If you are going to become a toy dog owner you will want to familiarize yourself to the symptoms of Hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is often seen in young toy puppies, and most of the time the symptoms can be controlled by eating, or by giving some glucose such as sugar water to the puppy. Glucose is what the body uses as fuel and is necessary for the brain tissue and muscles to function. Hypoglycemia is when the blood sugar levels (glucose) fall well below normal.

It can cause your puppy to become confused, disoriented, drowsy, have the shivers, stagger about, collapse, fall into a coma, or have seizures. If not treated it can result in death. Episodes of hypoglycemia often occur without warning. A puppy may be stressed by shipping, or a missed meal, being chilled, or even exhaustion from too much play. Recurring hypoglycemic attacks in toy puppies can cause brain damage. If a puppy has frequent attacks he/she should be tested by your vet for possible underlying problems.

Because of their tiny size toy puppies cannot eat a lot at one time, and literally run out of fuel quickly. Puppies should be fed several times a day a high quality diet. Most puppies will outgrow the problem. Some very tiny dogs will continue to have bouts of hypoglycemia through out their life. If your puppy experiences episodes of hypoglycemia it is important to restore the blood levels of glucose as quickly as possible.

Typical symptoms

It is always good to have Nutrical on hand in case of a sugar drop, if you don’t have Nutrical around when something happens, Karo syrup or almost any kind of syrup is another alternative. Also, honey works pretty good as well. When your puppy recovers from an attack like this, watch him/her very closely for the rest of the day, and try and monitor the puppy through the night just for safety’s sake.

Depending on the situation the attack may be stress related or the puppy may not be eating enough, if attacks continue and are frequent, or you have reason to be concerned take the puppy to your vet immediately as there are things that can cause a dog to have hypoglycemia attacks that can be serious health issues.