Hollywood Legend Litter - born May 19 2016
Posted by Delores Smith on Wednesday, June 8, 2016
I know what you're thinking...it's about time she's blogging! You're right....don't know if I can really explain the delay....just wasn't feeling it. Go back 3 weeks ago.....
May 19.....still had 5 days to go for Georgia's due date....the morning started out normal...until I was going out the door to work...let the dogs out one last time and noticed something dark on Georgia's back end. Thought it was just a twig...when I bent down to take it off, realized it was dark green discharge. As a breeder, dark green is not a color you want to see before puppies are born. Typically it means there's some kind of distress....detached placenta or dead puppies. I monitored for about an hour then called by vet...could only bring her in at noon. The discharge was gone by that point so we were considering waiting 24 hours. Discharge started again and we elected to do an ultrasound. The machine was not on location so I offered to drive to the spot where it was and bring it back....this brings us to 1:30....ultrasound showed viable strong heartbeats for some of the pups....there was also a pup closer to the pelvis that wasn't showing a heartbeat. We did a progesterone test that showed she would deliver in 24 hours. Because of the discharge and lack of heart beat a c section was scheduled for 3. By 3:30 we were tending to puppies....I was in the room outside surgery helping the assistant with rubbing and suctioning puppies. A few times the vet walked by with dead puppies...this was gut wrenching...am not a stranger to dead pupppies....but in this case there were 7 dead and 5 live. The observation was that some of the dead puppies were small in size and there were some deformaties. To my eyes, there were 2 that looked full term. We don't always have answers for these situations...only possibilities. Damaged sperm; poor placements in the uterine horn; stress from travelling while pregnant. During surgery the vet called me in and said that her cervix hadn't opened so there was no way she would have delivered the pups on her own. A dead puppy close to the birth canal sometimes doesn't stimulate contractions. If we would have waited 24 hours all puppies would have been dead. So we focus on the living!
And living they are....the first 48 hours are always tough after a c section. Mom wakes up to 5 hungry mouths and doesn't know why we expect her to do anything about it. It took about 24 hours before maternal instincts kicked in...until that point, she growled when puppies wanted to nurse...so I supervised feedings around the clock until I could see she was accepting them. She was growing because they were near her incision and she was protective over that area. That meant pottying them after each feeding because she had absolutely no interest in being near them. A fellow breeder suggested putting a dab of peanut butter on a puppy's bottom to entice her to lick them....it worked! We haven't looked back since. Georgia is a good mom - very attentive to their squeaks and squeals. She has plenty of milk - the puppies have gained steadily - all doubled their weight by 8 days. Weights as of June 7 were:
Mr Green 1.31 kgs (2.88 lbs)
Mr. White 1.5 kgs (3.3 lbs)
Mr. Purple 1.39 kgs (3.1 lbs)
Ms Orange 1.22 kgs (2.68 lbs)
Ms White 1.34 kgs (2.95 lbs)
Eyes were open by 2 weeks and with that there was increased mobility. They are definitely hearing as they are reacting to my sounds and especially mom's presence.
Week 4 - during this week their teeth will come in - Georgia will be feeding them while standing instead of lying down. Towards the end of week 4 I will introduce them to puppy food: puppy food that has been soaked in hot water and pureed with formula.
Very happy with how things are going. The puppies are starting to look really nice - very nice heads on them. Looking forward to the little personalities that will start to present themselves.
May 19.....still had 5 days to go for Georgia's due date....the morning started out normal...until I was going out the door to work...let the dogs out one last time and noticed something dark on Georgia's back end. Thought it was just a twig...when I bent down to take it off, realized it was dark green discharge. As a breeder, dark green is not a color you want to see before puppies are born. Typically it means there's some kind of distress....detached placenta or dead puppies. I monitored for about an hour then called by vet...could only bring her in at noon. The discharge was gone by that point so we were considering waiting 24 hours. Discharge started again and we elected to do an ultrasound. The machine was not on location so I offered to drive to the spot where it was and bring it back....this brings us to 1:30....ultrasound showed viable strong heartbeats for some of the pups....there was also a pup closer to the pelvis that wasn't showing a heartbeat. We did a progesterone test that showed she would deliver in 24 hours. Because of the discharge and lack of heart beat a c section was scheduled for 3. By 3:30 we were tending to puppies....I was in the room outside surgery helping the assistant with rubbing and suctioning puppies. A few times the vet walked by with dead puppies...this was gut wrenching...am not a stranger to dead pupppies....but in this case there were 7 dead and 5 live. The observation was that some of the dead puppies were small in size and there were some deformaties. To my eyes, there were 2 that looked full term. We don't always have answers for these situations...only possibilities. Damaged sperm; poor placements in the uterine horn; stress from travelling while pregnant. During surgery the vet called me in and said that her cervix hadn't opened so there was no way she would have delivered the pups on her own. A dead puppy close to the birth canal sometimes doesn't stimulate contractions. If we would have waited 24 hours all puppies would have been dead. So we focus on the living!
And living they are....the first 48 hours are always tough after a c section. Mom wakes up to 5 hungry mouths and doesn't know why we expect her to do anything about it. It took about 24 hours before maternal instincts kicked in...until that point, she growled when puppies wanted to nurse...so I supervised feedings around the clock until I could see she was accepting them. She was growing because they were near her incision and she was protective over that area. That meant pottying them after each feeding because she had absolutely no interest in being near them. A fellow breeder suggested putting a dab of peanut butter on a puppy's bottom to entice her to lick them....it worked! We haven't looked back since. Georgia is a good mom - very attentive to their squeaks and squeals. She has plenty of milk - the puppies have gained steadily - all doubled their weight by 8 days. Weights as of June 7 were:
Mr Green 1.31 kgs (2.88 lbs)
Mr. White 1.5 kgs (3.3 lbs)
Mr. Purple 1.39 kgs (3.1 lbs)
Ms Orange 1.22 kgs (2.68 lbs)
Ms White 1.34 kgs (2.95 lbs)
Eyes were open by 2 weeks and with that there was increased mobility. They are definitely hearing as they are reacting to my sounds and especially mom's presence.
Week 4 - during this week their teeth will come in - Georgia will be feeding them while standing instead of lying down. Towards the end of week 4 I will introduce them to puppy food: puppy food that has been soaked in hot water and pureed with formula.
Very happy with how things are going. The puppies are starting to look really nice - very nice heads on them. Looking forward to the little personalities that will start to present themselves.
