March 2011 Litter
Like Clock Work
All of our litters do it! And it is usually done within the first week of their move into Puppy Kindergarten. They crawl out of the comfort of the crate the find mom, who is laying in the doggy bed, to nurse till their heart’s content. It’s that moment that they discover the luxurious bed and choose it over the padded dog crate. I can’t blame them! They are surrounded in fluffy pillows of napping...
Read MoreIn Morning’s Light
Colada and her babies are doing well after their first full 12 hours in the world and in morning’s light, I can see much more clearly what we are dealing with. Her boy and her last female are nice and plumpy, doing great actually. Her first and third females are the ones who still have my attention. Her first girl, the spotted one, has lost the strength to nurse so I am supplementing her. She also is on the blue side, with what I would call wet breathing. She can’t seem to retain any body heat either. Even the heating pad can’t keep her warm. Heated water bottles, towels and feedings every two hours for the indefinite future. I think her chances are...
Read MoreColada Needs A Hug
I started to see the signs early this morning. Around 3:30 am, Colada started begging to get up into my bed as opposed to being in the whelping box with Absolute. She hadn’t left her puppy’s side for ANYTHING, until then. She started whining and pacing too, going from begging to get up into my bed, then running back to cuddle up with Absolute. I continued her feedings, every 30 minutes, but her strength was clearly fading. Absolute went peacefully at 6:42 this morning. So very, very sad. Colada knew the inevitable, but her body and hormones keeps telling her that she still has babies to tend too. She has spent the day with us downstairs, but continuously...
Read MoreWe Are Loosing This Battle
Our sweet little Absolute is not fairing well. My every 30 minute feedings are not helping her in the weight or growth department. She is drinking from the bottle but doesn’t seem to be retaining any of the nutrients. She is down to 1 1/4 oz, loosing a full ounce from her birth weight. She isn’t as dehydrated as she was yesterday but her body temps are still not being retained. I have resorted to using a heated oven mitt to hold her while feeding her to help her out a bit but I am afraid that even after all of our hard work, that we are going to loose her. I don’t think tube feeding will help since she is nursing from the bottle, her little feet...
Read MoreHourly Feedings Increased
Absolute made it through the night but there is a bit too much weight loss for my liking. Puppies usually loose a bit from their birth-weight in the first day or two, but she simply didn’t have enough to loose! She is down to 1 7/8 ounces and all of the places that are usually a nice shade of pink after day one are still red. Bottle feeding seems to fill her belly but she isn’t retaining any. When I go back for her next feeding she is frail and dehydrated. I will increase her feedings to every 30 minutes and try tube feeding if I continue to see weight loss. I have also placed heated, damp towels in the whelping box to try to keep things moist. Colada has...
Read MoreGetting Ready To Fight
Absolute may have been the only surviving puppy from Colada’s litter but she far from the strongest. Her little boy was much stronger and was much more developed than Absolute. She is not suckling very well off of mom, too weak to stay attached. We have resorted to bottle feedings every hour to help her continue to thrive. She is also very dehydrated so we have placed a humidifier in the room near her and placed the entire whelping box close to a window so that the sunlight can reach it. With preemies, the temperatures much be closer to that in the womb, 90 – 100 degrees. Colada is such a trooper, baring the heat and keeping her baby as warm as she possibly...
Read MoreLong and Exhausting Night and Day!
I really thought we had a couple more days. So much so, I hadn’t taken out all of my whelping supplies, only began gathering the box and getting ready to put it all up in our guest room. When Colada started panting at 1am when we all went to bed, I wish I had taken a more serious note of it. She had been eating all day and showed no other signs of labor. Off to bed I took her assuming Tuesday was going to be the day – Day 62. But at 3:45am the heavy nesting began in our bed and from there, the night/morning really started. I set up her whelping box in my bedroom and ran around gathering supplies She panted and nested just about long enough for me to get...
Read MoreThe Preggy Sit
All the girls do it. The closer they get to their whelping, the more awkwardly they sit. Hind legs out like a human and their baby bellies resting on the ground they are resting upon. She is also starting to get that “wide load breathing”. At day 56, she has about 6 more days to go! Of course, she can deliver as early as day 58 but that’s pretty early! Dogs deliver 62 days after they ovulate and every dog is different when it comes to standing heat. This is Colada’s first breeding and first pregnancy. Ideally we will have her cycle figured out after she whelps. Until then… we...
Read MoreColada is Chillaxin
She has about 10 days to go until her puppies are here and to help her get into the chillaxin mood, we took off her harness and let her lounge where ever she wants in the camper. I felt her puppies kick for the first time today – The true sign that the fun is around the corner. This is the stage when mommies present their bellies in full form for tons of rubs and...
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