Puppy Health: Most Common Reasons For Newborn Puppies' Deaths

From the desk of Sharda Baker.

 

Every dog owner who plans on breeding their dog is worried if they will manage to take good care of the newborn puppies. Newborn puppies are so vulnerable and that is the reason why you should take every precaution to prevent the most common puppy health problems that might lead to a fatal outcome.  

There are many reasons why a newborn or a very young puppy might not be able to make it. These include problems during whelping, inappropriate living conditions and dog day care after birth, inappropriate puppy dog food, viral and bacterial diseases and genetic disorders.

Unfortunately, a large number of puppies’ deaths occur during whelping due to complications such as obstruction of the birth canal or uterine fatigue. These conditions are potentially dangerous for both the dam and the puppies. Luckily, frequent vet examinations during pregnancy and delivery at a pet hospital rather than at home can prevent them.

Newborn puppies and very young puppies are quite helpless and susceptible to all sorts of diseases. The most common reason for puppies’ death during the first couple of weeks is hypothermia. Newborn pups are unable to maintain their body temperature until the end of the first week. Exposing them to low temperatures not only compromises puppy health but leads to the onset of a severe viral infection called Fading Puppy Syndrome.

Fading Puppy Syndrome is a canine herpes viral infection (CHV). The virus is usually transmitted from the dam to the puppies in the uterus or through infected oral, nasal or vaginal secretion of the dam and the outcome of the infection is fatal.

The symptoms of CHV in newborn and very young puppies include diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Usually, newborn puppies die within a couple of days after the first symptoms occur.

Since no vaccine for canine herpes viral infection is available, there is only one thing you can do to prevent this life-threatening puppy health problem: take the dam to a pet hospital where your vet can run CHV tests prior to letting her mate. If it turns out your dog carries the virus, you should reconsider having puppies or arrange for a caesarian section.

Besides the risk of CHV infection newborn puppies are threatened by all sorts of other puppy health complications during the first weeks. Most dams take great care of their puppies. However, if you notice that your dam fails to do so, you should know when and how to step in. Here are a few things you need to do:

• Keep the puppies’ room warm and insulated. During the first week you should maintain a temperature of 80-90 °F (27-32 °C).

• Maintain utmost hygiene. Most dams do a great job washing and cleaning their puppies, but some are not that good. Even if your dog washes her puppies often, you still need to change the blankets inside in the whelping crate as well as clean the crate every day and even more often if your dam has a large litter.

• Keep a close eye on the puppies. Unfortunately, almost all puppy health complication may develop very rapidly and you may not be able to do anything to prevent a fatal outcome. Make sure all puppies have good access to food, especially if your dam has a large litter. Newborn puppies may lose weight and die quite quickly if their mother doesn’t nurse them properly. Weigh the puppies every day and make sure they are steadily gaining weight. A puppy that doesn’t put on weight might be sick or pushed aside by it’s siblings when feeding.

• If the dam pushes aside a puppy, take it to the pet hospital right away. Dams seem to feel when there is something wrong with their litter so the fact that she refuses to nurse one of her puppies may signify a health problem.

• Create a safe environment. A common reason for newborn puppies’ death is when a puppy becomes trapped under it’s mother’s body or under the blankets of the whelping crate. Minimize these risks by securing the blankets in the crate and monitoring the dam and her litter.

• Feed young puppies with special puppy dog food. You can introduce them to solid food when they are four weeks old. It is a good idea to soak the food in puppy formula and gradually decrease the amount of formula until they are able to eat dry food.

Taking care of newborn and young puppies is very hard and time consuming. Apart from all the time you should dedicate, you need to be prepared to meet all medical expenses you might have. The best thing to do is to find a pet insurance that will cover your costs. Although it is hard to figure out which might be the best pet insurance, do your best and research several pet insurance providers well in advance.

I hope that you enjoyed and learned something again from today's newsletter.

All the best and take care

Warmly,