Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, is a health problem that affects many toy breeds of puppies between 5 and 16 weeks of age, especially extremely small dogs such as the Chihuahua and all owners must be on the lookout for it.

Hypoglycemia is recognized by a healthy puppy suddenly becoming weak, listless, depressed, unaware of its surroundings, and even unable to stand or walk. Advanced states include hypoglycemic seizures before lapsing into a coma, which is sometimes followed by death. If your puppy becomes hypoglycemic, it is very important that you react IMMEDIATELY!!!

Give the puppy Nutro-Cal, honey, or Karo syrup to elevate the blood glucose in your puppy. If you do not have any of the following a last resort would be to dilute 1 teaspoon of sugar with water to form a sugary paste Administer the, honey or syrup with an eyedropper or if the puppy is too weak to take it, put it on your finger and rub it on the roof of its mouth. If necessary, pry it’s mouth open. Regardless of how you do it, make the puppy take the Nutri-Cal, honey, syrup or sugar paste. ITS LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!!!

Nutro-Cal, which is available at your veterinary office or online is a fast acting, high calorie supplement and may be given off of your finger.

Keep the puppy warm at all times and rub the puppy very easy, moving the head from side to side slowly rotating it. Also move the legs so that the puppy will not get stiff.

It may be necessary to give the puppy a couple of doses of honey or Nutro-Cal to bring it back. If the puppy does not respond, CONTACT YOUR VET IMMEDIATELY!!!

Hypoglycemia can occur without warning if a puppy is placed in a new home, misses a meal or is otherwise stressed. You must remember that puppies eat very small amounts, yet they exert large amounts of energy.

You should leave food and fresh water down for your puppy at ALL times. The trick to avoiding Hypoglycemia is to make sure that your puppy eats very well. We feed and recommend Purina Pro Plan FOCUS for small breed Puppies.  DO NOT CHANGE THE PUPPIES FOOD FOR THE FIRST FEW WEEKS. If you wish to change food later, do so gradually, after the puppy has adjusted to its new home and life.

A puppy will play until it drops. It may play so much that it is too tired to eat. It is up to YOU as its new owner to be responsible.

Very small puppies must sleep about 20 out of 24 hours. Please be very careful not to over-tire your new puppy, especially for the first few weeks. We recommend that you try to make the first few days together with your puppy as calm as possible, and remember that this is a very traumatic time for your puppy. Please resist the urge to take your new puppy to visit friends and relatives during this period. Make this a special time to get to know your puppy, and for your puppy to get to know its new home.

Remember if there is a problem with Hypoglycemia, it will usually happen during the first few weeks while the puppy is adjusting, and that the puppy will out-grow this as it becomes adjusted.