A Sad Day in the Life of a Breeder

When people tell me they want to breed to make a little extra money, I cringe and try to explain the heartache, time, and expertise involved in breeding. There is so much more that can and does happen. I had once told a fellow breeder how lucky I was. I had never even had a still born, no c-sections, no loss of puppies. She said "You will." I fully believe her now. Eventually it all happens and you're lucky if you can recognize the symptoms early and treat them appropriately for the best outcome possible.

Camille delivered in June and had 5 healthy puppies. Since she usually had puppies that were small and we had lost a couple to unexplained deaths beyond failure to thrive, I planned to treat the puppies early and vigorously. I dewormed them more than our normal protocol and started early. I also did a full 10 days of Albon when the puppies had mattery eyes and seemed to be small. In case Camille was a carrier of coccidia and she had passed it along to her puppies, we would treat them early and prevent the puppies from having any problems.

The smallest female of the litter then had an acute case of hypoglycemia at 4 1/2wks. She was tested for a liver shunt since we hadn't explored that avenue previously. We also did a fecal for parasites and coccidia. All was negative and normal and she made a recovery after 2 days of treatment by Dr Gail. Her growth continued to be stunted and she fell well behind her litter mates by failing to grow. But nothing was cuter than a 7wk old 1.1 lb puppy, with a tail going 100mi/min! We explained everything to the families waiting for puppies and planned to keep the puppies an extra week and delay their vaccination schedule by 1wk.

Yesterday, all seemed normal on the video monitor. I had been letting the dogs run, and had done some bathing and grooming. I noticed Camille's male seemed sleepy. I watched him a few minutes later and he was mopey and didn't feel good. I thought he may have been overheated and brought him in. His temp was low, and I offered him puppy formula to boost his blood sugar and he refused. I syringe fed him some formula and he vomited it back up. I then gave him subq fluids, placed him under a heat lamp to stablize his temp, and called Dr Gail. She's offered to come over and see him on her way back into town. His blood sugar was low so we supplemented him and it took 3 testings and supplementing before it came back into normal range. Everything else including his temp seemed normal except for vomiting. We left him under the heat lamp and went into the clinic to run some blood tests and get some Reglan for the vomiting. The testing came back with some slightly low electrolytes that only said that he had been vomiting. So all seemed normal and he just needed a little Reglan to settle his stomach, eat, and keep his temp and blood sugar stable through the night. The Reglan didn't help and although he was thirsty he refused to eat. I force fed him supplement to keep his blood sugar stable and since he continued to vomit all fluids, I gave him subq fluids throughout the night, every 2-3hrs.

After the 2nd dose of Reglan this morning and continued vomiting, I called Dr Gail to ask for an IV and some dextrose fluids. We took him into the clinic and she decided to explore his abdomen to ensure he didn't have an obstruction or anything. The xray and ultrasound didn't show anything abnormal and he was neg for parvo (although we didn't think that was it, at least we could rule out one more thing). We started an IV with D10 fluids. Our plan included Reglan, antibiotics, and IV fluids to get him through his vomiting. I fully expected him to perk up with the D10 and feel better soon. He was stable and resting and I laid down for a few minutes. I got up to check his IV drip rate and he had died. I felt complete shock and disbelief.

I realize most breeders don't take all the precautions and do IV drips at home. Dr Gail knows me personally and since I'm an OB nurse, she knows I'm fully capable of doing these cares for my puppies, particularly when she's not even on call and has other plans. But in the sense that in less than 24hrs, things can go very badly, this is what I want to communicate about why breeding should be left up to experienced breeders. It isn't just the knowledge of confirmation, breeding lines, and being an expert in the breed. It's about giving a life the best chance possible.

I'm tearful and it's been a very sad day. Nothing hurts more than to have to wrap up a little warm body and know you did everything possible and it still wasn't enough. Nothing is harder than to not know. Why did he die when "there is no good reason for him to feel bad". I exhaust my bank account with what some may consider extreme measures. But in my mind, this is just basic, quality care that every puppy deserves. Nothing is harder than to tell a family that the puppy that was supposed to go home on Sat has died and I have no explanation. I just try to cope the best way I know how, and give a tribute to a little guy that was part of our life for the last 8 weeks.

Now I'm headed into another long night as my son started vomiting this evening. There seems to be a virus going around that although is short lived, must be pretty contagious and causes wretched vomiting. This is child #2 to get it and we have one more to go! Nothing is worse than small children and vomiting. For some reason they don't know how to contain it in one spot, and unlike puppies you can't contain them in a crate for easy clean up. Oops...here he goes again.....gotta go!