How to Detect Canine Eclampsia (milk fever)

Eclampsia; more commonly known simply as 'milk fever' or more technically as 'puerperal tetany' is a fast acting, potentially fatal condition. It is imperitive that if you are going to breed your female dog, you MUST be aware of these signs as it requires immediate vet care and all females are at risk; small breeds or those with large litters especially.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A pregnant or lactating b-tch
• A phone

1. These signs progress very rapidly, sometimes in a matter of minutes. Act fast or your girl could die.
   First thing you will notice is that she will act 'off'. She won't want to tend to her babies. She will likely be very 'needy' of your attention and appear worried. She will become restless and begin panting. The panting will get increasingly worse to the point of not only drooling a little but A LOT.

2. Very soon after this - maybe minutes, maybe an hour - she will start staggering around, tripping and even falling right down. This is very scary. It's almost as if she were drunk or having a stroke.

3. She may then get to a point where she can not stand any longer and just keep moving her legs in an awkward paddling motion as if she were having seizures. Her neck and head may even thrust backwards as she arches her back. By this point, if she is not at least on the way to the vet, she may die. It is SO important that you get your girl rushed to the vet the moment you see the first signs and NOT wait until this stage, yet if this is the first you see of it, don't give up, the vet may still save her. Get her to your vet NOW.

Tips & Warnings

• Feeding puppy chow, which is high in calcium, to a lactating female will help to prevent eclampsia (milk fever)
• Your vet may be willing to supply you with a tube of gelled calcium that you can give yourself at the very early stages of milk fever - along with his/her instructions on it's use. They are not likely to offer this to a first time dog breeder but if you've already experienced it, they may give you some to have on hand.
• Do NOT feed calcium enriched foods or supplements to pregnant dogs despite the many suggestions you will find in books and the net to do so. By doing this, you are tricking the body into thinking it can 'throw out' calcium as it has an overabundance. By doing so, you will actually INCREASE your risk of eclampsia. It can also have the unwanted side effect of prolonged labors. Wait until your female has her litter to feed calcium enriched foods.

Resources

• Controlling Pests and Parasites
• Ethical Dog Breeding
• Temperament Testing Puppies

[vbivins]

on 7/9/2009 Be sure to continue giving Cookie the tums tablets as she will need the extra calcium while lactating.

[rayncesi]

on 6/29/2009 sorry just fyi the episode happend last nite from 6pm to about 11 pm...

[rayncesi]

on 6/29/2009 i just had the episode for the first time and it was very scary ive had my chiuaha for 4 yrs and she had an accidental litter ... i found her with her pups and she was allready in convulsions bad and i took her to the wet and had no money so i held a warm towell on her breasts and gave her tums and sugar water.. it took 3 hrs for the seizure like fit to end i almost thought i was gonna lose her for sure and i held her and my fiance held her in tears while she was in the convulsions and we prayed and about 5 mins later she started coming through... moral of the story dont give up if yur finacially not able for a vet lots of love and as the vets told us she gon no matter wat we fought through and my baby "cookie" was running to me in bed this morning have faith ppl if you love her enough shell make it through.....

[triciagoss]

on 2/7/2009 Wow, I had never heard of this. Good information!

[sunshine11219]

on 1/8/2009 Great advice here and cute picture