KC and her milk fever story.
Meet KC, she's a sweet 4-year-old toy poodle who was presented to the team for prolonged seizure activity a week after giving birth.
Her owners noticed she’d was experiencing seizures; they acted promptly and took her to the Emergency Vet Hospital. A quick blood test confirmed the suspicion that KC’s seizures were related to low calcium levels.
KC was a brave girl throughout the ordeal. KC responded well to treatment, she received a calcium injection and within 30 minutes was sitting up and wagging her tail. KC spent the night in hospital for monitoring. She did really well overnight and was sent home the next morning with a calcium supplement, in addition to a diet appropriate for pregnant and lactating dogs.
During pregnancy and lactation, the body requires higher levels of dietary calcium. Very low blood calcium levels can cause ‘milk fever’ or eclampsia. This usually occurs within the first few weeks after whelping, if the intake of calcium is not sufficient, life-threatening seizures can develop.
Signs include:
Panting
Restlessness
Tremours/shaking
Collapse
and seizures
Please phone the Emergency Vet Hospital asap if your dog who has recently given birth is showing any of these symptoms, urgent veterinary attention is needed.
We are so pleased that KC had a happy ending to her story. We hope by telling her story it may bring some awareness to low blood levels in dogs who have recently given birth. KC continued to do well at home and was quickly back to enjoying the perks of being a new mum.
KC with her young puppies.