small Breed Dogs
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Hypoglycemia
What This Is
Hypoglycemia is the term used for when there is a drop of blood sugar levels in dogs. The normal concentration is 70 milligrams if glucose (sugar) per deciliter(mg/dl) of blood.
hen hypoglycemia occurs, this drops down. In most cases it will not drop below 50 mg.
Why This Happens
This happens most often to puppies, although it can happen at any age, it is most common in pups from birth to 4 months old. When this happens with puppies, it is called Juvenile Hypoglycemia.
Hypoglycemia is the term used for when there is a drop of blood sugar levels in dogs. The normal concentration is 70 milligrams if glucose (sugar) per deciliter(mg/dl) of blood.
hen hypoglycemia occurs, this drops down. In most cases it will not drop below 50 mg.
Why This Happens
This happens most often to puppies, although it can happen at any age, it is most common in pups from birth to 4 months old. When this happens with puppies, it is called Juvenile Hypoglycemia.
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This also affects toy and small breed dogs much more often than larger dogs.
The reason for this is because the young age of the pup and the fragile small size makes it difficult for them to regulate their levels and they require higher levels of glucose than other older, larger dogs.
The reason for this is because the young age of the pup and the fragile small size makes it difficult for them to regulate their levels and they require higher levels of glucose than other older, larger dogs.
Other elements or situations can also quickly cause a puppy's blood sugar to drop. The most common are:
Do intense exercise without having eaten for several hours before hand
Other medical issues are involved, such as tumors and liver shunts, although the juvenile hypoglycemia is much more common.
The Symptoms
The signs will come on very quickly. In the majority of cases, with dogs under 4 months old, sometimes you will only have minutes to notice these signs and react accordingly. You will want to look out for:
- Stress - The stress of a puppy leaving its breeder and trying to quickly adapt to a new home can be stressful
- Cold - even a chilly draft on a newborn Chihuahua can cause this to happen
- Not receiving enough food - A close eye must be kept on young pups under the age of 4 months, to make sure that they are eating enough
- Intestinal parasites - Many can be unknowingly passed from dam to puppy
Do intense exercise without having eaten for several hours before hand
Other medical issues are involved, such as tumors and liver shunts, although the juvenile hypoglycemia is much more common.
The Symptoms
The signs will come on very quickly. In the majority of cases, with dogs under 4 months old, sometimes you will only have minutes to notice these signs and react accordingly. You will want to look out for:
- Loss of appetite
- Extreme weakness
- Clumsy walking
- Shivering
- Muscular twitching
- Seizures
- Strange behavior, such as acting confused, not seeming to hear you, walking in circles around the water dish, etc.
- Dilated pupils
- Apparent blindness, such as bumping into objects or not appearing to see you when you are right there
- Without treatment, the pup will slip into a coma
Treatment
If you notice the above signs, it is very important that you take action right away. You will need to give treatment to the puppy for hypoglycemia to help stabilize him or her...and then you will need immediately go to the closest veterinarian or animal hospital. Your action for stabilizing will be to use Karo syrup. For this reason, it is highly recommended for all breeders and anyone with a puppy under 4 months old to have this on hand at all times. Keeping this in your home is obvious, however whenever you have a pup in the car with you or are outside of the home, keep the syrup with you.
If you do not have Karo syrup, as an attempt to save the pup, you can use other products usually found in your kitchen:
- Sugar mixed into water and dropped into the pup's mouth with a small bubble dropper
- Crushed children's cereal with sugar coating - you can attempt to have the pup eat this, although he or she may be too weak.
As soon as you have done this, do not wait to see if it helped, it will be time to safely but swiftly go to the closest animal hospital or veterinarian. You may wish to go to your own vet; however this is not always recommended if another is a shorter distance from you.
Once there, the veterinarian will evaluate the puppy and most often will admisister glucose via an IV, monitoring the puppy at all times until stablization is complete. In most cases, this fast treatment will allow the puppy to recover. Without treatment, first the pup will slip into a coma and then, it is fatal.
Prevention
There are several things that you can do to help prevent this from occuring:
- Provide a warm environment - check to make sure that there are no cool drafts, newborns should be in the whelping box with the dam on a blanket with a heating pad underneath it, on a low to medium setting
- Frequent feedings are a must, food should be given 3 to 4 times per day until a puppy is 4 months old
- Make sure that a puppy is up-to-date on shots and de-worming
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