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litter wrap up - barf
Hi All,
The " moon dust" has settled here and all the "moon" puppies are now well
on their way settled in their new homes scattered around the country except
our TRiX who is staying put. :-) Meet her and her litter mates/cousins at:
http://www.briergoldens.com/sprite_scarlette_litter_pa.htm
I wanted to share some of my experiences with all of you with the trials
and tribulations. I ended up giving in and feeding the puppies kibble/
modified barf after they all got ill. We got giardia for the first time
ever in a litter. You may recall I was looking for help when I thought
that I had muffed up the diet with too much ground meat and to high of
fat. I even wrote Dr. B who did respond. Never dealing with giardia in a
litter before and the pup's not really going off their food eating chopped
RMB's with gusto I missed the symptoms which I am told are refusal to eat
among other things. Hind sight is such a great tool... These guys had
rotten stools and we did a litter collective check and treated for coccidia
and/or other parasites (nothing was seen in the collective sample but
sometimes you do have coccidia and not see it or I have...) Albon did
apparently sooth things as the stools firmed back up but after treatment of
5 days they went loose again ( treat for 10 days always). My vet was very
much in the loop and while they are not versed on raw feeding they have
been supportive.
Because the puppies were really active and eating I just kept beating my
head on the wall and kept going.... Dr. B's advise to me given what I told
him was to go to strictly RMB's cut out all the ground because it is so
high in fat. I did that and things cleared up for a day or two, only to go
back to icky again. No one ever refused food or appeared sick till 6
weeks, which was about 10 days into the bad poop beginnings. We had one
puppy who really got sick and did stop eating. My vet told me when we
brought him in he thought this guy had some sort of a congenital problem
such as he out grew his kidneys... His blood work was in the toilet and
did indicate renal failure as well as we did get a positive for giardia via
Eliza test. We hydrated him, force fed him and just babied him
along. At 8 weeks we repeated the work ups and things were on an up swing
but not right... At 10 weeks we repeated his works ups and he was normal,
thank goodness... Though he is not the best eater still and has gained
weight slower than the rest of the litter. He was not small at birth,
these guys all weighed exactly 1 pound at birth with the exception of 1 at
15 ounces... Mom was barf fed.
With the majority of the litter we were able to get the giardia under
control with in 5 days of treatment but we treated for a full 10 days. I
had a couple that took a bit more "work" as in they are not the eaters that
the rest of the litter are... At 11 weeks now everyone expect Hogan the pup
noted above and his sister Riley are "back" on food, most a modified raw
diet with no problems eating every bit in seconds. Riley and Hogan are
still a bit picky as in they eat a few bites and walk away come back
ect... Both are gaining weight and looking good but the giardia really
took it's toll on them as well as the Metronidazole did, Panacur did not
work, though we tried. Hogan just went home Friday at exactly 11 weeks
with my vet's blessing and he is doing great. These two are also on
modified barf getting some raw meat and veggies mixed with kibble. Again
as noted in my post to Melaine on her bitch not eating I have noticed these
guys also want nothing to do with poultry. They will eat ground beef,
liver ect but no ground turkey or chicken??? Weird??? TRiX on the other
hand will clean up a chicken neck or wing in seconds, she never has refused
any foods... She is a porker, 11 weeks and on a reducing diet! <LOL>
Anyway why I ended up giving in and going back to feeding the litters dog
food was for several reasons: One being I was so frazzled and concerned
about Hogan and the rest of them too I just ran out of time. I literally
was doing nothing but caring for dogs and puppies from well before sun up
to well after 10:00 PM daily. Now don't get me wrong I am dedicated to my
dogs and always put 120% of myself into litters and the care of the new
families, Deb Mc Fail, Carolyn Elliott and Linda Shipman all list members
here can attest to that. But something had to give... Most of my litter
families were wanting to go raw and were reading and trying to work through
things but were also leaning on me hard not only for diet help but lots of
other things as well as in this group of 12 families we had several
"special needs" families. Ie: had never had a dog before or had been
years, or had had dogs with problems previously... High maintenance
group... Great group all willing to learn and receptive to all the info I
do put out ect, but still just high maintenance... Also as things evolved
for me concerns on interpretation of the diet from each family and their
capabilities to actually not muff it up and create problems as their
puppies grew also became a big concern.
At the same time all this was happening our dear Rocky has been diagnosed
with his cancer metastasizing to his lungs. He is doing really well right
now we are hopeful he will at lest enjoy the summer but beyond that were
not being hopeful. Rocky is off BARF and on dog food too as he won't touch
raw anything right now... To top it off SeaJay has been injured in a field
accident and we are to the vet on a daily basis for bandage changes. He
really got his left front foot tore up and pads take for ever to heal and
infection is major concern with the type injury he has sustained. He is
out of action my vet says till probably October/November... In essence you
can equate his injury to getting a foot caught in a steel trap though it
was not a steel trap but was sharp rusty metal... Ugg more than my fair
share...
Now that I have given you all eye strain I want to contribute to the list
from my hind sight: Some ideas for the future for me at least...
Raw feeding of litters is great! But be better prepared than I was. I
did make up meals in advance but no where near enough of them. Besides
making meals up for your planned litter make up easy meals for your own
dogs and uh your family as well. Something I did not do.
If you have a waiting list of people in line for up and coming litters get
them started reading NOW on the diet and everything else that comes with
puppies. *Now* even if the litter is a year out... I did have a list and
I did encourage them to read well ahead but not strongly enough
maybe. Know that as the time draws closer to when your going to be so busy
with care of the litter and if any thing like giardia or cancer or injury
does happen to you and I sure hope it doesn't from the bottom of my black
little heart, your going to have to tell some of these people that if they
don't get this program it's best they just go to dog food until you can
mentor them with a clearer frame of mind.
Make sure you have a vet who is at least supportive of the diet. I think
it best to find a vet who really believes in the diet though and am
currently in search of one for "part time help". I love my current vet and
will continue to use them but as I do use a re pro vet at times, I now know
I need a holistic vet too.
Hope this helps. I have copied my own Brier list group on this so let me
take a minute to say while I am calling you guys needy to some degree some
of you have been <smile>. I would not trade anyone of you in your all
GREAT, and this raw list is too and if your incline to want to learn more
lurking here is highly encouraged but know you have had to do some reading
and research on your own before you apply for membership.
Gina
Gina & George Heitz
gina@briergoldens.com
http://www.briergoldens.com
Brier Golden Retrievers, where temperament and train ability go paw in hand...
And home of one great GSD Tollhaus Hobby's Heart "Haus" meet his family at
www.24kgsd.com
Current litters are at:
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~stoller/newpups/
http://asoros.tripod.com/rocket.html
http://www.briergoldens.com/sprite_scarlette_litter_pa.htm
Our rescue boy at:
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~stoller/torrey/
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