We weren’t too sure if today was going to be the day. A “penciled in” appointment was set for today but when Rita noticed a discharge in addition to her labored breathing, it was changed to permanent – The babies are coming today!
I met her up at the vet’s office at 11:30 am this morning, where both Rita and KC greet me with a smile. From that point, everything happened so fast. It went from prepping her for surgery to all three were out! Like an expecting father, I sat in the waiting room while Rita came out with the news It started with, “Two are chocolate and one is spotted“. Then came, “Two boys and one girl. The girl is chocolate“. That was followed with, “We are working on the chocolate boy“.
Looking back at the X-ray taken on Friday, it looks like one very large puppy is in one horn and then the other two in the other. Those two look like two different sizes too, right? Well, the two bigger ones where in one horn and the tiny one was alone in the other. He was bent over, and smushed, unable to stretch out. Blood needed to start to flow better and organs needed to get where they needed to be.
While they all worked on our little one, KC had come-to so I tended to her and her other two puppies. KC did awesome and was just sweet as ever even after surgery with pokes and prods from complete strangers. She let her pups nurse without issue.
After our spotted boy and chocolate girl’s bellies were full, we had to make some decisions on how to proceed. With an hour and a half drive home, our tiny boy probably would not make it. It was decided that Rita would take him home and see if her nursing bitch might help us pull him through.
From that point, I packed up KC and her two other adorable puppies and we headed home for what would most likely be three full days of latching the puppies onto her. Most c-sections result in moms not quite having those maternal instincts kicking into gear. It typically takes three days and then suddenly it all clicks. Experienced moms kick in quicker but KC is a brand new mom and already 3.5 years old! Now we get to see just how textbook KC is.
Once we got home, I set her up in the whelping room and the puppies in the whelping box. I placed a doggy bed beside them for her to rest in. She laid there watching them, even with the effects of coming to from surgery, she seemed to know those puppies were hers. She just didn’t exactly claim them.
I laid her on her side and latched the puppies on. She laid there and let them nurse. As they were getting their second meal of life, we got a checking on their tiny brother (and his new equally tiny frog toy) . Unable to latch on to his foster mommy, it looks like bottle feeding is in Rita’s future. We both will be getting up every two hours!
Trackbacks/Pingbacks