Physiological weight loss in newborn puppies of Boxer breed

<p>In the first days after birth is common to see weight loss in puppies that should not exceed 10% of body weight at birth. The main causes of weight loss are urine and meconium issued followed by non-recovery of fluids expelled. The aims of the study were to check and outline growth curves i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Enrico Bigliardi, Francesco Di Ianni, Enrico Parmigiani, Giorgio Morini, Carla Bresciani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2013-10-01
Series:Italian Journal of Animal Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.aspajournal.it/index.php/ijas/article/view/2988
Description
Summary:<p>In the first days after birth is common to see weight loss in puppies that should not exceed 10% of body weight at birth. The main causes of weight loss are urine and meconium issued followed by non-recovery of fluids expelled. The aims of the study were to check and outline growth curves in boxer breed during the first two week of life. In our study between 3<sup>th</sup> and 5<sup>th</sup> day after birth puppies retrieved the weight and got back a gain that leads to double in two weeks. We observed a mean weight loss of 11.26 g (2.27%) between the first two days of life, subsequently they recovered the birth weight on day four. In our study puppies that regained the birth weight earlier were the puppies with higher weight at birth and were the heaviest at day 13.</p>
ISSN:1594-4077
1828-051X