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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 Bil-Jac puppy hard and soft. DO NOT CHANGE THE PUPPY'S 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. | |
