Eclampsia in Dogs Guide: Here you'll find in-depth information on eclampsia in dogs including its causes, symptoms, and treatments.
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Eclampsia in Dogs | An Overview
Eclampsia, also called puerperal hypocalcemia, lactation tetany or “milk fever,” is an acute and extremely severe condition in lactating female dogs caused by abnormally low blood calcium levels. It most commonly occurs during peak lactation, within the first few weeks after the whelping of puppies. If not treated immediately, eclampsia can be fatal. It is a true medical emergency.The signs of eclampsia are a direct result of low blood calcium concentrations (hypocalcemia). The precise reasons Read More ›
IntroductionEclampsia, also called puerperal hypocalcemia, lactation tetany or “milk fever,” is an acute and extremely severe condition in lactating female dogs caused by abnormally low blood calcium levels. It most commonly occurs during peak lactation, within the first few weeks after the whelping of puppies. If not treated immediately, eclampsia can be fatal. It is a true medical emergency.
Causes of Eclampsia The signs of eclampsia are a direct result of low blood calcium concentrations (hypocalcemia). The precise reasons for the hypocalcemia are not well understood, but they are somehow connected with the heavy loss of maternal calcium into the developing fetal skeletons during pregnancy and then into the milk during lactation. Poor nutrition during pregnancy, poor utilization by the bitch of dietary calcium and/or inappropriate calcium or other supplementation, may also contribute. The stresses of whelping, nursing and raising a litter – especially for a young first-time mother – can reduce her appetite, thereby causing inadequate dietary calcium.
Prevention of Eclampsia (Puerperal Hypocalcemia) in Female Dogs Although not proven to be 100% effective, there are several steps that owners of pregnant dogs can take to reduce the risk of eclampsia. First and foremost is to feed a complete, high-quality, highly digestible and nutritionally balanced diet, both during pregnancy and while the puppies are nursing. The mother should have free access to fresh, clean water and to food while she is lactating. If necessary, the pups can be removed from her for 30 minutes or so several times a day to give her some privacy and encourage her to eat. The owner can also supplement the puppies with a milk replacement formula to reduce the demands on the bitch.
Pregnant bitches on a complete, balanced diet should not need or be given oral calcium supplementation. While it may seem counterintuitive, giving extra calcium during pregnancy has been shown to increase, not decrease, the risk of puerperal hypocalcemia in female dogs.
Outlook for Dogs with Puerperal Hypocalcemia The prognosis for puerperal hypocalcemia depends on how advanced the condition is. Cases that are treated early have an excellent prognosis, but the illness is fatal if it is not treated it in a timely manner.
Causes of Eclampsia The signs of eclampsia are a direct result of low blood calcium concentrations (hypocalcemia). The precise reasons for the hypocalcemia are not well understood, but they are somehow connected with the heavy loss of maternal calcium into the developing fetal skeletons during pregnancy and then into the milk during lactation. Poor nutrition during pregnancy, poor utilization by the bitch of dietary calcium and/or inappropriate calcium or other supplementation, may also contribute. The stresses of whelping, nursing and raising a litter – especially for a young first-time mother – can reduce her appetite, thereby causing inadequate dietary calcium.
Prevention of Eclampsia (Puerperal Hypocalcemia) in Female Dogs Although not proven to be 100% effective, there are several steps that owners of pregnant dogs can take to reduce the risk of eclampsia. First and foremost is to feed a complete, high-quality, highly digestible and nutritionally balanced diet, both during pregnancy and while the puppies are nursing. The mother should have free access to fresh, clean water and to food while she is lactating. If necessary, the pups can be removed from her for 30 minutes or so several times a day to give her some privacy and encourage her to eat. The owner can also supplement the puppies with a milk replacement formula to reduce the demands on the bitch.
Pregnant bitches on a complete, balanced diet should not need or be given oral calcium supplementation. While it may seem counterintuitive, giving extra calcium during pregnancy has been shown to increase, not decrease, the risk of puerperal hypocalcemia in female dogs.
Outlook for Dogs with Puerperal Hypocalcemia The prognosis for puerperal hypocalcemia depends on how advanced the condition is. Cases that are treated early have an excellent prognosis, but the illness is fatal if it is not treated it in a timely manner.
