Oh Yeah, You Blend

The C litter are five days old and everybody is doing great! Zhora is being an incredible mother, just as her mother was. You have to love a dog who is an excellent mother. The puppies had their first nail trim on Sunday because they were scratching her, poor thing, but even then she was still caring for them, but I noticed she wasn’t snuggling as much, and sure enough, she had little scratches. The funny thing is that Zhora has always taken a rather…laid back approach to her own personal care (she is so icky when she’s in season), but she has kept her puppies immaculately clean. She potties them religiously and there’s never even a drop of urine or poop in the box, but her own lochia (normal post-whelping vaginal discharge)…well that’s my job to clean up. But the puppies are always spotless.

Weights today are:

Ruffles – 410 grams (13% gain since yesterday morning!)

Orson – 444 grams (10 % gain)

Chex – 380 grams ( 15 % gain)

Frito – 364 grams (18 % gain)

Popcorn – 226 grams (21.5% gain), and that’s without ANY supplementation so far today!

As you can see, Popcorn is the big winner here! Everybody gained nicely, but I really feel like maybe she’s got ahead of her setback now! She’s feisty and active and LOVES her sponge feedings, she gets a nice little “pit” in her cheeks that shows she has a good latch and is nursing hard, she kneads my fingers with her little front feet, and she gets quite annoyed when it’s over, squeaking and complaining and not wanting to let go, even though her little tummy is obviously full! We will try to video a sponge feeding so you can see what I’m talking about. Since I will start feeding everyone one meal a day this way to help with bonding, they’ll be having this regularly.

Here’s my Deep Thoughts for today (I actually got a chunk of uninterrupted sleep last night for the first time in nearly a week, I’ve been averaging 3.5 hours a night per my Fitbit so a decent sleep is huge and my brain feels somewhat functional again): the more experience I get, the less I try to judge others. Because what’s right for me isn’t right for everyone. Now many breeders simply don’t supplement the teeny tiny puppies, and the truth is that most of them (in this breed anyway) really will pull through even if it takes them a while. There’s NOTHING wrong with that. My own view, what works for me, is that especially in a case like Popcorn’s, where it seemed to me that she had several things working against her (recap below), I felt that any extra care I could give her that might help her make it, was warranted. I brought this puppy into the world, she’s my responsibility until the day she dies, and I need to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know I did all I could for her. Many breeders feel you need to let puppies sink or swim on their own, and that is certainly a valid opinion.

What I Think Happened With Popcorn:

• she had a poor spot in the uterus so she was small at birth (much of the time when people use the word “runt”, what they are really talking about is a puppy who didn’t get a uterine implantation spot with ideal blood supply, these puppies don’t have anything genetically or congenitally wrong with them, they just tend to be smaller than their littermates who had better spots to gestate in). Is she the smallest Vallhund puppy I know of? No, but she’s close!
• she was in there for several hours waiting to be born, when we checked her heart rate when we first arrived at the vet clinic, it was over 200, which is normal (I was actually worried she might be dead already, but she wasn’t!), but after unsuccessfully trying to get her out medically and manually, it started dropping and so we decided to go to surgery
• As it turned out, her neighbor puppy’s placenta hadn’t been expelled (the three boys all came within half an hour, and Zhora was grabbing and eating the placentas so fast I wasn’t sure if we had all of them out, and we didn’t), which was blocking her from being born – she was very high up in one horn so had a long distance to travel to the exit, and she hadn’t even been able to start making her way down, because Zhora was pushing against a stuck placenta roadblock
• her sac had ruptured, so she had very little lubrication to ease her movement, and she was so high up there’s no way we could have got lubrication up to her
• Zhora was tiring – she’d been pushing for nearly 6 hours, and in stage 2 (active) labor for nearly 8 hours by the time we went to surgery. This was not because Zhora “couldn’t” whelp her naturally (she free whelped the other 4 just fine), but because there was a mechanical blockage stopping her from getting Popcorn out
• so in addition to having a very hard time being born, when she finally WAS out, she’d had a dose of anesthetic (very small, Dr Gray, Renee and the other techs did an awesome job), and when you’ve never taken a breath in your life and then get anesthetic, it is that much harder to get going
• Dr Gray helped us make sure she nursed as soon as she and Zhora were awake enough, so that she got colostrum – which is VITALLY important
• So all those things conspired to set her back, but she’s a fighter! And because she wasn’t giving up, I wasn’t either so:
• she was dehydrated, so I gave subcutaneous, warmed, sterile fluids (Lactated Ringers if you’re interested), via a scalp vein catheter (this is a “butterfly” catheter, with a very small needle, and easier to manage with a teeny tiny puppy than a needle directly attached to a syringe)
• she was expending most of the calories she was taking in by nursing, and she wasn’t gaining any weight at all for the first couple of days, which was making me nervous (it’s normal for them to lose on the first day, but then they should start gaining), so I tube fed her two to three times a day for a few days (tube feeding means the puppy gets the formula directly into her stomach by way of a tiny tube you pass through their mouth – they don’t like it, but it’s extremely effective and very safe if done properly). We’ve now switched to sponge feeding and I am going to try feeding her just one meal today and see how her weight does.
• we also placed her on the nipples which had the most milk and the easiest milk letdown (these are usually the inguinal teats, closest to the mother’s back legs)
• I gave her liver water and Nutri Drops
• we tried to strike a balance between allowing her to be a normal puppy of this age, having to push through her siblings to get to the milk bar, having to defend her spot at the milk bar, nursing naturally as much as she wanted to etc. (all of which are important for her mental and physical development) and making sure she got the most calories into her possible (which is important for her survival!) with supplemental feedings and moving her to the “choice” nipples
• I won’t say she’s out of the woods, but I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel (mixed metaphors for the win)
• I haven’t started Early Neurological Stimulation with her yet, but if she continues to gain, I will likely start it tomorrow

