Velda writes:
Well, the great day arrived, though we didn't know it last Thursday when Suzy was restless all day and became more so as evening came on. She wanted out and in again and out again ten minutes later. She was very full of puppies and I thought sometimes her tummy was tight and it might be a contraction. The evening became night. I put her in her whelping box and she looked sadly out at me. Then I saw green stains on the towels. According to the books, this is a bad sign so I called the vet and he instructed me to wash carefully and put my finger into the birth canal to see if there a puppy was therein. My friend Sandy had promised to come to help -- she is an experienced breeder -- so I called her after the vet. She arrived, did the procedure more vigorously than I had done and agreed there was nothing. That action was supposed to stimulate labor but nothing happened. The vet then said we should go to the emergency veterinarian and probably would need a C-section.
X-rays showed four puppies and all were born alive by a C-section but only one survived. They were beautifully marked black and white with one white boy like Figaro. The one that lived is the big fellow that was blocking the passage. He is really a darling -- black with white paws and tip of the tail and a sliver of white on his nose. The birthweights varied from 5 and a half ounces to 11 ounces (that is about the size of a Lab pup!). He is doing fine so far and Suzy recovered from her anesthetic well and soon began to lavish maternal care upon her one child. Figaro is fit to be tied being kept out of the room.
We had a rough night -- I turned off the light at 3:30 a.m. Friday morning and had to be up again to leave the house at 8:15 to pick up Suzy and the boy. The emergency clinic closes at 9 and we stopped by our regular vet on the way home. Suzy has to take antibiotics for 5 days because there was some contamination during surgery. When we picked her up she would let him nurse but paid no attention to him; but soon I began to wonder if she licks him too much. This one beautiful puppy is going to be sold to our friends Kris and Clint Fowler -- they wanted a girl but will take a boy. That is, he'll go to them if he is truly healthy. He seems vigorous and is nursing strongly and looks as if he got all the good stuff
The coming of the puppies has been occupying our minds a lot and now that the experience of the whelping is over we may be able to think of something else -- like the puppy! He's been named Victor as he won it all. He is polished by his mother's tongue and fed so generously that he had gained to 13.75 oz by Sunday. That morning Suzi tried to find a new nest for him. I think we have allowed too many people to come and admire him so today we'll keep it quiet. Now on Monday Victor weighs a full pound!
Well, the great day arrived, though we didn't know it last Thursday when Suzy was restless all day and became more so as evening came on. She wanted out and in again and out again ten minutes later. She was very full of puppies and I thought sometimes her tummy was tight and it might be a contraction. The evening became night. I put her in her whelping box and she looked sadly out at me. Then I saw green stains on the towels. According to the books, this is a bad sign so I called the vet and he instructed me to wash carefully and put my finger into the birth canal to see if there a puppy was therein. My friend Sandy had promised to come to help -- she is an experienced breeder -- so I called her after the vet. She arrived, did the procedure more vigorously than I had done and agreed there was nothing. That action was supposed to stimulate labor but nothing happened. The vet then said we should go to the emergency veterinarian and probably would need a C-section.
X-rays showed four puppies and all were born alive by a C-section but only one survived. They were beautifully marked black and white with one white boy like Figaro. The one that lived is the big fellow that was blocking the passage. He is really a darling -- black with white paws and tip of the tail and a sliver of white on his nose. The birthweights varied from 5 and a half ounces to 11 ounces (that is about the size of a Lab pup!). He is doing fine so far and Suzy recovered from her anesthetic well and soon began to lavish maternal care upon her one child. Figaro is fit to be tied being kept out of the room.
We had a rough night -- I turned off the light at 3:30 a.m. Friday morning and had to be up again to leave the house at 8:15 to pick up Suzy and the boy. The emergency clinic closes at 9 and we stopped by our regular vet on the way home. Suzy has to take antibiotics for 5 days because there was some contamination during surgery. When we picked her up she would let him nurse but paid no attention to him; but soon I began to wonder if she licks him too much. This one beautiful puppy is going to be sold to our friends Kris and Clint Fowler -- they wanted a girl but will take a boy. That is, he'll go to them if he is truly healthy. He seems vigorous and is nursing strongly and looks as if he got all the good stuff
The coming of the puppies has been occupying our minds a lot and now that the experience of the whelping is over we may be able to think of something else -- like the puppy! He's been named Victor as he won it all. He is polished by his mother's tongue and fed so generously that he had gained to 13.75 oz by Sunday. That morning Suzi tried to find a new nest for him. I think we have allowed too many people to come and admire him so today we'll keep it quiet. Now on Monday Victor weighs a full pound!