Symptoms of Eclampsia in Dogs
Eclampsia is an acute, life-threatening condition in lactating female dogs caused by abnormally low calcium levels. Perceptive breeders notice the unmistakable signs of eclampsia most commonly within the first few weeks after a litter is born. It is during this time that the bitch is producing the most milk and putting the most drain on her calcium stores. The symptoms of eclampsia come on suddenly and progress quickly in a healthy, lactating bitch with a thriving litter. The symptoms can be subtle at first and resemble those seen before whelping, including:
Dogs at Increased Risk
Eclampsia is diagnosed most frequently in young, small-breed dogs that have given birth to large litters within the prior 2 to 4 weeks, although any age or breed of lactating bitch can be affected. Eclampsia is especially common in toy breeds. The condition also may occur in dogs that go through a particularly difficult or prolonged labor. Risk factors include large litter size, poor nutrition during gestation, stress, underlying systemic illness and excessive calcium supplementation during pregnancy
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- Restlessness
- Nervousness
- Anxiety
- Panting
- Excessive salivation
- Pacing
- Whining
- Confusion
- Disorientation
- Ataxia (lack of coordination)
- Muscle tremors or spasms
- Shaking
- Twitching
- Convulsions
- Tightening of facial muscles
- Stiffness
- Aggression
- Hypersensitivity to touch or other stimuli
- Continuous, steady muscle spasms without distinct twitching (called “tetany”) Tetany usually presents as rigidity in the legs, unusual pricking of the ears and/or flaring of the nostrils. The signs of eclampsia can advance to where the dog begins to walk in an abnormal, stilted manner and may seem unable to walk in a specific direction.
- Pale mucous membranes
- Vomiting
- Itchiness (pruritis)
- Head rubbing
- Biting at the feet
- Extreme thirst
- Increased water intake
- Frequent urination
- Increased body temperature (hyperthermia)
Dogs at Increased Risk
Eclampsia is diagnosed most frequently in young, small-breed dogs that have given birth to large litters within the prior 2 to 4 weeks, although any age or breed of lactating bitch can be affected. Eclampsia is especially common in toy breeds. The condition also may occur in dogs that go through a particularly difficult or prolonged labor. Risk factors include large litter size, poor nutrition during gestation, stress, underlying systemic illness and excessive calcium supplementation during pregnancy
Read More ›
Diagnosing Eclampsia in Dogs
Introduction Eclampsia in dogs is not difficult to diagnose. In fact, because this is such an acute-onset and potentially fatal disorder, most veterinarians will initiate treatment based on the bitch’s history, clinical signs and physical examination findings alone. If the patient is a young, toy or small-breed bitch that recently whelped a large litter and is lactating heavily, the index of suspicion for eclampsia is extremely high.
How Eclampsia is Diagnosed in Dogs Any postpartum bitch presenting with tremors, muscle spasms, disorientation, stiffness and lack coordination during a period of heavy lactation should be presumed to be suffering from eclampsia. Eclampsia can be confirmed by measuring the concentration of calcium in the dog’s blood; if she has eclampsia, her circulating calcium levels will be abnormally low. Perhaps the best and most frequently used diagnostic tool is assessing the bitch’s response to intravenous calcium replacement therapy. Most veterinarians will start that treatment before they receive the results of any blood tests, especially if the bitch seems severely affected.
Special Notes While eclampsia can be an extraordinarily dangerous condition, it is not difficult to treat if caught early. Most responsible breeders are sufficiently in-tune with their bitches that they are able to detect the onset of eclampsia in enough time to treat it successfully.
Read More ›
How Eclampsia is Diagnosed in Dogs Any postpartum bitch presenting with tremors, muscle spasms, disorientation, stiffness and lack coordination during a period of heavy lactation should be presumed to be suffering from eclampsia. Eclampsia can be confirmed by measuring the concentration of calcium in the dog’s blood; if she has eclampsia, her circulating calcium levels will be abnormally low. Perhaps the best and most frequently used diagnostic tool is assessing the bitch’s response to intravenous calcium replacement therapy. Most veterinarians will start that treatment before they receive the results of any blood tests, especially if the bitch seems severely affected.
Special Notes While eclampsia can be an extraordinarily dangerous condition, it is not difficult to treat if caught early. Most responsible breeders are sufficiently in-tune with their bitches that they are able to detect the onset of eclampsia in enough time to treat it successfully.
Read More ›
Treating Eclampsia in Dogs
Eclampsia is an emergency. It can rapidly become life-threatening in postpartum dogs and requires immediate medical attention. While eclampsia is most commonly seen in small-breed bitches within a few weeks of whelping a relatively large litter, it can happen to any size or breed of dog with nursing puppies. The goal of treatment is to return blood calcium levels to normal through intravenous calcium supplementation.
