Painful belly

Question
Hallo Melinda!I have my first pupies at home and i am getting a little bit worried for my smallest one.He is  doing very well,don't take me wrong.But he has many times strong belly pain,i can't stand it!I asked the vet and she said it's normal.Not to me,you're a breeder and i think you would not like it either.He is crying hours,mostly during the night.I have to feed him with a medicine dropper,because the bitch isn't producing enough milk.I made usually esbilac,but i had feeling he had worse pain so i am trying to feed him with evaporated milk.He has good times and bad times.If he has bad times,he is acting very sickly...a lot of saliva,even out of his nose and then he cryes so bad..i am scared and hope,he is just fine.

Answer
Petronela,

I can't believe your vet said that the strong belly pain was normal!  There is nothing normal about pain.  The reason we have pain is to tell us something is wrong.  I can't tell you what is wrong but I would strongly suggest you find another vet as soon as possible and get a second opinion.  He could be allergic to milk which would cause him to be in pain, it's kind of like colic in a baby.  They have really bad gas and that causes them to cry a lot.  The only thing you can do for a baby is give them medicine a half hour before they eat to calm their stomach down before you feed them.  Since they have made so many advancements with animals it is possible that there is something the vet could give you to calm the stomach down.  Also, if a puppy is being fed by a dropper he will get gas because he sucks to much air when he is eating.  They have baby bottles for puppies and I suspect that if you were to feed him with a baby bottle instead of the eye dropper your problem could go away.  Again, I am surprised your vet did not suggest using a bottle instead of the eye dropper.  Also, puppies that are very young (between birth and three weeks) need to be fed every two hours.  He could be crying because he is hungry.  Try to observe if he is having pain after he eats or if he is crying about two hours after you last fed him and that might give you some idea as to why he is acting sickly.  I know you are concerned and I know how hard it is to see them suffer but don't beat yourself up because you are doing the best you can.  I suspect it is probably gas brought on by the eye dropper and getting a baby bottle will help.

I am concerned about the saliva coming out of his nose.  A dog can't breath out of its mouth so if his nose gets plugged up he could suffocate.  That issue should be addressed with your new vet.  It is possible that when you have been feeding him with the eye dropper that some of the milk went down the wrong way and got in his lungs.  The liquid in his lungs would cause him to get something like pneumonia and that would show itself by mucus coming out of his nose.  If you explain the circumstances to a vet I am sure you could find one who would take you right away and hopefully they would take you seriously and help you with this problem.  If you can let me know how it turns out and I hope your little baby will be all right.

Sincerely,

Melinda