Oh Yeah, You Blend

You will notice if you are watching the puppycam that the puppies now have a fashionable RED towel, I also changed the configuration of the bed, and added some little hills and valleys with rolled-up towels underneath the red towel. They also now have some TOYS to experience – they aren’t playing yet, obviously, they can’t even see yet, but having new things in their environment to experience is a good thing.

They endured their first day of puppy abuse (thanks for the term Jan!) very well. They are getting lots of cuddling from both me and Jim.

In case you haven’t read back through the blog when we had the last litter, you will see the puppies twitching and even jumping while they sleep, this is normal – this is called “active sleep” and it’s a sign of their nervous systems developing, plus it helps their muscles get strong. Some of these guys are already standing with their back legs! They are all pretty adventurous, trundling all around the box.

And I forgot to say earlier that I saw Nina do the COOLEST thing last night. She was lying on her side with all but one puppy nursing, and the only not-nursing puppy was all the way at the other end of the box. He started sounding the puppy emergency alert siren, and inching towards Nina, she had her head stretched out towards him as far as she could reach, and when he got close enough, she reached towards him with her front paws, grabbed him, and pulled him towards her! It was amazing to see.

Everyone did SUPER overnight, everyone gained nicely. Troublemaker Aniston is hulking out, he gained the most. Little stub girl Beals gained 10 grams overnight. Connelly (boy with the spot on his chest) gained 15 grams. Donnelly (boy with no white) gained 17 grams. And long tailed girl Esposito gained 13 grams. Everyone except Beals is over 300 grams now, and she is getting there at 285 grams! With the last litter there were some who gained like wildfire for a bit and then slowed right down, some who were slow and steady, and some who gained in jumps. As long as they’re gaining, that’s what matters! The three slowest gainers will get some extra alone time to nurse today.

Nina is feeling less like she needs to be in with the puppies every minute, she actually came and got in bed with me for a cuddle for a while last night, nice to have my Nina back! She is full of energy and is loving the fact that she can run and play again. She came out to hang out in the living room (right off the puppy room) for a while last night too. Her mama bear mode is coming off high alert now.

I am obsessing about how best to set up the whelping box. I reworked it last night after Nina decided she needed to rearrange things and ended up with a puppy under the bumper bed. So I put the bed UNDER a big towel, put smaller towels and face cloths also underneath at the sides and corners (to hopefully remove any puppy traps), and then tucked the edges of the towel under the whelping box edges. It’s a hassle to arrange when I need to change the top towel (as I do frequently, since Nina still has the normal post-whelp ick), but it hopefully means that Nina can be comfy, the puppies have elevation changes to navigate, and nobody will get stuck anywhere. I took out the pig rails since puppies seemed to be getting wedged under them.

I kept worrying about them being too cold, but yesterday the temperature climbed pretty sharply and all of a sudden I noticed the puppies were all spread out away from each other (you want them in a loose pile, all spread out means they are too warm, and a tight huddle means they are too cold). Vallhunds are very cold-tolerant even as puppies, it seems! The last litter were born in winter and they never used the supplemental heat pad at all (Nina used it as a pillow, though).

Today is the first day of ritual abuse early neurological stimulation to hopefully help the puppies throughout their lives.

Turn it up, puppies this age sound like theremins when they are annoyed about something:

They wag their tails when they are nursing sometimes. I know it’s likely just their nervous system working itself, out, but it looks like they’re saying “SO GOOD!”. Adorable. They look like baby otters at this stage, especially the ones with tails. And their front legs are so dark it looks like they’re wearing elbow-length gloves, very elegant!

Tomorrow we start the Early Neurological Stimulation, it’s done from day 3 to 16. It’s always interesting to see how they react to it.

The boys are more cuddly than the girls at this stage (this was the case with the last litter, too). Both girls are feisty and have no problem complaining if something isn’t to their liking, I expect some of this is because the boys are much bigger and will try to muscle them out of the way sometimes, the girls stand their ground, though! The two girls got some time to nurse by themselves today and were pretty happy about that, even though there are more than enough nipples for everyone (that’s an odd thing to type).

I ordered some special baby puppy collars with breakaway clasps for them (FROM ENGLAND!!!) so people can tell them apart on the puppycam, and so I can see who is doing what without having to pick them up and turn them over and interrupt whatever it was they were doing that I cared so much about. I was going to use cat collars, but most of the safety ones need more pressure to break than I was comfortable with. I have rick-rack but I am paranoid about using it, so special ENGLISH baby safety collars it will be!

