Recognizing Problems Before It’s Too Late
A somber statistic indicates that the puppy mortality rate is about 20 percent, meaning 1 in 5 puppies born will not survive. Reducing puppy mortality starts with breeders practicing preventive neonatal care, biosecurity measures, and attentive newborn puppy care. Recognizing potential problems is key.
“Puppy loss is a sad reality,” says Julie T. Cecere, DVM, MS, DACT, clinical associate professor of theriogenology at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. “About 75 to 90 percent of losses occur in the first three weeks. Once you get past 10 to 14 days, things generally go smoothly.”
Nearly 80 to 90 percent of common neonatal problems relate to general husbandry, the care and management of the pregnant female and her puppies, Dr. Cecere says.
“We have to remember that pregnant dams and their puppies are immunocompromised,” says the board-certified veterinary reproductive specialist.
“Puppies have no adaptive immune system when they are born. Other than the passive immunity they receive in colostrum, their mother’s first milk that is rich with antibodies, they have no defense to combat disease,” she says. “Likewise, the immune system of a female under the influence of progesterone is suppressed.”
Breeding kennels should adhere to “the six-week rule,” Dr. Cecere advises.
“Three weeks before the female whelps and three weeks after she whelps, a breeder should lock things down,” she says. “New animals should not come into your kennel or cohabitate in your house with your dam and puppies. Animals that go outside the kennel for companion events, veterinary visits or social outings should not come in contact with the female and her litter during this time. The dam and puppies should be kept separate from other animals to reduce the risk of disease.”
Practicing the Three H’s
Effective care of neonatal puppies is tied to how well breeders manage the three H’s: heat, hunger and hydration, says Dr. Cecere.
“You have to make sure neonatal puppies are warm, fed and well hydrated,”
– Dr. Julie Cecere
“If you fail at one or two of these, you will have a compromised neonate.”
Importantly, “neonates are not adult dogs,” Dr. Cecere explains. “They are baby puppies. Their organs and neurological systems are still developing. You need to understand their differences to provide proper care for them.”
Heat: Puppies Cannot Regulate Their Body Temperature
A normal body temperature for neonatal puppies is 96 to 99 degrees compared with 99.5 to 102.5 degrees for adult dogs. It is not until puppies are around three weeks of age that they begin to regulate their body temperature.
“The biggest effect of their inability to maintain body temperature is in the GI (gastrointestinal) system because it does not work if puppies are cold,” Dr. Cecere says. “Food will sit in the GI tract and go nowhere until the body temperature is 96 degrees and above. This could cause reflex opposition or food regurgitation and aspiration.
“Puppies also are prone to diseases, especially herpes virus, which thrives in a cool body temperature. Naïve puppies in the first three weeks cannot fight herpes.”
Maintaining a warm whelping environment is important.
“Look for puppies lying in a ‘pig pile,’” Dr. Cecere says. “This means they are cold, and you may need to provide extra warmth. If the dam is hot and the puppies are spread out, it’s a good sign they are warm.”
The whelping room temperature should be 86 to 90 degrees from day 1 to day 7, and then taper down, going to 80 degrees from day 8 to day 28 and to 70 to 75 degrees from day 29 and on, she advises.
Hunger: Satiating Neonatal Puppies’ Hunger
“Puppies have very little fat stores, or energy stores, which means there is little margin of error for them to go without energy,” Dr. Cecere says. “Their organs are still developing, so it is important they nurse regularly every few hours.”
This is especially true for newborn puppies. “We need newborns nursing as much as possible. They should be with their dam 24/7 to benefit from nursing,” Dr. Cecere says.
“Nursing offers twofold benefits,” she says. “It promotes uterine contractions that release the hormone oxytocin, which produces milk so the dam can nurse her puppies. In addition, puppies receive passive immunity from immunoglobulin (IgG) antibodies in the colostrum, but they must receive this in the first 8 to 10 hours before their GI tract closes.”
Hydration: Puppies Are 80 Percent Water
As with nutrition to nourish their bodies, puppies require frequent and higher amounts of fluid to support their developing organs. While adult dogs are 65 percent water, puppies are 80 percent water, Dr. Cecere explains.
A risk of providing external heat to help puppies stay warm is that it can potentially create a dehydrating environment.
“Puppies will dehydrate if they don’t have enough fluid in their bodies,” Dr. Cecere says. “If you don’t support them with hydration or the environment with humidity, it is not the best environment possible.”
Humidity in a whelping box environment should be 55 to 60 percent, she says. This is higher than environmental humidity, which averages around 45 to 60 percent.
Practicing Biosecurity
“Every breeder should be practicing biosecurity,” Dr. Cecere says. “Breeders have litters for a reason, so it’s important to adhere to practices that reduce puppy loss.”
Along with precautions related to separating the dam and her puppies from the rest of the kennel, breeders should be aware that they are fomites for disease pathogens, she says.
“We can touch something and carry it back to the dam and puppies,” Dr. Cecere says. “You should never go from being around other dogs directly into a whelping area.”
Rather, you should wash your hands, change your clothes and remove your shoes. Frequent cleaning and handwashing are mandatory.
“Herpes is the biggest contagion we worry about,” Dr. Cecere says. “The virus is everywhere. It primarily causes neonatal deaths because it is temperature-sensitive and can easily replicate in their lower body temperatures. It typically affects the whole litter, and most of the time, all the puppies die.”
Clinical signs of herpes include crying, greenish stool and abdominal pain.
Other pathogens that can affect the dam and her puppies include: kennel cough, or Bordetella bronchioseptica, and bacterial infections, such as salmonella and campylobacter. Parasite infections in the dam can be transferred to puppies in the placenta and mammary glands. Deworming females before the puppies are born and deworming puppies at two, four, six and eight weeks of age is important.
Although a lot can go wrong in the first three weeks of caring for neonatal puppies, practicing biosecurity measures can help reduce risks. Breeders should reach out to their veterinarian when they suspect something is wrong.
“Don’t wait until three days later and things are dire. Be intuitive and pay attention to signs of a problem,” Dr. Cecere says.
“Puppies can crash and burn and very quickly,” she says. “While it is normal to experience loss, if you are losing several puppies in a litter, you should be concerned. The implications to your breeding program are important, plus you may be able to help surviving puppies.”
Good Practices to Successfully Manage Neonatal Puppies
- Locate the whelping box in a separate area of the kennel or your house. The dam and puppies should be sequestered from other animals to protect them from exposure to viral or bacterial contagions.
- Weigh puppies daily at the same time of day and chart their weight. Puppies should gain 5 to 10 percent of their birthweight daily, ultimately doubling their birthweight at 7 to 10 days of age. Puppies that fail to gain weight and have more than a 4 percent weight loss in 24 hours warrant veterinary attention.
- Monitor puppies for “eat, sleep and dream” behaviors, indicating normal neurological development. After eating, puppies fall asleep and their bodies depict dreaming with slight twitching movements and vocalization.
- Check puppies’ reflexes, which are present from birth. These include righting themselves when placed on their back, rooting for a nipple when a forefinger circles the muzzle and suckling when the tip of a finger is in the mouth. A puppy not exhibiting natural reflexes should be seen immediately by a veterinarian.
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