0829ASingapore veterinary education stories Pomeranian single pup syndrome Caesarian section in breeder's puppies published by asiahomes.com internet classifieds, apartments,rental properties, Singapore real estate, rental houses, condos, apartments, prop

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TOA PAYOH VETS
toapayohvets.com
Date: 04 September, 2008

Focus: Small animals - dogs, cats, hamsters & rabbits

Cats	Dogs	Hamsters	Horses	Rabbits	Other Matters

Female, 8 years old, dog, large tumour removed. Toa Payoh Vets

1265. The Buddhist Singapore Tzu Chi Foundation volunteers saved an old dog from death by infections

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*10 a.m - 5 p.m (Mon - Sun, except Sat). Dr Sing Kong Yuen. By Appointment Only.

*6 p.m - 10 p.m (Mon - Fri). 10am - 5pm (Sat). Dr Jason Teo. House-calls available.

Appointment preferred.
Tel: 6254-3326, 9668-6469

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Dr Teo
Tel: 9853-1315,
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Toa Payoh Vets Clinical Research
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to a veterinary student studying in Australia
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The Single Pup Syndrome - DYSTOCIA IN A POMERANIAN
First written in Jun 1, 2003
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS

"How do you know she is due and how long since the first mating?" I asked Simon, a professional dog breeder. He presented a Pomeranian bitch that had discharged a clear liquid more than two hours ago when I was closing the surgery. It was Mothers' Day and I was invited to a Mothers' Day dinner. The Pomeranian could not give birth naturally and was contracting for some time.

Simon put his thumb and forefinger on the mammary glands of the dam: "See, the breasts are flushed with milk. Therefore she was due. Also, the dam is 61st day into pregnancy. Dogs normally give birth between 58th day to the 63rd day." This dam definitely needed a Caesarean section as she could not deliver the puppy or puppies herself. Most probably two puppies, I thought. It should be a routine and short Caesarian section. The Pomeranian looked exhausted. Would she be fit to be operated on? I inserted a thermometer into her rectum to get her rectal temperature. 37.6 deg C. That was lower than the average 38.5 deg C for a normal adult dog. However, the bitch does drop her rectal temperature below the normal 38.5 degrees within 24 hours of giving birth. So 37.6 degrees was normal. I put the stethoscope on her abdomen to check for viable puppy heart beats. There was one puppy heart beating silently. I put my fingers on her abdomen and could feel one lump with my hands. This could be a single large pup. A single pup syndrome.

The Caesarian section should be speedy. The dam was put under general anaesthesia. As I opened the abdomen, there was a large mass of sticky yellow fluid covering the outer membrane of this puppy. Now, this was not normally expected. What was this alien stuff? Would this the placenta of another puppy that had died early inside the womb?


The placenta did not develop as the mother's body was unable to stimulate new blood vessel formation. This stopped the placenta growing (intrauterine growth retardation). The yellow stuff was very starchy. I checked the puppy. Was it alive or dead? Hard to tell as all puppies look dead inside the amniotic sac as they had not started breathing yet. I quickly broke the membrane. Time was of the essence.


The puppy was alive and well. I snipped off the umbilical cord. The pup was given to my assistant while i pulled out the placenta. Then I stitched up the uterus, muscle layers and skin. The dam was all right too.

This case is a case of the single pup syndrome. In this syndrome, the single pup grows to a large size, So, the dam has difficulty in giving birth. Caesarian section is needed if the bitch is overdue by more than 7 days. (normal range is 59 - 63 days after breeding). Otherwise, the puppy dies in utero and Caesarean section is still required to remove the dead pup and to save the mother.

As to the origin of the sticky stuff, it was not possible to know as there was no money for further research or for laboratory examinations. For the Singapore dog breeder, he was interested in the least cost surgery and not why and how he could produce better litters as he had to contain his expenses and suffer losses of business as people don't spend during this SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak.