is one hundred percent not going to nurse. I suggested that maybe he might prefer to nurse from Leda. Nope. He will not nurse at all.
He is impossible to tube feed; as soon as he started feeling better, he became just impossible to feed that way. He’s too strong and he fights the tube too hard. BUT, he will take Esbilac milk replacer by syringe — I have a nipple attachment for a syringe, which is proving useful. He’ll take 40 cc at a time with enthusiasm, and he’s gaining weight and acting normal and seems perfectly fine. He’s snuggling with his mother and showing the early signs of play behavior, just like his So-Far Easy Tri brother.
So … this is certainly in keeping with the rule that EVERY SINGLE LITTER will present a problem that you have never seen before.
You can often get a puppy to lap milk out of a dish between three and four weeks of age. These puppies are three weeks old today. He’s not able to lap as of this morning, but hopefully in a few days.
Meanwhile, Leda’s puppies are doing fine [she says cautiously].
They’re all up to a pound or so. I give one or another five ccs of formula by tube now and then, but not very often. Just if the puppy seems to have stalled out in terms of weight gain. They’re just fine [so far]. They’re twelve days old today. I may take Leda’s stitches out this afternoon, though they’re not bothering her as far as I can tell, so there’s no rush.
MEANWHILE
I’ve finished proofing and correcting TASMAKAT, so that one is ready to go out to other proofreaders. Whew, that was a job. I did lots of tweaking. Want to know how many actual typos I found? Six. My mother found several dozen, but me? Nope, six. Does that indicate that my EXTREMELY close reading as I cut the manuscript hard multiple times, cleared out all the typos? MAYBE. But my guess is, no. I actually have a bet with myself that proofreaders will find, all together, approximately 180 typos that I have missed. I mean actual, obvious, egregious typos. Usually it’s about sixty, and this book is about three times the normal length, so there you go, 180 typos.
COMING UP
I guess I can either focus on the TUYO World Companion or else start the INVICTUS revision. In practice, probably I’ll kind of do both, switching back and forth depending on how much time I have in a solid block. The puppies are definitely distracting. Provided nothing else goes wrong and the Ex-Easy Puppy thrives, he and his brother will hit Ultimate Cuteness in about two weeks, the little puppies nine or ten days after that. That will present a different kind of distraction. Nevertheless, I assume I’ll be making progress on something, hopefully multiple things, through the rest of this month and into May.
My goal remains: finish the INVICTUS revision by the end of May. My new goal is: Also the TUYO World Companion, preferably also by the end of May, but we’ll see how realistic that looks as we get there. Ideally I will indeed be able to focus on something new — SILVER CIRCLE — this summer.
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Low blood sugar can cause seizures in 3-week-old puppies? Who knew?
I remember the incident you were surely having flashbacks of on Saturday, so naturally I’m pleased to hear that things have so far developed in a more positive direction. Best wishes for the next couple of weeks.
Yes, and I should have thought of that myself, but as you say, I was having serious flashbacks to a different puppy that didn’t make it.
Next time (if ever!) a puppy stops nursing for any reason whatsoever, I’ll certainly be putting a dab of Karo syrup in the puppy’s mouth every hour while I work out what else to do.
Oh gosh, sudden vivid memory of a diabetic foster cat and rubbing syrup on his gums to stop hypoglycemic seizures. I am glad Ex-Easy Puppy has bounced back! Though I imagine your nerves are absolutely shredded at this point. I hope Leda’s litter continues their streak of no-problem-ness and that this is all the excitement Morgan’s litter feels the need for.
Happy Easter!
Oh my goodness that’s SUPER stressful! Glad everything worked out.
I spent Thursday night certain he was going to die, so yep, SUPER stressful.
Maigen, this is the first time I’ve ever had to use syrup to stop seizures, and wow, was I ever relieved when it worked. I just wish I’d thought to try it faster.
I’m hoping very much that Leda’s pups break the rule and show me nothing at all new and exciting.