Little Popcorn broke 200 grams with a BULLET this afternoon!!! WOOHOO!

I won’t say she’s out of the woods but what a huge milestone for her!

So in all the worry and stress about Popcorn, we haven’t had a chance to properly introduce you to the Fab Five. They’re more than just Popcorn! We are already starting to see their individual personalities come out.

First the Popcorn report: she gained again, she weighed in at 178 grams last night and this morning she was 186! She is strong enough and feisty enough that I’ve switched to sponge feeding her. It’s more natural and she likes it MUCH better than the tube. I do think she needed the tube for a couple of days to get her over that hump where she was barely holding her own, but now she’s strong and active. I will continue to top her up until I am sure she is gaining enough on her own. And even then, I will feed everyone one meal a day with the sponge – this is an idea I got from a Rottweiler breeder friend, Diane Richardson – she feels it helps with associating people with good things early. It certainly can’t hurt!

So here’s your starting (and only) lineup for the Alkemi C litter (all have snack food whelping box names, after Dr Gray and Renee got that theme started with Popcorn, with one notable exception):

Ruffles – gray (I think) female. First born (she was the one who had one leg dangling down but the other tucked up, so I had to help her get repositioned in order to get both legs down so she could be born). Second largest (216 grams at birth, 362 grams today). She is cuddly and energetic, she snuggles right in when you pick her up and hold her close, but she also motors around the box to be sure and get her steps in every day.

Orson – red (I think) male. Second born. By far the biggest puppy (189 grams at birth, so smaller than Ruffles at birth, but today he’s a whopping 404 grams). He is a big love. Cuddles in when you pick him up, swims around the box like Michael Phelps. He is a big hunk – big head, big legs, big fat puppy tummy. He is just all around a big puppy!

Chex – maybe red male. Third born, the three boys came in very quick succession after the Ruffles Roadblock was cleared. Chex has no white on his front feet, but he has a white chest and white back toes. He weighed 180 grams at birth and today was 330 grams. He’s the middle boy in all respects – middle birth order, middle weight. He’s another cuddler (they all are), and makes little “poofing” noises when he sniffs you.

Frito – also maybe a red male. Fourth born. 179 grams at birth, 308 grams today. His left front toes are white, he has a white chest, and he has white toes on both back feet. Also a snuggler, he is often the one you will see scooting around the edges of the box under the pig rails. He is very relaxed during his ENS exercises. He’s the smallest boy.

Popcorn – you already know her. Teeny tiny red (?) girl. 158 grams at birth, dropped to 150 the next day, back up to 186 grams today. She’s feisty and energetic, which is a big part of what’s helped her through so far!

There is one thing I wanted to mention here. Because of Popcorn. A breeder I Facebook-know who writes a blog (and I can’t find the exact post or I’d link to it) wrote a very good post several years ago about why she doesn’t allow people to choose their puppy. It’s all stuff I agree with, and is all also why I don’t allow people to choose their puppy. The biggest reason for me, is that my obligation is to my puppies, to place them in the best possible home for them that I can. This really isn’t elitist, as much as it may seem that way, it’s that I want that puppy to have the best life it can have, so I don’t place a high energy puppy with loads of working drive in a home that just wants a nice mellow pet. Which brings me to a great point that Joanna (the blogger) raises in her post (that I can’t find): people often choose the puppy who stands out on the day (or days) that they visit. The one with a different tail or different markings, or the one who sits alone, or the one who did that funny thing, or, yes, the one named Popcorn. Regardless of whether or not that puppy is actually the right one for them.

I’ve spent 8-10 weeks with my puppies by the time they leave me. I’ve known them since before they were born, and I knew their mother and often grandmother for their whole lives too. I try my best to have a pretty good sense of each puppy as an individual, not just as the one I could pick out on the webcam, or the one I read about because it had a different story.  And I try very hard to match the right puppy to the right home.

