The following was written
by Dr. Harkie (used with permission)
We hope it help puppy
parents to be understand what a new puppy goes thru when you
bring your new fur baby home.
Several years ago the movie “Daddy Daycare” came out
starring Eddie Murphy as a dad who is doing his best to deal
with the loss of his job by starting a daycare while his
wife went to work each day. Eddie went through some serious
stressful situations as he learned how to care for a bunch
of youngsters. With several kids of my own, I know how
stressful kids can be to us, but have you ever thought about
the stresses that kids go through? Thinking about this, it
reminded me of what puppies experience during the process of
getting a new home. If you have children, you probably
remember when they first started daycare or school. Mom’s
cry, dad’s worry and everyone is stressed out including the
child who is learning what to do without mom and dad
around. It doesn’t take long until the child ends up with a
cold or other kind of illness and has to miss a day or so of
school/daycare.
When a puppy goes to its new home, it too
suffers from very similar stresses. It was recently weaned
from its mother, typically has to take a trip to its new
home, either by vehicle or airplane, and then typically gets
greeted with a house full of anxious new pet owners and
often children who want to stay up late and play with the
new puppy. Can you see how this is STRESSFUL! There are
some tools to help decrease this stress and eliminate many
potential complications.
Stress can cause a variety of concerns with new
puppies. Many of the reason’s behind these stresses make
perfect sense if we understand the basic needs of puppies.
Puppies sleep anywhere from 15-20 hours a day. When a puppy
is not sleeping, it typically will eat a few bites of food,
play for a few minutes and then return to sleep. When a
puppy arrives at its new home, the natural reaction we have
is to immediately play with it as long as we can possibly
stay awake. We often try to teach it to sit, fetch, roll
over, and speak all in the first night. Puppies need some
down time, especially when they first arrive. It is best if
we can play for several minutes and then let the puppy see
where its new bed is and then let the puppy have some down
time.
There are 3 common
problems we see from the stress of the new home, the first
is the most dangerous, hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia, or low
blood sugar, is a life threatening condition and is most
frequent in toy/small breed puppies. Puppies that play and
play without stopping to replenish their energy by eating
some food are at the greatest risk of developing this
condition. The symptoms include depression, lethargy,
staggering when walking (appear drunk), and then worse
symptoms develop such as a comatose posture, seizures, and
then death. This condition can be easily treated by giving
the puppy some Nutri-cal. To try to prevent this condition
from ever occurring, I recommend giving your new small breed
or toy breed puppy Nutri-cal twice a day as a preventative
for the first week in their new home.
The second common problem
we see is upper respiratory illness. I commonly refer to
this as a “cold”. There are varying infectious agents that
can cause this from normal opportunistic bacteria that take
advantage of the stressed immune system and set up
residence, a cough which can cause disease in even healthy
strong immune systems. Prompt treatment for these “colds”
is recommended and your veterinarian can get you the
antibiotics you need to resolve this. Typically, colds only
last a week or so but in some cases may take 2-3 weeks. If
your new pet is not improving within 7 days let your
veterinarian know and they may want to try a different
medication.
The third problem
commonly seen in new pets is “stress diarrhea”. Stress
diarrhea can be caused by a bacterial overgrowth or by a few
protozoa. Coccidia and Giardia are commonly seen in new
pets when they are first examined. Your veterinarian will
take a stool sample and look with a microscope to try to
identify these. Treatment for both these protozoa is very
simple and typically requires a week or so of medication to
clear the pet of the infection. Bacterial overgrowth is
common in puppies as well as adults. This condition is
commonly called gastritis or colitis. Switches in dog food,
table scraps, or getting into the cats food commonly cause
this. Treatment typically is similar to the treatment for
coccidia and giardia.
New puppies are such a
joy to be around! The thrill of a new family member excites
everyone and will bring fun for years to come. Just
remember that the new member of the family needs some down
time too! Lay some rules down about how long the kids can
play with the new pup during the first week or so until the
newest addition gets accustomed to its new home and family.
These tips will hopefully make the transition a smooth one
for everyone involved!
.gif)
