Good Morning

This morning I am moving on the slow side.  Last night, I was rushing down the hall to let Charlee in the house, one of my rugs slipped out from under me and I came crashing down on my left hip and wrist.  Nothing broken, but I am sure the bruise when it pops up in a couple of days is going to be all kinds of pretty.  Of course this is my left hip, which is the side I lay on to watch the puppies from the day bed, so last night was a rough night for sure.  Aleve is my best friend right now and waiting for it to kick in so that I can make my way into the office, at least for a little while.

The puppies are all doing what I like to call the drunken sailor walk, they get up on all fours and totter around trying to figure out how to put one foot in front of the other and move in a forward direction, it is quite cute.  Green and Red Boys this morning are starting to show a sliver of an eyeball peeping out, so the others should follow suit and I would expect by this weekend they should all be open.

Green boy is the talker, he barks and growls, it is quite hilarious to listen to him tell his momma that he is hungry and she should be making her way into the whelping box.  He is a smart one.  He knows that when he talks she comes, not too bad for a puppy that is 12 days old.

Nevada is being an incredible mom, I wouldn't expect less, she was good with her last litter and her mom was an amazing mom so it runs in the genes.  Yesterday, dad said she was in the whelping box from about 11am to 3pm he kept trying to coax her out but she was perfectly content to be with her babies.  They are super clean and I have yet to see a wet pee spot or poop from them as she cleans them long before they can do it on their own, which at this point they should be able to do, I just haven't been able to witness it, because she takes such good care of them.

New Pictures

Today Dad helped me take pictures of the puppies.  At this age, getting pictures is never easy.  They move around and of course every time I try to take a picture they have to turn away from the camera.  So not the best of pictures but I am sure you will agree they are better than none.

First day back at work went well, although I had to come home early.  A good friend of mine had planned on using Dallas as a Stud Dog and her girl wasn't scheduled to come into season for a couple of months.    Well Charlee didn't get that message and mom and dad have a trip to Hawaii planned, leaving tomorrow.  So we have a guest for a couple of weeks.  Charlee is a great girl and I have her in my bedroom where she can go out the side door to a yard of her own.  Nevada has let her know that she is in charge, Charlee backed off and they are getting along quite well, which makes me very happy.

Rolly Pollies

I have now started calling them the Rolly Pollies because they are all very fat little puppies.  When mom comes into the whelping box their little noses go up in the air and they air scent mom, then the boot, scoot and boogie to the milk bar happens, they usually all end up there at the same time and then scramble on top of each other for a nipple, one or two will get knocked off and they roll down the remaining puppies with their little feet up in the air, two fat to get right side up and scream and make a ruckus, then they right themselves, climb back up and roll back down.  It really is quite hilarious and I know I am a mean mom, but it's always good for a chuckle. 

Green boy likes to come in through the back door, between momma's back legs but half the time he doesn't make it all the way and then screams bloody murder that their's no milk - no green boy there is no milk at the back of your momma's legs.  I always find Blue boy and put him on the best nipple while the others are all scrambling, that is because he is the smallest, not because I am playing favorites.  Eventually they all find a nipple, drink until they are comatose and fall asleep.  That pretty much sums up life around here.  Eat, Sleep and be Happy.

Yesterday my dad and Chaz came and watched the puppies so I could go to the dog food and regular food store.  Nevada has decided that she likes raw food and so that is what she is getting, along with some other stuff, I just keep trying to get as much food into her as I possibly can these days.  While it was nasty and wet all over the rest of Washington, it was actually not too bad here.  After feeding the pups, Nevada likes to go outside to cool off.  I have to keep the house warmer than normal for the puppies, especially at night, so the dogs are wanting to be outside more than they normally would.  She goes and lays on the puppy deck next to my home office and if she wants in she can give me the look and I can let her in.  We seem to have a good routine down and I am not looking forward to going to work next week, but I have to.  Pups will be watched by my dad, who has helped me raise the last 5 litters.  He loves the puppies and is a tremendous help. 

1 Week Birthday

Gosh hard to believe a week has already gone by.  The puppies are all doing great, gaining weight, getting fat and are very content and happy babies.  Mom has lot's of milk and they are basically thriving.  I am starting to see black pigment on the noses and red boy has been trying to stand up and walk rather than doing what I like to call the boot, scoot & boogie, he was doing that when the others were sleeping for the picture above.

As of this morning  - little miss lime girl is the biggest, weighing 1 lb 14 ounces so she is practically knocking on the two pound door.  Red & Green, Pink & Yellow are 1 lb 12 ounces and Blue boy is 1 lb 8 ounces.  He is always happily sleeping when the Milk Wagon comes in and I have to wake him up and put him on the best nipple.  He has been steadily gaining so I am not concerned about his weight at all.

It is interesting watching the puppies when Nevada comes into the box, they can all be sound asleep and pretty soon you can see their noses start to twitch, heads lift and then it is off to the races, they scurry around scooting here and there trying to find her.  Someone always seems to get lost and starts crying and screaming bloody murder that they cannot find their next meal and I have to rescue them and then they are all happy.

Life is otherwise good, Nevada is still being picky at eating, but she is at least acting like I am not trying to poison her with each meal.  French toast is her favorite so far, but yesterday she had some raw turkey, raw cut up chuck roast, some stella and chewys dehydrated raw duck, goats milk, vanilla ice cream  and two sliders.  Yes she is spoiled and pretty soon she is going to have to not be hand fed, but I am hoping we are making headway.

