Hand Raising

The Background To My Hand Raising Experiences

Hamba - 12 days before pups were born

On 19th September 2004, one of my worst nightmares was realised. My bitch Hamba died only 8 hours after her pups were born. The thought of hand raising a litter of puppies had always terrified me and now it was a reality.

The next three weeks were truly a nightmare, but thanks to sheer determination and excellent veterinary backup all 6 pups survived.

Once the pups were safely out of the woods I could give my attentions to why Hamba had died.

As this was Hamba's last litter and she had secondary uterine inertia on her previous litters, I decided even before she was pregnant that she would have a C section and she would also be spayed at the same time. The reasoning behind this was for Hamba's long-term health and I did not want to expose her to two anesthetics.

The postmortem result determined that a slipped ligature and the resulting bleeding was the cause of death.

With my next litter five months later with Bala I decided to also have her spayed if she required a C section. She did end up needing a C section and I gave the go ahead for the spay - the post mortem on Hamba had revealed that the procedure was not the problem per se, but that it was a surgical error that resulted in Hamba's death.

Needless to say I was destroyed when three hours after getting home with a spayed Bala and 7 pups, Bala started with the same symptoms as Hamba five months previously. Bala died in my arms.

I could not believe what had happened and I felt like I had entered a cruel nightmare. Like a robot I started getting the bottles ready. I was so shocked I didn't even cry.

The post mortem on Bala revealed a "bleeder" that had not been detected during the surgery. Her blood pressure was so low during surgery that the bleeder was not apparent at the time. However once Bala was recovered from the surgery her blood pressure increased and the bleeder took its toll.

The irony of the situation is that Hamba's cause of death was exactly the same. The people conducting the post mortem saw a bleeder, assumed that it had been tied and that the ligature had slipped. We now assume that the bleeder had not been detected due to the low blood pressure. The first post mortem put the blame squarely on the vet who performed the surgery - meanwhile it was not his fault, it was a very unfortunate turn of events.

Needless to say I will never again have a bitch spayed at the same time as a C section. Although my vets (who are excellent) took added precautions, there was no possible way for them to deal with the problem of the low blood pressure and undetected bleeders.

While the trauma I went through in loosing my girls is something I don't think I will ever get over, I have learnt a great deal about handraising puppies. Hopefully my experience could help someone else save a puppy's life.

I have divided the various sections for ease of reference. Please click on the links at the left top of the page.

Saxony Editor In Chief (Ed) - a hand raised orphan pup pictured at 6 weeks in glowing good health. Mom doesn't look quite quite as good!

If you have a pup/s in need of handraising and you need any extra advice or just some words of support, please feel free to contact me.

Page last updated: 18-09-08 11:02:04 PM

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