Swinging damages the brain and kills puppy

The other side of breeding from the most experienced breeder can sometimes be fascinating for the veterinarian. I was the back up veterinarian as younger colleagues provide more affordable surgeries to breeders.



"Cutting the dam's back during pregnancy gives rise to a Schnauzer without a tail," (see picture), the senior breeder explained the intricacies of dog breeding to me. "It occurs whenever I did this."

I don't know what to say. He had the requisite number of years. Thousands of puppies reared by him. I don't breed. I had to keep a serious and professional outlook as he does share many breeding experiences not found in the text book.

That cylindrical syringe coer which fitted into the puppy's nose at one end (hole cut out) to suck out fluid from the lungs while the other end is in the breeder's mouth was an excellent innovative idea. Why didn't I think of that? I always do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. "It is too salty." the breeder commented.

If only I can find such covers and test them. But does it work? I don't know. It sure did not work on the distressed pup. Or that I had over-burdened this senior breeder with 6 pups within 10 minutes of opening up the dam. He could handle 6 pups. He probably forgot about the distressed pup. It died with a neat thread tied to its umbilicus.

I never tied the umbilicus until all the pups were checked alive. The breeder had all the kit but somehow he was distracted from giving priority to the distressed pup. I can't understand why.