The puppycam is online! It will be on periodically. You can see at the left hand side that there’s a remote temperature sensor so I can keep an eye on how warm it is in the box. There is also a heating pad under the bedding in that corner. Puppies who are at a comfortable temperature will be in a loose pile. If they’re crammed together they’re cold, and if they’re really spread out they’re hot. Even with Nina’s first litter, born in January, I found they rarely if ever used the supplemental heating. They’re tough! And as my friend Kim who breeds Border Collies says “that’s what mom’s for”. Cold stress in the first few days can be very harmful, so I like to be cautious, but they seem to only spend a short amount of time on the heating pad even now.

You will see Zhora panting when she’s nursing them. That’s not because she’s hot, it’s because nursing causes the uterus to contract (which helps it return to normal size, stop any bleeding, and expel any remaining ick in there), which causes panting.

Today is day 3, so we started Early Neurological Stimulation for everyone except Popcorn (she’s got enough stress going on that it seems unwise and not beneficial to her just yet). We do this from day 3-16 once daily, in addition to the other regular handling they get.

Popcorn lost a little overnight but gained it back and then some after feeding. She is looking plumper more of the time, still teeny, but better than she was, her belly is rounder. She’s active and feisty, and I really really hope she can get ahead of her rough start soon. You will see us periodically move her to a nipple on Zhora. All the others are big and strong enough to get where they want and I want them to push each other around and compete for nursing spots, this is important for their development, and while I am letting Popcorn have to push back and fend for herself somewhat, it’s also vitally important that she get all the nursing time she can while expending as little effort as possible. So while I try to interfere as little as possible, I definitely am moving her to the choice nipples and moving the other fat puppies away sometimes. I will continue to top her up with tube feedings. I want her to have every chance.

All the rest are big fat beanbags gaining weight fast! Zhora’s milk is excellent. I think three or even four might actually be red (the first born big girl seems to be grey). But we will have to wait and see since puppy coats in Vallhunds can be deceiving. The two biggest are over 300 grams already!

They did great overnight! I actually got some sleep! Zhora has figured out how to arrange them as she wants them, and how to curl herself around them. She is very attentive to them and is being an amazing mother. Today I watched her delicately pull a bit of poop out of a puppy’s bum with her front teeth after licking wasn’t quite getting it out to her satisfaction. We humans don’t know how lucky we are….

Now that the puppycam is up, you will see that they twitch and jump like jumping beans when they’re sleeping. This is called “activated sleep” and it helps their muscles and neurological system develop.

Zhora’s stomach troubles seem to be getting better, touch wood. No vomiting and the diarrhea is improving.

TWO important things happened with little Popcorn today:

• first, she maintained her weight at weigh in this morning (I tube fed and hydrated her overnight)
• second, she actually PUT ON 4 GRAMS BY NURSING! This is HUGE, because she’d only been managing to maintain her weight between tube feedings, but today she actually GAINED. Only 4 grams, but it’s in the right direction.

At tonight’s weigh in, she’s 169 grams, 11 grams above her first weight, and 19 grams above the 150 grams she’d been hovering at.

Something is helping, so I won’t be changing anything until I see her gaining on her own. She is a fighter, she’s not floppy, she’s got normal muscle tone, she argues about the tube feeding, she grumbles and squeals when another puppy tries to push her off the teat she’s on, she moves around like the others. She doesn’t act like a sick puppy. As I’ve mentioned before I really think she’s fighting a combination of things: I think she got a lousy spot in the uterus so she’s small, she had to wait to be born and was physiologically stressed, she was born under anesthesia via c section, so didn’t get the normal squishing and stimulation from a vaginal birth AND had the compromise of anesthetic (even though it was very well-managed anesthesia). I am pulling for her, and I’m not giving up unless she does. She looks plumper today.

Here’s what I’m doing:

• tube feeding with warmed Myra’s formula (homemade puppy formula) every 4 hours or so – this is a “top up” to the nursing she’s doing, and sometimes her tummy is pretty full and she can only hold a cc or 2. But every cc I get in is calories that she doesn’t have to expend any energy acquiring.
• Nutri Drops every 8 hours, this is an energy boost and amino acid supplement
• liver water as often as she will take some
• warmed subcutaneous fluids ONLY if she seems dehydrated. While dehydration can be deadly, I don’t want to be poking holes in her skin if I don’t have to
• letting the larger puppies get the inguinal teats started, then moving her to one of those teats

Zhora is feeling much better with anti nausea medication on board. She ate beef and rice and chicken and rice mixed with Esbilac and some oatmeal very well today. No vomiting. The diarrhea is still there so another dose of metronidazole tonight. I am giving her low sodium broth to try and increase her fluid intake since the diarrhea has to be taking a toll there. THANK GOODNESS for the mother’s porridge – that helped her milk come back in very quickly after her feeling so lousy yesterday!

