My 6-week-old puppy is sick and lethargic. Is it an emergency?

Question

My 6 week old yorkie has worms. I took her to the vet and they gave me some dewormer for her for 5 days and also some sugar water. But she isn’t getting any better. She was moving around earlier today but now she’s just laying there doing nothing. No vomiting of diarrhea what can I do for her? Pet's info: Dog | Yorkshire Terrier | Female | unspayed | 1 month and 14 days old | 0.9 lbs

Makenzie Kurth, DVM · Accepted Answer

I’m so sorry to hear about Marley. Unfortunately this is a potentially very bad situation. These tiny guys get low blood sugar, low blood volume, and low temperature so easily. These can lead to shock and death pretty quickly. I urge you to take her in to a 24 hour emergency clinic as soon as possible. They may want to start active warming, place an IV, and give glucose and fluids straight into the IV. If taking her in is out of the question, apply Karo syrup or honey to the gums, get a thermometer (or sacrifice one you already have). And warm her up with a towel over a heating pad or hot water bottle. Take a rectal temp every 15 minutes and keep warming until her rectal temperature is 99F. Under NO circumstances should the heat source touch her directly as she can burn easily. If she can hold her head up and seems alert, offer water in a bowl to her face at least once an hour. Small frequent hi-calorie meals (such as nutrical or canned puppy food) should be offered all night. Sadly, this all may still fail without IV fluids and other veterinary intervention. Worse yet, I have temporarily pulled little guys like this out of shock two or three times only to have them finally pass or the owners euthanize. I suspect that these guys often were born with an organ abnormality that was unknown. I know that was a lot of information so please feel free to reach out to me via text or phone consultation if you have more specific questions or need further guidance. (See link below.) Best of luck to you and Marley!

My 6-week-old puppy is sick and lethargic. Is it an emergency?

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