Cardiopulmonary Syndrome (CPS)
Q: What is CPS?
A: This is a shock-like condition that occurs in newborn pups under 5 days of age. As I had mentioned in a previous column, pups react to and accommodate stress conditions better as they grow older.
Q: What are the usual stress conditions that impact on newborn pups early in their lives?
A: As I had mentioned earlier, stressors impacting on the newborn are, inter alia, the following:
i. Inability to nurse optimally.
ii. A drop in the pup’s ability to maintain its body temperature,
iii. A drop in its rate and quality of heartbeats (pumping the blood through the newborn animal’s body),
iv. A decrease in its energy output (=weakness/listlessness)
v. Inability to digest the colostrum (first milk).
Clearly, with all of these conditions impacting individually and collectively on the newborn pup(s), one can expect a deterioration of the body’s vital functions. Consequently, it is obvious that the impact of these negative conditions is progressive. The pup cannot defend itself with an adequate response to these multiple (even single) stressors.
Q: What are the
symptoms that a newborn pup is not faring well?
A: i. There is an increased production of saliva (drooling).
ii. The pup begins to cry incessantly.
iii. The pup begins to swallow air, or at least makes swallowing motions.
iv. The pup soon loses its ability to walk, resulting in the animal keeling over on its side and not being able to bring itself on to its belly.
v. There is great and growing respiratory distress (the pup actually cannot breathe more than four-five breaths per minute. Since the blood distribution (via poor circulation) is not reaching the brain adequately, the pup might lapse into spasms, accompanied by breathless periods, lasting as long as 50-60 seconds.
vi. Traces of blood in the stool and in the urine. This portends an irreversible condition. The pup will not be saved beyond this point.
vii. Gagging and mucus fluid in the nostrils.
Q: Can the caregiver save the life of the pup with CPS?
A: I have mentioned the interventions associated with the hand-rearing of disadvantaged newborn pups. Actually, a pup exhibiting symptoms of CPS should be brought into a veterinarian’s clinic as soon as possible. For example, an incubator might be needed for a pup whose temperature has dropped below 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Centigrade). Speed is of essence. Carry the pup(s) to the vet’s clinic the moment the symptoms listed above appear.
Let us recap the main causes related to puppies dying within days of birth.
1. Small size and low birth weight compared with siblings.
2. Unsanitary environments in which the pregnant mother resides during pregnancy, and into which the pups are born.
3. Poor nutrition of the mother dog, especially when she is pregnant with a large litter.
4. Genetic deficiencies/defects (inherited from either or both parents).
5. Parasites and diseases within a pregnant mother.
6. Inherent low immune (defence) levels of the newborn pups to fight off invading pathogens (germs).
