Taking on some orphaned week old puppies.

HollyHamster · 02-06-2014, 04:01 PM

Its a really sad story to begin with, and a difficult situation all around.

A stray pregnant dog wound up at a local "doggie camp". That's a place where dogs can go to spend anywhere from the afternoon, to a few days, when their people aren't able to watch and play with them for some reason or another (i.e. work, vacation, etc.). The doggie camp works with the animal adoption organization my mother and I volunteer for, so they called another of the organization's volunteers and they called us with the story.

The mother dog proved to be unpredictable and even attacked a few of the staff at the facility who were trying to help her. After she gave birth to 8 pups, and kept on attacking and acting vicious to anyone who would get near her or her pups, it was decided to humanely euthanize her. Its a heartbreaking decision, but its necessary as the dog is a serious risk to the safety of the staff and even the other dogs there.

Unfortunately, that means her pups, who are only 5 days old, will need someone who is going to be dedicated to caring for them 24/7 for a while. My mother and I are up to the task. We've also decided to forgo buying the expensive puppy milk at Petco (which is $50 a container), and make our own formula, which will hopefully be less expensive.

Its a mix of goat's milk, eggs, and a few other things I can't remember right now. Mom will get the recipe from a friend who has had success with it in the past.

Once the pups are old enough and fully weaned, they'll be adopted out to good, loving, forever homes.

SinNyx · 02-06-2014, 04:02 PM

Oh wow...what a story...so unfortunate for the mother to of ended up in that situation

It's great knowing you are able to help though! I can see the pups will definitely benefit and thrive from what you are able to do for them.

Good luck! Hope to hear more updates on the situation soon

**KWsHamstery** · 02-06-2014, 04:06 PM

So sorry to here about the mother, but sometimes these things happen. I too take in puppies and kittens that need to be bottle fed and stimulated to use the bathroom, hand rearing, I guess you would say. It is such a good thing you've done taking them in, I just homed a litter of 3 lynx point Siamese kittens that I have been raised from day 2 of their lives to 3 months

We would've kept them if we could, but you can only foster the little lovlies for so long before you know you have to find them loving forever homes.

I hope you enjoy the puppies! They are truly a joy. Best of luck! x

celmoy · 02-06-2014, 04:15 PM

Oh gosh, so sad to hear about the mother! I hope that on some level she knew she was taking her puppies somewhere safe. They are so lucky to have you to take them on and care for them! Good luck, please keep us updated

**DrKMcK** · 02-06-2014, 06:41 PM

Another rescue! I know you and your mom will do whatever you can for these poor little orphans, The issue of mama being so dangerous is understandable. Good luck HH and I'll be looking forward to photos of these little ones when you're ready.

racinghamster · 02-07-2014, 08:05 AM

I may be reading too much into this, but why would they take the decision to euthanase the mother dog (even if she was attacking staff) when she had puppies that could otherwise die if hand fed? It sounds to me as though she was protecting her pups and very confused and fearful. It doesn`t really make sense to take away their lifeline even if it meant keeping the mum and pups in a pen until the puppies were weaned? Then perhaps they could have made a behavioural decision about the mother?

Such a shame they made that decision when the logical one would have been to leave her alone to raise her pups at least for the first five weeks and keep human contact to a minimum.

As I understand it, doggy day camps are for dogs to stay when their owners are working, on holiday or some might have grooming parlours attached? It`s basically a nursery for dogs. The UK have these facilities running as businesses too.

So if they made a decision to euthanase this dog without seriously looking at the implications for the puppies, I don't think they put a lot of thought into it.

HollyHamster · 02-08-2014, 11:45 PM

Racinghamster, if the mother dog were to be left to raise her litter, without much contact from humans, the puppies would have picked up on the mother dog that the humans were to be attacked and feared, rather than seen as okay. Puppies have a critical phase in their development, around 4 to 12 weeks, where they need to interact with as many people and other dogs as possible so that they learn not to be this way. That would be impossible to do with a mother dog being overprotective about them.

Regardless, the decision wasn't mine to make. It was that of the woman who ran the facility. Its not the most ideal situation, but what's done is done and there is no use being mad about it when there are newborn pups to tend to.

Speaking of which, we've received two of the eight puppies to care for. Both are girls and both are doing well. They are in the best hands around and are both eating like little piggies and are fat and healthy. They really like the sweetness of the Karo Syrup that we mix into the formula. It not only tastes sweet, but it gives them much needed sugar boosted energy. I don't think that there is any threat of them not making it.

racinghamster · 02-09-2014, 02:00 AM

Nice to hear they are doing well regardless. x