Sick Puppies

If your dog has just had puppies, it can be a really exciting time. But what if there’s something wrong? What happens if the puppies become ill? How do you treat sick puppies? If you are faced with pups that aren’t well and you don’t know what to do, it can turn this otherwise joyous occasion into a nightmare. In this article you will learn how to spot a puppy that isn’t doing so great and hopefully be able to avoid the awful experience of losing one of your pups.

For dog breeders with years of experience, it can be easy to spot a puppy in trouble, but how does the average dog owner know when a puppy is sick? A really simple way to tell if a puppy is ill is to pick it up. Healthy pups usually make a screaming noise when lifted, but when ill they will make a different sound which is louder and can be quite harrowing.

While you have the puppy in your hands, you can check the skin too. If the puppy’s skin feels quite stiff then it may be dehydrated. This is another sign of a struggling pup and must be treated fast; dehydration can kill a puppy within 24 hours. Another sign of dehydration is diarrhea. It may be that the mother cleans up any mess before you can spot it, but there is still a way to tell. If the fur around the puppy’s bum is clumped together and looks wet even when it isn’t, this is a sign of excessive cleaning and means the pup may be in trouble.

To treat sick puppies suffering from dehydration, you will need to tube feed them. You shouldn’t use cow’s milk for this as you will just make it worse. Instead, ask your vet for puppy replacer milk and put a drop of a salicylic acid such as Pepto-Bismol in it to help settle their stomach. Knowing how much and how often to tube feed a sick pup is important to ensure you don’t make it worse. If you can’t figure this out, ask your vet.

One great thing you can do when your puppies are born is starting a weight gain chart for them, this is especially important if the puppies are born small. Keeping track of how much weight your puppies put on every day is important in monitoring their health, so you should weigh them once or twice a day. The average healthy pup should gain around 10-20 grams per day at least and should have no problems suckling milk from its mother. 

Maybe you don’t feel confident enough to tackle a puppy’s health problems on your own. This is nothing to feel ashamed about. Once you have successfully identified a problem, taking your sick puppies to a vet is often the best way for all involved, and can prevent the worst from happening. There is no substitute for the years of experience and the knowledge your vet has.