What I Didn't Know About Puppies

Roxy - 3 months old

On the eve of the day my pup will go to the vet to get her last round of shots... I am so happy and excited with enthusiasm. I am hoping that she will like walking in the park, going to the beach and swimming in the water - like me! But I am also learning a lot as I have never raised a dog before. There are some things that I was really stressed out about and wanted to share so new puppy mamas can also learn too. 

1. Puppy vaginitis

Since she is a rescue and we don't know too much about her medical history or her history at all... what I do know is she was spayed at the Humane Society and then we were able to adopt her a few days later. A few weeks later so became extremely fatigued, lethargic and not her usual puppy self. We noticed a bit of a light green milky discharge from her vulva area but thought it would perhaps just clear-up. But then when her personality and energy levels plummeted I was so worried. 
Upon taking her back to the humane society for a check-up they said it appeared as though so had Puppy Vaginitis. What?! The doctor said it is a result of spaying a pup before her first heat. Sometimes the vagina becomes inflamed because she did not yet go through her first heat cycle or puberty yet. He said he could give her antibiotics but that could have major effects on her down the road and mess up her stomach and other issues. He advised to let it run it course and in a few days it would clear up and she would resolve it on her own by just letting it go. I can't tell you how hard this was. Roxy would just lay there with no energy and literally in pain and to some degree of lethargy suffering. BUT, one thing to note is she never lost her appetite and was still having normal poops and pees. Fast forward 4 days and all of the sudden she was back to her normal self. It was the craziest and hardest few days I have ever had. I felt so bad for her and laid down with her to comfort her. Thankfully the doctor was right and she was fine. I am glad we didn't put her on meds or do anything else to eventually harm her down the road. But it was a rough few days for me for sure. 

2. Baby Teeth Fall out 

I started to notice in some areas she would have double teeth. I was like whoa no wonder people are afraid of pit bulls, but it was actually her baby teeth being replaced with permanent teeth and then the baby teeth start to literally fall out of her mouth. I also saw some blood and her chew toys with blood on it and then realized she had bloody gums from the teeth coming out and in. This was kind of alarming but not too bad as a little research shows it is normal for pups to go through a teething stage  and their adult teeth should come in around 16 weeks. Roxy was right on time at 3 months she started losing her first set of teeth, then the molars and etc will start to grow from 4 months on. 

3. rash 

From as soon as we brought her home we started to notice a red rash forming on her chin, mouth, snout, tummy and ears. We were not sure what it was and thought it may have been the grass at our house or even the dishes we used to feed her. (Plastic isn't good because it is porous and can trap bacteria). Any how, when we left the Humane Society they gave us sample bags of Science Diet puppy food and were feeding to her, then when we brought her to the vet they also gave us Science Diet bags of food. Daniel, did a lot of research on the best food to feed her and I did everything I could to keep her off the grass and we got metal bowls for her food and water, washing frequently. The vet also gave us some natural rash remedies along with giving her some benadryl type drugs to help with the rash. Long story short, we changed her food to Bully Max which is a high performance, high protein food (no corn, wheat or soy) - not chock full of fillers and junk. And guess what? Yes, the rash went away immediately when we changed her food. Phew, mystery solved.

4. Woofs down food

So for whatever reason this dog can eat her food in a matter of seconds. Now this isn't anything new, but it can have some major effects down the road like gastric dilation volvulus - stomach fills with gas. While some might only feed their dog twice a day, it is better to feed this kind of dog smaller meals multiple times a day. I also found that if I put a biscuit in with her food it slows her down a moment to chew and try to gnaw on the biscuit instead of inhaling all her food in under 30 seconds.