1494. Tail docking 2-day-old poodles

Sep 11, 2014

The owner brought the dam and 4 puppies now 2 days old. They were suckling vigorously. There seemed to be not much milk. There were worries of the dam having diarrhoea, having panting after midnight yesterday and one smallest puppy not putting on weight. The owner was worried he might die. The dam let go a big slushy pile of semi-wet stools on the consultation table as the owner had given the commercial milk powder (actually it is cow's milk) only recently, puppy kibbles, eggs, causing stomach upset..


WEIGHT AT 2 DAYS OLD
1.  Male apricot 177 g
2.  Male  brown red  161 g
3. Female apricot 143 g
4. Male apricot 120 g. 

"Check the abdomen of the puppy. If it is distended, the puppy has enough milk. Take away the 3 bigger ones and let the smallest one suckle. Milk is being produced but slowly." Not a big gush of white milk, just a thin white drop of 2 mm across from one nipple.

TAIL DOCKING
At 2 days old, it is much easier to cauterise the small blood vessels after tail docking using potassium permanganate powder. The surgical technique is to place the scissors at 45 degrees on the dorsal side of the tail. Push back the skin towards the anal area on the dorsal side. Cut. There is a skin flap on the dorsal side covering the tail bone as the retracted skin on the dorsal side springs backwards. See illustration. 

"Not to let the pups suckle for one hour. Then supervise the suckling for the next 24 hours as the dam may try to lick off the powder.  So far, so good.