Canine Hypocalcemia

[erikasbackyard]

Poor Charlotte! Last night she seemed to be having terrible abdominal cramps. Since she eats NASTY stuff whenever she can find it, I figured she had finally eaten some six-month rotten thing that disagreed with her. Gave her some kaopec mixed with milk, and she settled down. Today I gave her a lot of fluids - milk, gatorade mixed with eggs, etc, because she looked pinched up and dehydrated. She was acting pretty normal, though, so by this afternoon I wasn't thinking much about it, although I did put a couple of chicken backs in a pot to cook up broth.
I was outside for a couple hours and came back in to find Charlotte greeting me with a bobble head.
Called the vet (of course this was 30 minutes after they closed) and she prescribed 1500 mg of calcium, which I ground up and gave C. She seemed okay until a little while ago, when she had a bobble head again. So 2000 mg more, as instructed.
The puppies are weaned, hey presto, whether they like it or not. They've BEEN eating canned food, Eukanuba puppy food soaked in milk, etc, so I'll just have to increase that for them. Charlotte just couldn't keep up with the calcium demand of milk for all ten. I think she did pretty well to manage for a month!

Anyway, please cross fingers for Charlotte - this is very dangerous and can kill them quite easily. My vet didn't think she sounded like she was that bad off yet, so I'll keep going like this for tonight unless she goes downhill.

[MaryKansas]

What a scary situation for you and Charlotte!! I'll be sending out prayers, good thoughts and vibes for Charlotte's safe recovery!!

[Claire]

Oh dear I sure hope Charlotte is doing better today! Thank goodness the gang is old enough to do the speed weaning Please update us when you can.

[redmustangwoman1]

Awww poor Charlotte.I will keep her in my prayers.....Please keep us posted... Glad the pups can be weaned....

[erikasbackyard]

She was a little shaky first thing this morning, but had a good breakfast of calcium-fortified chicken broth and milk, and that seemed to perk her up. She looked into the puppy box, but didn't really seem to want to get in, which made it easy to dissuade her. Peony was messy and desperately wanted out. Since she is smallest, I figured I'd let her nurse a little. It might even make C more comfy to nurse a little bit instead of just stopping. But C said no, and it turned out that Peony just wanted to poop outside the nest box anyway! I'm not sure how thrilled the puppies will be about this plan by evening, but for now everyone is okay. I picked up some supplement from the vet for Miss Charlotte, and she is beside herself at having treats nobody else gets!

[pahobs]

Sure glad to hear that Charlotte is somewhat better today. She's such a beautiful dog - all the best to her.