Puppy Update

[Aerie]

I talked to my neighbor today. I still feel like I'm only getting parts of the story, but here's what I have.

 

There's 3 puppies plus the dam. The sire does not belong to the same person as the dam, but both are (again, supposedly) border collies. The litter was "accidental". One of the puppies had to be put to sleep after having a child fall on him. There's two puppies left. My neighbor is wanting to keep one, so there's one left that needs a home. Both of the remaining puppies are, apparently, at my neighbor's mother's house. Now I have no idea if the mother is the one who had the litter to begin with, or what.

 

I told them I'd pay for a spay on the dam, since they didn't want to give her to me. They have agreed to that. The money for that has already been given TO THE VET for the surgery with instructions not to let that money be used for anything but the spay of that animal nor is it to be refunded at any point to anyone but me, if they don't show for the scheduled surgery.

 

So, unfortunately one puppy has been lost, and one is going to a home where...well, who am I to judge. Maybe my neighbor will be a great home. Something tells me not, though. And I have told him that at any point he doesn't want the dog anymore, to please please please contact me first and I'll take care of it.

 

Now, my question is...what the heck do I do about this other puppy? I can't get him/her till Friday. This puppy has already been off it's mother for at least a week as far as I can guess. And when I ask for their age, all I can get is "Just about a month old. Maybe a month and a week." So....5 weeks max. And already weaned. I'm sure they haven't been wormed, I'm sure they've had no shots, Lord only knows what the dam has going on with her...

 

What do I do now? I know I'm going to take the little one to the vet. Will Recon give the little thing heartworms? I hadn't thought about that till just now, actually....

 

I know what to feed him/her, I know how to care for a five week old puppy...

 

I'm just worried about it getting sick. I'm worried about Recon getting sick. I'm worried in general, can you tell?

 

I guess I need to just sit back, chill out, and focus on things as they come. Step One: Get wormy little puppy from people threatening to drown him/her. Step Two: Get puppy to the vet. Step Three: Do Not Name The Puppy. From there, I should be good, yeah?

[painted_ponies]

What do I do now? I know I'm going to take the little one to the vet. Will Recon give the little thing heartworms? I hadn't thought about that till just now, actually....

 

I know what to feed him/her, I know how to care for a five week old puppy...

 

I'm just worried about it getting sick. I'm worried about Recon getting sick. I'm worried in general, can you tell?

 

AFAIK, heartworms must be transmitted through a mosquito to infect a dog. And remember it will take several months for the heartworm to get past the microfilariae stage, which of course is killed by the preventative. The vet only put my rescue pup on preventative at five months of age.

 

It is of course possible for this pup to give something to Recon. I always quarantine new arrivals for two weeks.

[BayouBC]

The puppy will be safe in regards to the heartworms. Since he'll be around an adult with known heartworms, though, I'd go ahead and start the puppy on prevention at 2-3 months IN CASE an carrying mosquito bites him/her. While yes the dog has to be bitten by an infected mosquito, you're more likely to have infected mosquitos around where a heartworm positive dog is. As long as the pup gets started on prevention, that'll take care of any exposure he/she has.

 

And yes, I'd recommend quarantining the pup away from Recon for the time being. Unfortunately, you don't know what sort of vaccine history mom has or what she or pup might have been exposed to. Assuming Recon's had her vaccines, she isn't at much risk, but still better to be safe.

 

A single five week old pup really isn't too hard to handle. You just want to keep an eye on all the important processes (eating, drinking, peeing, pooping). They grow and change SO fast it's hard to believe.

 

And kudos to you for volunteering to pay for the dam's spay. That's awesome. And...how do you have an "accidental" breeding between two border collies when they're not both owned by the same person? That just sound odd.