My hypoglycemic puppy is weak, won't eat, and throwing up. What to do?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding your puppy. I recommend placing some karo or maple syrup on her gums. Puppies can experience low blood sugar which will cause weakness. Then I recommend seeking emergency veterinary care right away. Her symptoms are worrisome and it is important to determine the cause so she can be treated. I hope this information helps.

Puppies have limited glucose reserves. This is why they need to be fed frequently. It is normal and not a reason for euthanasia. Have him examined by your veterinarian to rule out any medical causes. Feed a good quality puppy food and supplement with NutriCal, a calorie dense paste that is used for quick energy. As he gets older, you won't need to feed him as often and by one year of age, he should be eating twice daily.

This is very serious and Buddy needs some lab work to determine what could be going. I would recommend testing for parvo virus and intestinal parasites, and a CBC and blood chemistry to see what changes have occurred internally. Glucose supplements only help prevent hypoglycemia, they do not treat the cause of the illness.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Jace. I am concerned that he was experiencing an episode of low blood sugar. It is common in puppies as small as he is. If he is still acting so lethargic, I would recommend putting karo syrup (or maple syrup or honey) on his gums and he will need to see an emergency veterinarian. If he is back to normal now, monitor him closely and apply the syrup if you ever notice these signs in him again. Provide kibble for him at all times so that he never goes long between meals. Of course, something else could be wrong that your veterinarian could determine based in his exam. I hope this information helps!

He is too small for any over the counter medication. If the vomiting continue through the night you will need to find an ER clinic to treat him. If the vomiting is stopping, then it is fine to monitor him as he may have just eaten something he wasn't supposed to. You can give him a small amount of honey or karo syrup in about an hour to help maintain his blood sugar since has no food in his stomach to do so.

I'm sorry to hear about your puppy. A couple things could be going on. One is that he just has a hard time keeping his blood sugar up. We often see this in toy breed puppies. They need to be fed small frequent meals and you should keep a nutritional supplements handy. They usually outgrow it. The other thing I'm concerned about is a portosystemic shunt. This requires blood work and often times a CT scan to diagnose but it can be corrected with surgery. I would get more information from your veterinarian about what they are suspecting the problem is. Also, get a second opinion if you're not comfortable with what you're being told. Hopefully the situation is fixable!

I’m so sorry to hear about Marley. Unfortunately this is a potentially very bad situation. These tiny guys get low blood sugar, low blood volume, and low temperature so easily. These can lead to shock and death pretty quickly. I urge you to take her in to a 24 hour emergency clinic as soon as possible. They may want to start active warming, place an IV, and give glucose and fluids straight into the IV. If taking her in is out of the question, apply Karo syrup or honey to the gums, get a thermometer (or sacrifice one you already have). And warm her up with a towel over a heating pad or hot water bottle. Take a rectal temp every 15 minutes and keep warming until her rectal temperature is 99F. Under NO circumstances should the heat source touch her directly as she can burn easily. If she can hold her head up and seems alert, offer water in a bowl to her face at least once an hour. Small frequent hi-calorie meals (such as nutrical or canned puppy food) should be offered all night. Sadly, this all may still fail without IV fluids and other veterinary intervention. Worse yet, I have temporarily pulled little guys like this out of shock two or three times only to have them finally pass or the owners euthanize. I suspect that these guys often were born with an organ abnormality that was unknown. I know that was a lot of information so please feel free to reach out to me via text or phone consultation if you have more specific questions or need further guidance. (See link below.) Best of luck to you and Marley!