Brit had 4 pups this afternoon from 4:30 to 6:30. She had 3 girls and 1 boy.
Two girls weighed in at 4.5oz and the boy at 5oz. The small girl was only 3.25oz at birth. She also delivered in an odd position, bent over backwards. This little girl has been a challenge to get as thriving as the other pups are.
She did not seem to have enough strength to suckle properly so we we helped her with feeding sessions alone with Brit.
Sept 7, 2010
This seemed to be working the first day but the next morning she was very listless so we supplemented her frequently with Pedialite and this seemed to work and she was able to stay on a teat again and suckle.
Sept 8, 2010
This morning she was very listless again so we took her in to Dr Lawrence (aka God) to see what was the best approach. He started her on milk replacer. We fed about 1cc every hour and we got about 5cc in her over the next 4 hours.
Just now she nursed by herself again for about 10 minutes and is showing some strength again. We are guardedly optimistic that we can pull her through even though her weight has dropped to 3oz it looks like her belly is full for the first time in her life.
The vet and Mrs JRRanch speculated a few things may have gone wrong for the little one:
1. It may have been conceived on the last day of the mating and therefore a few days less mature than her siblings.
2. It may have been squeezed in the uterus limiting nutrition and leading to the odd presentation at birth.
3. It may have some birth defect limiting its ability to take nourishment. Lets pray this is not the case.
Click on the image thumbnails on the right for full sized images.
Sept 9, 2010
Three pups are doing great as you can see by the latest pictures. The little one is making steady progress. We fed her 1cc of milk replacer every hour all day yesterday and all through the night. She was 88 grams yesterday morning and around noon today she is 95grams. This means she has regained her birth weight and is steadily increasing. We switched to grams on our scale to more precisely follow her progress.
Dr Lawrence mentioned her temperature was a bit low also so we are keeping the whelping room above 82F to avoid her getting chilled since they cannot regulate their own body temp until they are about 2 weeks old. We will do everything we can to help this fiesty little pup survive.
Sep 12, 2010
The pups will be a week old tomorrow. The big ones had their tails and dew claws done but not the little one. We didn't want to add any stress to her life at this point. The big kids are just under 10oz and the little one is just over her birth weight at 3.5oz.
The little girl is making very slow progress. We continue to feed her every 1.5 hours day and night. She shows no interest in nursing from Mom now but that may only be because of the easy meals she is getting from the supplement. She has reached 103 grams and each day increases a few grams. We will continue a few more days and assess her situation with the vet again.
The boy is the one with the heart shaped blaze on his head. Valentino?
Sep 14, 2010
Sad news. The little one didn't make it. This picture was taken Sept 12 and a couple of hours after it was taken she began laboured breathing. We managed to get her through that but she lost weight and got diarhea. We got that stopped but she remained pretty listless and never regained weight. In fact she continually lost weight and today she just faded away. She was not in pain and never cried but she was never going to be a viable pup so it is best she was put to sleep.
You may wonder why we would document this sad event. It is because many people ask us if they can breed the pups we sell them. Our answer is that it is not for the faint of heart and many things arise that they will not be comfortable dealing with. Over the years we have had some tragedies and scares which most casual breeders would have difficulty facing. We are blessed with an excellent vet who helps us through these difficult times and doesn't mind us calling him on a Sunday like we did for the little one.
Now, we move on to the other three healthy pups so they can bring the joy back to our hearts.
The pups are 9 days old now and have doubled their birth weight. They should be very stocky and heavily boned pups judging by their look now. Probably getting a lot of that from gramma(Taz) and grampa(Rivet).
They are well on their way in their neurological stimulation. This starts at 3 days and ends at day 16. This is a very brief stimulation which the military found improved many aspects of the dogs development. We continue with this program because as well as the purported health benefits it gives us a chance to see how each pup reacts to the stimulation and lets us get an initial look at each pups personality.
The stimulation involves holding the pups in 3 different orientations(head down, back and up) as well as tickling the toes with a qtip and letting them stand on a cold wet cloth. Each of these lasts for only 3 seconds so even if a pup dislikes a particular position it doesn't last long and doesn't frustrate them. Initially some pups really don't like being taken out of their comfortable whelping pen next to mom but after a few sessions they get used to it and really learn to relax.
Top pics are the 2 girls and Valentino is on the bottom.
Sep 20, 2010
Both girls have their eyes open today and the boy will probably be tomorrow. With the eyes opening they graduate from a belly crawl around the whelping pen to a, slightly raised on their legs, stagger. A couple of days after their eyes open they will gain their hearing and with that they tend to get a little more vocal. They do like to hear themselves talk.
The whelping box has been removed and they can move all over their whelping pen. They have a lot of trouble on the bare metal at first but keep trying because they will quickly learn to go their to p&p. This is the first step in potty training. They don't like to mess their bed so they quickly learn not to.