Everyone did well again overnight, Donnelly (the boy with no white) is an explorer and has been all the way around the box. He’s just fine hanging out by himself, and then sounds the emergency distress siren when he gets worried. I got up several times to make sure the smaller ones got some extra feeding time (in true Vallhund fashion, they are always willing to eat!). I may supplement them a bit today to top them off.

They are all feisty – they protest very loudly if someone tries to muscle in on their nipple – and they are quite active.

Nina slept very well overnight, woke me up to go out a couple of times, but I think her tummy is starting to settle down now. Her “mama bear” mode is also quieting down a bit and she is settling well into being a pampered mother. Very watchful when we are holding a puppy, of course, but not worried.

Nina and a puppy.

Nina and the fab five this morning.

Click here for the puppycam!

Everyone did well overnight, Nina stayed in with them the whole night (her choice, she can jump in and out as she likes), I got up to offer her water and food a few times. I think she likes this whelping box (thanks Kate!) better, it gives her much more room. The babies are in a bumper crate pad inside the box, so they all stay in one spot and Nina can be comfy.

Aniston the troublemaker maintained his birth weight (they commonly lose weight the first 24 hours, then gain).

Everyone else lost a bit, the stub tailed girl lost the most, I will make sure she gets some uninterrupted feeding time today.

I do keep in mind that the birth weights are not necessarily all that accurate, since Jim weighs them at a convenient time for Nina (like when she is delivering another puppy). I always try to get them nursing a bit immediately after being born, so some puppies have eaten more than others when they get around to being weighed, plus some are still wet, others are completely dry, etc. It’s more a guideline and the overall pattern is more important. I will weigh everyone again tonight (I try to weigh twice a day for the first week).

Nina played fetch outside today! It is lovely and cool and I am sure it feels great to be able to run again! Once I dragged her away from the puppies so she could relieve herself outside, she suddenly remembered that she can RUN!

She is eating well, drinking a lot (she needs to drink as much as possible, since she is lactating), and enjoying her extras like mother’s pudding (vanilla pudding made with goats milk and eggs), yoghurt, ice cream and puppy milk replacer (she loves it and it’s very easy on the stomach). She has the usual post-whelping diarrhea but seems to be feeling pretty good.

Aniston, the troublemaker

Donnelly (and some ick)

Nina and a puppy

Nina and the one day old puppies

Pile o’Puppies

Yes, you’ve got it, more puppies!

I cannot express how grateful I am that Stephanie was here with me yesterday to help. It would have been much harder and so much more frightening without her. Having an experienced tech here to help assess how we thought Nina was doing, and help me decide when to intervene, who doesn’t panic…that made all the difference. Thank you Stephanie! And thank you to Alex, who set up the OR at work for a c-section just in case, and thereby helped to ward off the gremlins! And to Dr. Stein, who was ready to jump in and help if Nina needed him. And to Renee and Caroline, for all their support. I am very lucky to work with such a great bunch of skilled professionals and all-around awesome people! Also Jim, of course, the official record keeper, puppy weigher, iced tea bringer, and awesome husband. Here ends my Oscar acceptance speech.

Here is the troublemaker, after two hours of being stuck:

Aniston

Nina and the whole brood:

Alkemi B Litter – August 5, 2012

FINALLY, they are born! Looks like we have five (I think we’re done, I can’t feel anything else in there). Two girls and three boys, all full tails except for one long stub girl. The first puppy (a HUGE boy) was on his side, and stuck in there, we nearly went to a c-section, but I did the Woods Maneuver which is a way to position the mother to change the angles the puppy is at, and got him out with enormous help from Stephanie, a vet tech I work with who always volunteers to help. I worried he might be dead, since he was stuck for two hours, but he is vigorous and muscling his brothers and sisters off the nipples already. All very good-sized puppies.

Since today is my sister Jennifer’s birthday, and I couldn’t be with her to celebrate, their litter names are all last names of famous Jennifers.

Aniston (the troublemaker), long tailed male, 340 grams
Beals, stub tailed girl, 280 grams
Connelly, long tailed male, 290 grams
Donnelly, long tailed male, 310 grams
Esposito, long tailed female, 280 grams

Those are big birth weights for Vallhunds, just like her first litter.

I will post pictures and get the puppycam up asap, but for now, Nina and I are both taking a much needed nap!