Bessie- Walker Hound Puppy

This is Bessie.  She's a 5 week old Walker Hound puppy who was in for her vaccinations the other day.

Normally, we wouldn't be vaccinating puppies at 5 weeks old. Most aren't weaned until they are about 6 weeks old.  But in Bessie's case, we are.

The last litter than Bessie's Mom had, all the puppies died before they were 6  weeks old.  Like 8 of them in a 24 hour period, which is unusual, and one worries about things like parvo virus and intestinal parasites.  Usually one doesn't see parvo in such a young puppy, but if the Mom isn't vaccinated, it is possible.  And hookworms can suck puppies dry and make them anemic.  It takes about 3 weeks for hookworms to mature.  So puppies appear to be fine for the first couple of weeks and then start getting ill. 

Bessie's owner was planning on waiting for a few days to get her, but then the Mom died, the day before this video was shot.  Eclampsia, maybe?  not sure.  So it was time to get Bessie out of there and into her new home. She did have lots of roundworms and hookworms so that might have been a role in the death of the previous litter.

 

The yellow Lab is Elvira.  She was a stray that lived at a front end loader, parked in the pasture, for a few days, before anyone could get their hands on her.