Treatment of Eclampsia should start immediately based upon clinical signs, history and physical examination findings. A bitch’s response to intravenous calcium is the most reliable diagnostic tool. The type and amount of calcium to be administered will be determined by the veterinarian based upon his assessment of the patient’s condition. Calcium should be given slowly, over a period of 10 to 30 minutes, with constant monitoring of heart rate, rhythm and blood pressure. Careful monitoring of the heart during slow intravenous calcium therapy is essential to its success. Unmonitored or overly rapid administration of intravenous calcium can cause severe cardiac abnormalities, including critically low blood pressure and possibly death. The bitch’s temperature should also be checked regularly. In most cases, the symptoms of eclampsia start to resolve dramatically a short time after treatment begins.
The puppies of a bitch with eclampsia should be removed from their mother for 24 to 36 hours, or until the dam has returned completely to normal, to reduce the mother’s loss of calcium through lactation and nursing. During this time, the puppies can be fed an appropriate milk replacer through a baby bottle or a bottle designed for nursing pups. If the mother recovers but then suffers a recurrence of eclampsia, the puppies probably should be removed from her permanently and bottle-fed until they can transition to solid food. If the puppies are close to weaning age when the hypocalcemic event happens, it may be best to wean them from their mother completely at that time.
If the puppies are very young, the mother can be given calcium supplements orally for the remainder of the nursing period. Some veterinarians recommend Vitamin D supplementation as well, to promote calcium absorption from food in the gastrointestinal tract. However, exessive intake of Vitamin D can cause an overabundance of calcium in circulation. Hypercalcemia has its own set of problems.
It is important for owners to note that calcium given orally will not help a bitch suffering a hypocalcemic crisis. It takes up to 24 hours for the body to absorb an oral source of calcium, and affected animals simply do not have that long to wait for circulating calcium levels to be restored. The only viable therapy for eclampsia is intravenous calcium administration. Finally, giving calcium to a bitch during her pregnancy is not recommended under current veterinary protocols. In fact, calcium supplementation during gestation has been shown to promote rather than prevent the development of postpartum eclampsia.
Prognosis With prompt treatment of eclampsia, the prognosis is usually excellent for a complete recovery. However, bitches that develop this disorder once tend to develop it again in connection with subsequent litters.
Read More ›
Treatment of Eclampsia should start immediately based upon clinical signs, history and physical examination findings. A bitch’s response to intravenous calcium is the most reliable diagnostic tool. The type and amount of calcium to be administered will be determined by the veterinarian based upon his assessment of the patient’s condition. Calcium should be given slowly, over a period of 10 to 30 minutes, with constant monitoring of heart rate, rhythm and blood pressure. Careful monitoring of the heart during slow intravenous calcium therapy is essential to its success. Unmonitored or overly rapid administration of intravenous calcium can cause severe cardiac abnormalities, including critically low blood pressure and possibly death. The bitch’s temperature should also be checked regularly. In most cases, the symptoms of eclampsia start to resolve dramatically a short time after treatment begins.
The puppies of a bitch with eclampsia should be removed from their mother for 24 to 36 hours, or until the dam has returned completely to normal, to reduce the mother’s loss of calcium through lactation and nursing. During this time, the puppies can be fed an appropriate milk replacer through a baby bottle or a bottle designed for nursing pups. If the mother recovers but then suffers a recurrence of eclampsia, the puppies probably should be removed from her permanently and bottle-fed until they can transition to solid food. If the puppies are close to weaning age when the hypocalcemic event happens, it may be best to wean them from their mother completely at that time.
If the puppies are very young, the mother can be given calcium supplements orally for the remainder of the nursing period. Some veterinarians recommend Vitamin D supplementation as well, to promote calcium absorption from food in the gastrointestinal tract. However, exessive intake of Vitamin D can cause an overabundance of calcium in circulation. Hypercalcemia has its own set of problems.
It is important for owners to note that calcium given orally will not help a bitch suffering a hypocalcemic crisis. It takes up to 24 hours for the body to absorb an oral source of calcium, and affected animals simply do not have that long to wait for circulating calcium levels to be restored. The only viable therapy for eclampsia is intravenous calcium administration. Finally, giving calcium to a bitch during her pregnancy is not recommended under current veterinary protocols. In fact, calcium supplementation during gestation has been shown to promote rather than prevent the development of postpartum eclampsia.
Prognosis With prompt treatment of eclampsia, the prognosis is usually excellent for a complete recovery. However, bitches that develop this disorder once tend to develop it again in connection with subsequent litters.
Read More ›