Someone asked me the other day to put together a list of breeder first aid things and this is the first time that I've been able to collect my thoughts enough to do it. A lot of these ideas were shared by other listers in the past, but since we get new people on here from time to time, it probably doesn't hurt to share again. This is what we keep here at all times:
Rubber maid container. 24x15 and about 5-6 inches deep. A hole is drilled into the bottom side corner that an electric plug can be pulled through. Heating pad, not the kind with the automatic shut off, covered with a pillow case and placed in the bottom of your rubber maid container with the plug going out the hole you drilled. Use towels rolled up to bumper the sides and ends of your container and a fresh white towel over all. That is your "newborn nursery". (I call it my 'hot box' and we keep it at a good work level by keeping it on a counter in the kitchen. About 10 days before our girls are ready to deliver, I put all my supplies in there and plug it in on "low" and keep it warm and ready at all times. The supplies to keep in the 'hot box' are: Baggie number one: Washclothes that have been washed in hot water and bleach, two per puppy. The warmer will keep them warmed up for when you need them to dry and stimulate the puppies. Baggie number two: Dental floss, bandage scissors, and Betadyne for cord care. Baggie number three: an 8 Fr feeding tube, a can of Esbilac, a black marking pen to mark the correct measurement for a tube feeding, and a 20 cc syringe. This is for emergency tube feedings, and the esbilac will be already warmed up for you by the time you need it by keeping it in the "hot box" . As your puppies are delivered, you have a nice, clean, pre-warmed surface for them as they arrive and a place to keep them while mom delivers the others. You have a warm surface to lay them on if you need to do cord care, and it is portable to take to the hospital in case of a c-section, and all of your supplies are warm and ready for you to use. We also have a battery adapter, so that if we need to make a quick trip to the vet, the puppies can stay in their 'hot box' and we can keep the heating pad on. Never on a higher setting than Low, and watched carefully so as not to overheat the puppies. We also keep 3cc syringes with 25 gauge needles, a bag of Lactated Ringers solution, and Glucose solution on hand in case a puppy gets sick, and requires glucose or subQ hydration. As one last little handy tip that you may or may not already know: A good way to check the hydration status of a puppy is to check the color of the urine. Use a clean white cotton ball and lightly tap the little place where they pee to stimulate them to pee and then check the color of the urine. You don't want it to look like water, but you don't want it too dark a yellow either. You want to see it a light straw color. Again, most of you may never need this stuff, but speaking from the stand point of an old labor delivery nurse, it really pays to be prepared. Myra _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
