Bad Milk & Calcium Deficency

[GucciGrl 238]

:( Hello,

I am new to Boxer World, and boxers in general. We have just purchased our first boxer puppy! and are very excited! A little plain fawn male with a black mask from a breeder in Iowa (we are in New York). He just turned 7 weeks old today, and he will be arriving here on January 23rd ( 9 weeks old). However, I just spoke to the breeder today and she explained to me that the after the pups were born the mothers milk went bad, and the had to hand feed the entire litter. She took the pups to the vet today also and was informed that they have a calcium deficency because they were not on their mothers milk from birth. Now she is giving them puppy tabs to get them back to normal. Our pup is also the runt of the litter, weighing in at a little over 4lbs right now at (7 weeks). she says that when he comes to us he should be 7 lbs at (9 weeks old). I am very concerned, can someone please give us some advice... We already love our little guy we have seen many pictures of him and i am soo attached already. Is this bad or life threatening Please help us!!!

Jessica

 

[Donna741]

I wouldn't worry too much, as hand raised pups do catch up with "normal" puppies most of the time. I would ask the breeder what she fed the puppies with (ie milk replacer or goats milk etc) that will help give you some info on what kind of vitamins/minerals the pups got.

I have hand reared many dogs over the years and we only had one pup that ended up with a calcium deficiency. I ended up taking him to the vet for calcium injections once a month for about 6 months. You might also want to ask the breeder if you can talk to their vet about your particular puppy, the vet might be able to give you more specific information on how much extra care the little one will need.

Good luck with the new puppy!

 

[Debbie Magon]

Depending on what type of diet you intend to feed this pup when he arrives I would not be offering calcium replacements in any form other than naturally.
If the pup is suffering from ricketts perhaps a calcium gluconate injection may be of some use to him.

The best thing to offer this pup is a total milk replacer till he is about 16 weeks old .
If you feed him raw ground beef 3x a day in small amounts with a bowl of milk replacer 3x , he will grow up strong and without any deficiencies.
You can also offer him cottage cheese, yoghurt and eggs, with the shells crushed and added.
Milk replacer has every vitamin and mineral needed for a young growing pup.
I use Anlamb here which is a general lamb, calf and small animal formula.
You could get a pre mixed formula for ease of use.
Animal milk replacers are usually tolerated well by pups until they are about 4 mths old.
The up side of using milk and milk products is the puppys system takes up exactly what it needs. Over supplementation of calcium is just as dangerous as under.
When he is about 10 weeks you can introduce almost anything natural into his diet.
If you choose to go with commercial kibble get him the very best brand you can.
Offering him some raw brisket bones as his teeth grow will help him immensely whether he is on a home prepared or dry diet.