Yorkie Hypoglicemia

What is Hypoglycemia in Yorkie?
It is a health condition where the dog has low level of blood sugar. Toy dog like Yorkie prone to this ailment, because toy dog reserve very small amount of fat in their body, and for Yorkie (energetic dog) has a very high risk of the disease because they burn more glucose (blood sugar) into energy and once the blood sugar level dropped, it may cause so much disturbance to their activity. For a Yorkie, 70-150 mg/dL is considered as normal blood sugar level and below 50mg/dL is positive hypoglycemia.


The Symptoms
Some early symptoms are the dog gets less and less energetic. Slower heartbeat, sleepy and seems disoriented. Followed by lethargy, the gums turn into pale color, the eye begin to look less focused, stumbling, loss of appetite and often followed by less water consumption, and one of the most obvious is the body temperature can drops very fast. In severe hypoglycemia case, the dog may coma, muscle twitching or convulsions.

When a Yorkie Can Get Hypoglycemia Attack?
The attack is rare in healthy adult dog, most cases only found in younger pup less than 10 months old. If somehow you found some similar symptoms in adult dog, you probably want to check your dog with bile acid test, the effect from liver shunt often shows similar sign with the hypoglycemia attack.

Emergency Treatment
Try to give any food your Yorkie love, if she won't eat any of it, then try to give her some sugar (Karo® syrup, white corn syrup, NutriCal, NutriDrops, or NutriStat, etc). If your dog already faint (often happens during the attack) then try to rub the syrup in the gum, or if she stay conscious, force her to drink the syrup with some syringe.

You should also be aware about the risk of Hypothermia, try to warm her with anything you can think of, a temperature bag, a blanket, or probably put her on her clothes etc. That's the first aid; this should buy her some time for you to take her to the vet immediately.

Prevention
What about the prevention? Is there any way to prevent this? Yes, there is! The easiest way is to give your dog high quality food with at least 30% of protein. This will ensure your dog will get the nutrient she needs.

Second prevention is giving the puppy smaller meal but more frequent. Most people feed their dog twice a day. It's okay with larger dog that can store more fat and nutrient in their body. But for a toy dog, especially the energetic one like Yorkie, you will need to feed her at least three times a day, even when she get into adulthood. Unless your Yorkie can stay vigilant and vigor with two meals a day, then go for three or four meal times a day.

Third prevention is maintaining the activity, prevent your dog from being so hyperactive is a good prevention. If somehow this hard to do (or you prefer her to stay active) then your best bet is providing her higher quality rest. This can be achieved by removing any toy during her bedtime and make sure you put her crate in a very quiet room.

Summing it up
Yorkie is an active toy dog. This makes her susceptible with hypoglycemia. Be aware when your dog begin to loose its energy. Once she shows the symptoms, take all necessary treatment above and go to your vet. Better yet, prevent your dog from having this ailment. It can be quite stressing for the dog (and you), beside the vet cost won't be cheap.