When they get confident in navigating the whelping pen we will take them for brief visits to the living room. This will probably happen late this week. The first several visits last only for a few minutes but they will develop their confidence and then their curiosity will take over and they will start to explore. A few days of this and they will be tough to keep under control so the x-pen will be set up in the kitchen for longer visits.
A couple of pictures from today(Sep 22,2010). The boys eyes opened today so now they will all be walking tall. We put them in this little slipper bed to hold them while the bedding is being changed in their whelping pen.
Sep 25, 2010
The pups hearing has developed and they are getting quite vocal. They are also getting very mobile and are wandering all over their whelping pen. They are starting to go to the metal side to p&p to avoid messing their bed. All of our litters do this and it is the first step in potty training them. Initially it was very difficult for them to navigate on the slippery metal surface but after a few tries they got their strength and coordination and are now walking all over it confidently.
They are beginning to interact more and we see them starting to play and gum each other. This play will get increasingly more aggressive as they spar with each other in faux battles.
They still sleep more than 90% of the time but their active periods are getting longer each day. By the time they are ready for their new homes they will still need several rest periods during the day.
Their next big adventure will be a trip to the wide open spaces(for them) of our living room. This should happen in a couple of days. It will take a few trips before they gain confidence to roam freely. By then they will be ready for the x-pen in the kitchen. Towards the end of next week they should be ready for brief periods outside, weather permitting.
Sep 30, 2010
The pups are making daily trips to the living room to stretch their legs and broaden their experiences. The first 4 pictures were taken Sept 17 on their first outing and the last 4 were taken today.
They are starting to explore a bit but not really confident yet. In a couple of more days they will be tough to contain as they start really exploring and they will need to go into their x-pen for their own safety.
Now they are spending only a few minutes out of the whelping pen each day. This will increase daily until probably next week when they will be spending their whole day out of their whelping pen.
Notice in the pictures they are still walking very close to the ground. As their strength developes this week they will walk more upright and then start really running around.
Then their next big adventure will be trips outside for walkabouts on the grass and down the farm lane.
They had their first worming last week and this will be repeated in 10 days twice. Then they will go to the vet for their first shot and a health inspection and be ready for their new homes.
Oct 3, 2010
Daily and more trips to the living room for a week and the pups are getting very comfortable exploring. Tomorrow we will set up the x-pen in the kitchen and they will spend increasing amounts of the day there.
In a few days they will be spending most of the day with us in the kitchen. This means we will have to do Mom's cleanup duties and take the pups outside many times for their p&p.
Oct 11, 2010
The pups first made the transition to all day in the x-pen in the kitchen. We took them outside every hour or so for p&p. They still had 3 a day feedings from Brit and then 2 a day until yesterday they were completely weaned. The pups ate a very hearty breakfast this morning and have made the transition very easily.
With the nice weather the last few days the pups have spent most of the day on the deck mostly sleeping in their tent. Several walks down the farm lane gets them plenty of exercise so they sleep a lot in the fresh air on the deck.
Mom visits them on the deck but isn't interested in feeding them anymore. The pups still clamour to get at her but she keeps her distance.
Thanksgiving visits from the grand kids helped with their socialisation.
With just 3 in the litter they get a lot of individual attention so they don't seem to fuss to be picked up when company comes and they are content to wait their turn.
The pups were wormed for the second time last week. They will get one more before they go to their new homes.
Pups will have their health inspection and first shots from our vet shortly before leaving home.
This week we will begin crate training them. For a few nights they will sleep together in a crate. We will feed them their meals in seperate crates. When they are comfortably handling this, they will graduate to sleeping in their own crate at night. This usually means a couple of sleepless nights for us as they will likely cause a fuss and want out for p&p several times a night. When they are ready for their new homes they should be mostly crate trained and house trained. Their little systems at this age can't make it through the night without relief but by 8-9 weeks they should be sleeping through the night. But, all litters are different and we have to be ready to adapt to each litters development.
Here are some Ustream videos. Just click on each one to view.
The pups made it 1/2 way down the farm road and back. Their stamina is really improving fast.
Also wanted to show the fall colours on the farm.
I don't think the pups noticed though because they were intent on staying on Mrs JRRanch's heels.
They will be hungry after that workout. Sounds like they are requesting their meal in the kitchen right now.
Oct 14, 2010
The pups are progressing very well. Last night there were no messes in their whelping pen and they immediately did their duty when taken outside(in the rain, at 6:15am in the dark). After their early morning trip outside they immediately demanded breakfast which they devoured in record time.
They are ready for the crate training and tonight they will all sleep in a crate together. After they master this, they will get their own crate at night.
From now on they will also be fed their meals seperately in their own crates.
