Hypoglycemia: low blood sugar, is a disorder that occurs mainly in small breed puppies and is often caused by stress and can occur without warning. It might appear after the puppy has become exhausted from playing, or misses a meal, chills or has a digestive upset. These upsets place an added strain on its energy levels and bring on the symptoms of lethargic, collapse or even what appear to be seizures. It is a real threat to these little guys, so watch for your puppy becoming too tired or droopy. The first signs of listlessness or depression are usually followed by muscular weakness, tremors and later convulsions, coma and even death. The puppy may appear depressed or may be weak, wobbly and jerky, or found to be in a comatose state. If your puppy has any symptoms that even appear to be those of hypoglycemia, you must act fast. If the puppy is awake, give it Karo syrup or Nutri-cal by mouth. You should see improvements within 30 minutes. If no improvements appear, you must get them to a veterinarian. If the puppy is unconscious, it should be taken at once.
To prevent Hypoglycemia follow this advice: allow only 20 minutes or less of play at one time, followed by a good rest. Do not allow the puppy to overtire. Supervise the interactions between the puppy and children. Keep your puppy warm, a nice heating pad on low is great to keep it from becoming chilled. Your puppy needs to eat at least every 4 hours, more often if it is small. Freshly cooked chicken along with a plain or vanilla yogurt or small curd cottage cheese is also a helpful food to keep them eating. Give a small amount of Nutri-cal or Karo syrup each morning and night for the first couple of days to prevent the low blood sugar that can come with the excitement and stress of going to a new home.

Always consider your puppy just like a newborn baby, as it will need all the love, care and attention that you would give a newborn baby. Here are some helpful suggestions:
1) Don't leave your puppy unattended for extended lengths of time, until your puppy has totally acclimated himself/herself to its new home.
Long periods of time left alone in a new, strange environment may cause anxiety and additional stress. You will want to be with your baby as much as possible in the first few weeks.
If you have to be away from home for more than 4 hours, such as going to work, then please consider a pet sitter or family member to come in to your home and watch your new puppy for you. They will need to pay special attention to feeding schedules, access to fresh water, food, room temperatures, limited play times, and periodic nutri-cal suppliments.

2) Prepare a comfortable WARM place for your puppy to consider its own home. You may want to invest in a heating pad; set it on LOW with a baby blanket or towel on top of it; and make sure puppy cannot get to the cord. You may only need a little additional warmth for several days. A nice warm bed and blankets are a nice addition so they can be cozy.

3) Always have food and water sitting out for your puppy to graze on anytime. For the first week or so, make sure your puppy gets whatever he/she wants to eat. Do not be afraid to offer small meals several times a day to your puppy. If your puppy won't eat the food, you can try feeding canned puppy food, slightly warmed, and you can offer it on the tip of your finger to the puppy while holding her. This usually works for the most spoiled puppies. There may be a time period where your puppy will not want to eat at all, but don't let this happen. If need be, finger feed your puppy, try different foods, and even try Gerber baby food meats if all else fails. Yogurt (plain or vanilla with live cultures) work well, or try offering small curd cottage cheese. You can also gently persuade your puppy to eat some cooked finely cut-up chicken breasts, or unseasoned meatballs. There are several higher quality can puppy foods easily available at the local pet stores, also.There will come a time when puppy will begin to eat more and more of his/her hard kibble, but for a period of time you need to "baby" your puppy. Always make sure your puppy is eating about every 3-4 hours during the day. Always feed your puppy before bedtime too, and give a couple fingertip doses of Nutri-cal before bedtime.

4) Nutri-cal will also encourage your puppy's appetite. Make sure you are using your Nutri-cal: a.m., noon, p.m. and before bedtime. If need be, increase your supplement to more times during the day if puppy is not eating or drinking well. We also recommend that you also have a good Microbiotic for your puppy to help stimulate and boost its immune system, such as: Benebac or FasTrack.

5) Water -- make sure it is bottled water for the 1st 2 weeks and then gradually wean your puppy off the bottled water onto the water you have in your home. Water can be a definite detriment to your puppy's system when changing from one water source to the next.

6) Play time and Rest time: Make sure you spend lots of quality time with your baby. Play should be limited to 10-15 minutes for these tiny babies. A worn out puppy will quickly crash with hypoglycemia as it has exhausted its energy supply. Make sure you allow your puppy to have plenty of rest. Babies usually eat and sleep during the first 3 months of life -- your puppy is no different. It will require plenty of food/water and plenty of rest.

7) Hypoglycemia -- should your puppy show signs of hypoglycemia: lethargic, loss of appetite, droopy, tail tucked, drooling, limp, staggered walk, won't play, or seizure fits. Rub some Karo syrup to the gums, wait for puppy to respond and if able, lick the Nutri-cal. Give several Nutri-cal fingertip doses until puppy is regaining a normal composure (about every 10-15 mins if puppy is not responding well). If the puppy is in a drooling, limp or seizure state, you should get the puppy to the vet quick and bring the Nutri-cal with you and rub it on to the gums and tounge. However, if the puppy is eating, drinking and you are following the above recommendations, your puppy should not ever end up in this state.

8) If the puppy needs veterinarian attention, please make sure you find a small animal doctor. We would hope you can find one that has a length of experience with tiny teacup puppies. There are many veterinarians who do not know the first thing about these tiny tiny puppies. These tiny ones are a whole new situation unlike medium or large breed puppies.
One thing is you should have your vet check for coccidiosis if our puppy has been feeling ill or weak. Your puppy will more than likely break with coccidiosis under hypoglycemia conditions. The trip, new environment, new people, new home, new everything can cause coccidiosis to break in your puppy. Although all precautions have been made to prevent this, sometimes it is inevitable. We suggest your vet use Albon as a treatment for at least 7 - 10 days.
We would suggest that your puppy not remain at the vet's office unless absolutely necessary, because you are introducing your new baby into another new environment, new people, new everything again which adds even more stress to your puppy. Ask your vet what you can do to stabilize the puppy and if your vet will show you what procedures to follow to help your puppy regain its health. If your baby can be with you, this will be the best solution. As a new mother, you need to make sure that you consider the proper decisions to alleviate any unwarranted stress as possible. If the vet feels that IVs are necessary, please have them consider SQ method if possible, which would be less stressful. You and your vet will need to make the decisions together. If you puppy is left in the care of the veterinarian and his/her staff, find out if someone will be caring for the baby personally; if food will be spoon-fed to your baby should it not want to eat; visit the location where your baby will be cared for (is it a warm, cozy comfortable place?) Do everything possible to insure your baby gets as good as care as if you were there.
Please have your veterinarian and staff feed your puppy a/d along with yogurt if possible; also a good microbiotic such as Benebac or FastTrack is a MUST. This will help your puppy regain its strength and vitality much quicker and keep the digestive system running smoothly.

9) Please email or call us if a situation arises. We will do our best to follow through with all the help we can provide to help you and your veterinarian care for your new baby.