Our little lab pups are only two days old and when I made my final visit for the evening I discovered one the wasn’t going to make it through the night. To steal a line from The Princess Bride, she was mostly dead. After all these years, my heart sinks when I find a puppy teetering on the brink. She wasn’t completely lifeless but she was limp and could barely make a sound. When pups are like this, they will easily slip away without immediate stimulation and assistance. Her skin was tight and looked dehydrated. I pulled the cool pup from the whelping box, even though it is quite warm, and put her under a warming light. I rushed back inside where Kim helped me make the supplemental milk concoction. I grabbed a syringe for the milk and another syringe & needle for subcutaneous fluid administration. The puppy had a very week sucking response and my pinky finger so I hurriedly started giving her milk from the syringe. After getting fluids into her, the next step was to give her subcutaneous fluids. I drew the first syringe full of the warmed water. Tap water is a poor substitute for a proper saline solution and Kim expressed that concern. I explained to Kim that I didn’t think we had the time to acquire saline solution so I proceed to inject numerous syringes of water, creating tumor-like lumps on the tiny puppy. Before long she was perking up and gained enough strength to nurse on Sammi. She is still not far from slipping away, but I’m grateful she’s no longer currently going over the edge. I am cautiously optimistic that she’ll make it through the night but they are quite fragile at this young age.
