I have a female Shih Tzu that is almost 10 years old. She hadn’t been in heat for about 3 years, and then suddenly the hormones must of kicked in because she was looking and receiving a male. Oh no! She is too old. I didn’t think she would have another litter. Everyone in my family was surprised.
About 65 days later, my Matilda had her 3rd litter of six puppies. Everything went well with delivery, she wanted me there constantly. I was there for the birth of each and every puppy. She had 4 females and 2 males. She is an excellent mother, almost to a fault because she would leave them, only to drink water (after over 24 hours) and to go outside. Finally I got her to eat, but only chicken flavored canned dog food.
She had a tiny runt. The smallest runt I have ever seen about 1/3 the size of the other pups. She could fit in the palm of my granddaughters hand. I could see that special care was going to be needed. I ran to the store for puppy milk supplement and began the regimen of supplementing the runt. The puppy did well. Didn’t cry much, was being fed by us and her mother. She never cried, or seemed distressed and always warm. She did survive and thrive.
Then strange events began to happen. Matilda was never a mother that would move her pups. She always allowed them to stay in the whelping box with all her litters. She would take this little runt in her mouth and move it (or try to) around in the box. This scared me, and I couldn’t understand what she was doing. I had witnessed her doing this twice. One morning, I got up I noticed that Matilda went under my bed, and I saw a puppy in her mouth. It was the runt. I was afraid to grab or move stuff under the bed, but luckily the other puppies began to cry, Matilda went to them and I rescued the puppy. Eventually I realized that Matilda wasn’t actually rejecting this small special puppy, but she wanted to nurse it on her own. I allowed Matilda up on the couch, put the puppy by her, and she would lie there contentedly with only that pup nursing. We would do this several times a day, and that did stop Matilda from moving that puppy.
As they puppies grew, eyes opened, ears opened and everything seemed normal with the runt. As they began to move around, we started noticing things with the little one. She had a hard time getting around. The others were beginning to walk instead of crawling. The runt had a problem getting around, and was much slower moving. I examined her and saw that her right front paw did not quite look the same. It would drag and she would move on her elbow. It looked so hard for her to move. I felt so bad for her. My heart truly went out to this little one. She was stoic and still never cried much, still got her turn to nurse, crawling through, around, under and over all the other puppies. She was very determined to survive.
I went on the internet to try and find information. Was this a normal problem for Shih Tzus? What should I do? What could I do? Should I try and splint it? Will it hurt her more if I did? Not a lot of information out there. Finally on Monday, I called our vet. I don’t want her euthanized. I want to help her. The vet said to wait a few weeks, then she will examine her to see what should be done, and where exactly the problem is.
Of course, we can’t keep all the puppies, they must be sold. But still, I didn’t want her to go to just anyone who wouldn’t give her special care. I didn’t want her to be neglected because she was handicapped. I said this to my husband one day as I was taking care of her. (Having so many dogs already, I had no hope at keeping a puppy.) After some silence on his part, he said let’s keep her and name her “Chit” because she is so tiny, she is “a chit of a thing”. I was so surprised! Now I could let my heart love this one without reservations. She has become the apple of everyone’s eye in the family. Everyone takes turns feeding her and spending special time with her. I think Chitte might end up spoiled.
At this time she is doing quite well. She is about a week behind the rest of the litter as far as development and of course she is still the smallest of the litter. She had the stamina of a bull. She still crawls rather than walks, but she seems to love us back. She licks and licks us. I don’t know if she is looking to nurse, or just “giving us kisses”. She has brought joy to my heart. I still feel bad for her because she seems to have a hard time getting around, but she doesn’t know any different, so I guess I will be content with that thought. Eventually she will be going to the vet and we will see what that brings.