I am hoping I will have a helper come and take one week pictures today, if not we will get them tomorrow for sure.

Heaven Has a New Angel - Peanut

This has been a tough morning - during the night she continued to thrive, I fed her twice and she was doing great.  This morning I put her on the heating pad, which is what I have been doing whenever I leave her alone and let Nevada out to do her business and feed the other dogs.  I then throw towels in the dryer to warm them up and fix her food and go and feed her, when I got back to the whelping room, she didn't look right, her body was limp and lifeless.  I tried and tried to revive her, Nevada tried to nudge her, licked her and after about a half an hour I knew she was gone and there was nothing more I could do.   I really thought she would make it, but my vet told me today, that sometimes with little ones like this we really don't know if their internal parts are working correctly and more than likely there was something else going on that we couldn't see.  I know I did everything I could and I knew it would be a struggle but I wasn't about to give up on her.

I also didn't realize until she was gone, how much of my focus had been on her and how much time she took.  Nevada and I both crashed this afternoon, her snoring put me out for the count and I think that was the most sleep I have gotten in one session since they were born.  She required constant watching, making she she didn't get squished, was warm, was eating and she cried and moaned a lot, I didn't realize how much until she was no longer with us.

Today I was able to really focus on the other puppies, I did take pictures, not the best, but I haven't had anyone come over to help and we will get better ones on Friday for sure for their one week photo's.  As you can see some of the pigment is coming in on noses.  I had to put a different color collar on flower girl, that ribbon was just not good - so she is now Lime girl.  Green boy likes to bark and it is so cute to hear.  All of the babies are gaining weight and doing well. 

They had their dew claws removed yesterday, so that is behind us and now we can start to focus and move forward.  Nevada has decided she likes raw meat.  I spent $75 at the store today on Meat and hoping this gets me through until a raw food order I made comes to the house on Friday.  Whatever it takes:)

Looking forward to hopefully a good night sleep.

Peanut has gained an ounce

I know that doesn't seem like much but when she has been steadily losing weight since birth, any gain is a gain and I will take it.  I think we have a game plan that seems to be working.  Every two hours I pull out a warm towel from the dryer that has been warming it up and then I wrap her in it and get her good and warm for 20 minutes, usually this is me laying on the cot with her resting against my heart.  Then I tube feed her and another 20 minutes resting in the warm towels against me.  At that time her taste buds have kicked into gear and I put her on momma for as long as she wants and I have been watching like a hawk that she doesn't get kicked away by her siblings and sitting out in the whelping box all alone.   When Nevada's milk lets down, I have to literally hold her head to a nipple so that she doesn't get pushed aside by the other pups.

Her vocal cords are working well and if she does get pushed out, she lets me know.  Last night in the middle of the night I heard one of them barking, I couldn't figure out who it was but this morning I heard it again, green boy has learned how to use his vocal cords as well.  Cracks me up hearing this little teeny bark coming out of these puppies.

Nevada still doesn't want to eat, I have been trying everything, she will eat a little bit of something and then turn up her nose at it - We go into the vets office this afternoon at 2pm to have dew claws removed.  All but little wee one - I will not do hers, it is just two stressful on her little body, so she will have all of her dew claws.    When we go in, I am going to see if Linda has any ideas about what I can do for Nevada.  Not sure if she is still nauseated and if so, can I give her pepcid or what is going on.  I am going to order some raw food and see if that gets her taste buds moving again.  If anyone has any ideas, I am all for it.  She  won't touch chicken or anything to do with chicken,  I have tried bone broth, cottage cheese, eggs, potatoes, she ate a little bit of canned rabbit yesterday.  She didn't like oatmeal.  She was eating Satin balls, but then those lost their enticement, goats milk.  She will still eat vanilla ice cream.  Like I said, open to ideas, so if you have any - let me know.

He is a She

So apparently my friends Mona, Linda, Terri & Susan don't know the difference between a boy and a girl.  During the c section they were on one table and I asked them what they all had and they all said four boys - I am going to call out Linda who was taking care of the wee little one in question.  So I was busy trying to revive the one puppy that didn't make it and later taking care of mom, never looked at the sex of the puppies.  I have been a little bit busy at home, trying to keep wee little one alive and hadn't checked the sex of this puppy until this morning when I was on a phone call with Anne and she asked me to check something, when I noticed that Stuart Little's plumbing was all wrong, he is a she.

She has not been doing so well, I have been tube feeding her every two hours throughout the night - to say I am tired is an understatement, but more concerned for her well being than mine at this point.  We just got back from meeting my vet at her clinic - bless her for coming in on Easter Sunday and she gave her some sub q fluids and sent me home with some showing me what to do throughout the day.  I was able to talk with a good breeder friend of mine, that had a similiar type of a situation a couple of years ago.  She gave me some very valuable advise and for right now, I am seeing a turn around and she has already gained 1/2 an ounce since this morning.  Considering she kept on losing weight, this is the first gain since she has been born, so I am super happy about that. 

The remaining puppies are all doing great!  Momma's milk has come in and they are all gaining weight.  I like to weigh my puppies twice a day for the first two weeks, I find it really is the only way to know for sure that they are doing well and if one isn't doing as well as the others, you can give that puppy a little more TLC or make sure they are on the good nipple.  Nice thing about 7 puppies is that they are all pretty much good nipples, although some are always better than others.

I will keep you posted on the peanut's progress, but for now, I am hopeful that we have turned things around.