Hello XXXXXXXX,

Taking care of all the fleas, providing nutrition and fluids , and keeping the puppy warm are good starting points. The puppy formula wouldn't be bad idea as it is pretty concentrated nutrition. I would adjust that a little and buy a very high quality puppy canned food or one of the all meat canned foods and make a slurry out of it with the puppy milk replacer. I would then feed this warmed to body temp from a large syringe - a little bit every hour. I would also give water with syringe every hour - and she will be getting additional fluids in the slurry. Severe infestations of fleas and some internal parasites can cause anemia due to blood loss. I would recommend worming weekly with pyrantel pamoate.

I would be very cautious of using a lot of pesticides in a young sick puppy - bathing in warm water with a pyrethrin shampoo and keeping very warm until completely dry. would probably be all I would do right now. By then controlling the environment, keepin her confined and changing bedding everyday, limiting exposure to other animals can help a lot. Frontline is usually very safe - but I might wait until she is showing some improvement. Very diligent bathing and management may be best for now though. This will not take care of things long term though - especially if the environment is flea ridden. The sneezing doesn't worry me too much. It is probably an upper respiratory infection - the eyes can be effected as well - like the mattering you mentioned. Antibiotics would be an excellent idea if you can get him to the vet. Of course, it would be best to have the puppy examined and have a stool sample checked for intestinal parasites as soon as possible.

If you need more information just reply to your question.

Donna P.

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thank you.

Hello again,

I am afraid that you may be right about this puppy being in a very bad way. Short of taking her to the vet for treatment, the supportive care is the best thing you can do. Small amounts of nutrition and fluids frequently, a nice warm place, and getting her free of fleas and other parasites is the best you can probably do for her. If this is anemia due to blood loss - if you remove the source of the blood loss - the fleas and internal parasites - it is possible her body could fairly quickly start to replace the red blood cells.

Donna P.

Hello again,

Sub Q fluids could certainly help - If you have the ability to do this. Make sure that it is just an isotonic solution like lactated ringers or Normosol - R or Normal Saline - nothing with dextrose or anything in it. You don't have to really worry about a really accurrate amount as it will just get absorbed slowly by the body anyway. In small puppies what is often used is just a large syringe - like 30 ml - to inject the fluids under the skin instead of a whole IV set up. But the IV set up would work as well. Dogs do have blood types - but the first blood transfusion is kind of considered a freeby. They won't usually react until the second one. Crossmatching is possible between blood donor and recipient - but not always necessary in other words. It does have to be a dog and the equipment has to be present to filter the blood and use the proper type of anticoagulant. This is not something that I would attempt to do at home. I would for sure do the sub Q fliuds though.

Donna P.