Hypoglycemia
The toy breed puppy, especially a tiny one, is frequently a high maintenance project. Innocent things as a fall off of a chair, or a book or telephone falling on them can break a bone or be deadly. This is not a living stuffed animal; this is a live creature. However, with proper care, you should be able to enjoy many happy years together. The following Information is not meant to scare you, but just to let you be aware of the risks.
You should really not consider buying a tiny puppy if you have small children, or if you are frequently gone during the day for long periods of time. Most pups do not enjoy being alone all the time, but for a tiny pup, this could prove fatal.
There are a few very important things you must know in order to properly care for your new baby:
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We strongly recommend making food accessible 24 hrs a day if possible. If your puppy is tiny, this is mandatory! It is not unusual that a puppy going to a new home have a decreased appetite for the first little while. If however, your puppy has not eaten anything for the first 24 hours, please contact a vet! Puppies should never go that long without eating .Due to their small size, toys must replenish their energy more frequently than larger size puppies. The only way to do this, is by supplying plenty of nourishment in the form of food. You must remember that puppies only eat very small amounts of food at a time but they exert large amounts of energy. Also, do not change the puppies food from the food it has been eating, to something different, for the first 2 weeks until the puppy has adjusted to its new home. Then, if you are going to make a change, do it gradually by slowly adding more of the new food to the old food each day until it has been totally switched over to the new food. Please also remember NOT to give the puppy milk to drink, it only needs water. Milk can irritate the GI tract and cause runny stools. If you want to feed table scraps, remember, your puppy is a baby, and can get an upset stomach if the food you give it is too harsh. Introduce foods slowly as your pup gets old enough to tolerate them.
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Keep in mind that puppies of this size require extra warmth. They do not tolerate fleas, or any other parasite very well. They are simply too small to have any blood to give away to blood sucking parasites. They need to be adequately dewormed and checked over for any signs of infectious disease. Diarrhea is common for puppies but a very tiny puppy cannot withstand the dehydration that accompanies diarrhea.
The smaller your puppy, the more at risk it can be for hypoglycemia. *Hypoglycemia , or low blood sugar (sometimes called "sugar shock") is a condition where the blood sugar level drops to an extremely low level, usually due to lack of food, or by using up all stored energy without it being replenished. (Such as when your puppy plays for an extended period of time without eating.)
Toy breeds, especially tiny ones can be prone to hypoglycemia because they have such tiny digestive systems. They can only store a small amount of food (energy) in their bodies at one time. Their liver and pancreas which are necessary for digestion and sugar balance are also small and slow to develop as well. Puppies tend to grow out of hypoglycemia as they get older, because as they grow, so do their major organs. This makes them more able to utilize and process the food that they eat so it can sustain them for longer periods of time. Other common triggers are stress (such as going to a new home) or parasites.
Symptoms of Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia can occur without warning to any healthy puppy and can be a very scary thing, so it is best to know what to look for!
Your puppy may exhibit one or more of these signs: acting listless, weak, tired, sometimes walking with an unsteady gait as if drunk, shakiness, falling over, stiffening up, laying on their side paddling with their feet and being unable to get up, not being able to focus their eyes, and in very severe advanced cases, laying on their side and being totally unresponsive or comatose.
If your puppy becomes hypoglycemic, it is very important that you react IMMEDIATELY!! If the puppy is not given some quick form of nutrition containing sugar i.e. nutri-cal, honey, sugar, glucose, syrup or any sugar containing product to raise the blood sugar immediately, coma, brain damage and/or possibly death could result.
If any of these symptoms occur, give the puppy a small dose of ANY sugar containing product that is handy. Time is of the essence, so reach for whatever is the closest at the moment.
(DO NOT USE artificial sweetners such as Nutrisweet, Splenda etc. as they will not work!)
If the puppy is unable to swallow, do not force liquids down it's throat as it can get into the lungs and cause asphyxiation. If the puppy is too weak to swallow and take the sugar on its own, put it on your finger and rub it on the roof of his mouth. (It will absorb through the gums; actual swallowing is not necessary). If necessary, pry his mouth open but just make sure that he gets it. HIS LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!! It may be necessary to give several doses.
After being given something sweet, your puppy should show some type of improvement and be more alert and responsive within 1-10 minutes. If not, the puppy should be rushed to an animal hospital for treatment! Before going out the door to the vets, make sure and give some sugar to your puppy. In severe cases, if their blood sugar has dropped too far, it is sometimes necessary for them to receive glucose (dextrose) given by a subcutaneous shot or in very extreme cases by IV (intravenous). Make sure that you tell your vet that you suspect that your puppy is hypoglycemic and specifically ask for a shot of Dextrose before he does anything else. Unfortunately, many veterinarians are not familiar with treating tiny dogs and/or have never seen a case of hypoglycemia and many puppies have died needlessly while the vet wastes precious time performing routine tests looking for other things. .
Every puppy responds differently after a sugar low. The sooner they are treated at the onset of symptoms, the faster they will bounce back. Many pups are back to their own selves running around playing in a few minutes or a few hours after an attack. But if your puppy has had a very severe case or was almost comatose before treatment, it could take several hours and even as much as several days for your puppy to be back to normal. Remember low blood sugar causes their tiny bodies to totally shut down, so many pups act very weak or depressed or groggy and some will not eat on their own after a severe attack.
To help your puppy recuperate:
1. It is very important to make sure that they get food in their stomach to prevent them from becoming hypoglycemic again. If they are not eating on their own, you must hand feed them. ReboundŽ Liquid Diet is a liquid diet that is nutritionally complete and is great as an added supplement for hypoglycemic pups that are not eating well!
2. Keep your puppy warm. When a puppy has low blood sugar, their temperature drops very low. It is important to gradually warm your pet and wrap them in a towel or put them on a low temperature heating pad until they are well enough to keep their own temperature up.
Remember that they are very tiny babies and tire easily. Please be careful not to over-tire your puppy especially in the first few weeks. A puppy will play until it drops. It may play so much that it is too tired to eat. Most very small puppies need as much as 20 out of 24 hours rest.
If they have been out playing for a while, or have had a lot of people carrying them around or have been away from a food source for a prolonged period of time, give them some syrup before retiring them.
It is NOT recommended to leave your puppy alone for more than a few hours at a time until he has adjusted to his new home. If you do have to leave him, it is a good idea to add a small amount of sugar to his drinking water and keep this water in front of him at all times. Puppies usually drink frequently and every time they take a drink of water they will be getting a small amount of sugar to keep their blood sugar up. Clear Karo syrup seems to keep fresh in the water the longest. Other alternatives to Karo syrup that are also used in the drinking water are, honey, syrup, Gatorade or Children's Pedialite.
Remember, when adding anything to the drinking water, don't overdo it! The point is to get the puppy to drink it. If the drinking water becomes cloudy or tastes terrible, your puppy won't drink it which can lead to dehydration and even bigger problems.
SWEET TREATS. You could also give your puppy marshmallows or mini marshmallows as a treat to chew on. Leave the marshmallows out of the package for a day or so to harden them a bit. It gives them something fun to chew on and they get a bit of sugar pick me up in each bite.
REMEMBER this is a very traumatic time for your puppy! It has been taken away from its mom and brothers and sisters and brought to a totally new home with strangers. So it is very important that you try and make the first week to 2 weeks with your new puppy as calm of an experience as possible. It is an important time for the puppy to bond with you as its new family and to get used to its new environment.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us!