Rescue Tails / Oscar and Grover

On May 22nd, Oscar and Grover were two puppies out of a litter surrendered to our Marathon Campus at only 2 weeks old when their mother was afflicted with a serious and sometimes fatal condition called eclampsia or hypocalcemia. Eclampsia, also referred to as hypocalcemia or puerperal tetany, is an emergency medical condition associated with a life-threatening drop in blood calcium levels that occurs in nursing mothers. Eclampsia most commonly occurs when the puppies are one to four weeks of age and the mother is producing the most milk. This condition can be caused by the loss of calcium for fetal skeletal development, not receiving a balanced diet and milk production.

Eclampsia is a true medical emergency and progresses quickly. The signs are initially subtle. The mother dog may be restless or panting, begin moving stiffly, which may progress to inability to walk. This soon progresses to muscle spasms (tetany) affecting the whole body, which can quickly progress to convulsing. In addition to seeking immediate medical attention, the puppies must be weaned from the mother to save her life. So, at two weeks old they were surrendered to the shelter so the entire family would have the best chance of survival.

Out of pure luck, we happened to have a nursing Chihuahua mother, whose own three puppies had been born just two weeks earlier than these Rat Terrier puppies. A nursing mother is always a puppy, or kittens, best chance of survival. Bottle feeding should only be done out of complete necessity if a surrogate is not available. With great anticipation we introduced the two week old rat terrier puppies to momma Chihuahua, and her one month old puppies. You can imagine our relief when she accepted the babies, and began nursing them as her own.

The puppies quickly grew with the loving care of their new mother and their attentive foster mom. Six weeks flew by and come early August the little pups were old enough to be spayed and neutered and placed for adoption. One by one the Chihuahua puppies and Rat Terrier puppies found homes until two of the boys were left waiting for a family.

When we met Monica and Elizabeth we knew instantly that they were meant to be the perfect family for one of our puppies. Monica and Elizabeth spent so much time with both puppies that in the end they simply couldn’t decide, so they adopted both! Now named Oscar and Grover the boys are so deeply loved by their new moms and we couldn’t be happier for these adorable brothers and their new life.

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