Every breeder has what they call “the litter from hell” at some point (hopefully only one….)…

Littlest puppy Popcorn was maintaining the weight she was at after her initial loss (150 grams), but not gaining anything (Zhora’s milk is good because all the other puppies are gaining well). So I decided to pull out all the stops. I am worried about her, I won’t lie, but she’s not going anywhere without a fight so…I am tube feeding her every 3-4 hours (she is nursing well, but I think she’s burning most of the calories she’s getting just by nursing), I am giving her warmed subcutaneous fluids any time I think she’s a little dehydrated (dehydration can kill a neonatal puppy fast), I am giving her Nutri Drops. I got up to feed her overnight too (I am getting pretty good at tube feeding, so that’s a plus). She’s up to 163 grams and hasn’t lost anything between her feeding overnight and this morning, I am calling that a small victory. She doesn’t like the tube feeding but it gets the formula where it needs to be without her having to expend any energy eating it. She is nice and warm (cold puppies can’t digest) and quite spunky and active.

In addition, poor Zhora was vomiting and had diarrhea. She doesn’t have a fever at least. I am used to a bit of diarrhea after whelping, but the vomiting was making me nervous. Spoke to the awesome Dr Gray again this morning and started Zofran (which is safe for nursing moms) for the nausea/vomiting and metronidazole, which is not normally recommended for nursing dogs but the diarrhea is bad. We will use as little as possible for as short a time as possible to get the diarrhea under control. I cooked her some chicken and rice, and she ate a bowl of it. I also got her some calcium citrate to give in addition to the other calcium, because it can be absorbed without food. It’s not impossible that she has retained a bit of placenta, but Dr Gray thinks it’s unlikely.

Sleep is for the weak.

Everybody did well overnight. Zhora has the usual post-whelp diarrhea (partly hormones, partly eating placentas, I’m sure also partly stress, she worked very hard yesterday and this is all new to her) so I catnapped rather than slept so I could keep an eye on the puppies and Zhora and be sure to let her out as often as she wanted.

Popcorn (the littlest girl born by c-section, named Popcorn by Dr Gray because someone burned popcorn and you could smell it everywhere while we were there yesterday) lost some weight overnight. Not abnormal in the first 24 hours, but she’s little, so I decided to top her up with formula. She was nursing very well from the makeup sponge but I had a hard time figuring out how much was actually getting into her as her weight really wasn’t changing much. So I decided to tube feed to be sure she was getting enough. Now she’s active and energetic and a very vigorous nurser, holds on to the nipple tight and fends off her bigger siblings if they try to muscle in. I do with her what I’ve always done for the smaller puppies – let one of the big puppies get an inguinal teat going, and then pull that puppy off the teat, move them to another, and put the little puppy on it. The inguinal teats (the ones closest to the mother’s hind legs) seem to let milk down faster and easier, and are less work for the puppy than some of the others, at least that’s how it seems to me. So she’s getting lots of time nursing, but nursing burns calories and I want her calories to go to making more Popcorn. So I’m going to tube feed her three times a day to supplement her nursing (Dr Gray suggested three times a day to start). I also keep in mind that the other puppies had a good 6 + hour head start on nursing, so it’s not surprising that they all gained well and are fat, round-bellied beanbags. Puppies can go downhill fast, so I am a firm believer in taking all reasonable action early if it’s a “can’t hurt/might help” sort of thing. I’m also using Nutri Drops from Revival – each puppy is getting at least one dose.

Every litter teaches you something! This one’s taught me about c-sections and tube feeding. And that’s just in the first 36 hours!

This is why you do this though. Happy mom, happy puppies. Everybody back home and safe.

Whelping puppies is about my least favorite thing about breeding dogs, it’s stressful as hell. And anyone who tells you that they love whelping likely simply hasn’t bred much or has had extremely good luck. It’s true that 90% of the time everything goes well, but when it doesn’t, you’d rather be doing anything else. You feel horribly responsible (because you are), and it’s a weighty burden.

So as you know Bob, if you read this blog, Zhora started with stage 1 labor yesterday. All fine. Our friend Nicole came over to be a newbie whelper helper (this was a heck of a litter for THAT as it turned out).

Zhora gradually progressed as the afternoon wore on, and started strong contractions and pushing in the evening. Administered injectable calcium per our repro vet (the amazing Dr Claudia Gray at Alliance Animal Hospital). All according to plan. First puppy just wasn’t coming. Eventually I pushed back Zhora’s vulva a bit (this is the glamour of dog breeding) and saw a foot. I was pretty sure it was a back foot (which is fine, about 40% of puppies are born tail first, the main things to be concerned about is that the puppy is in a “diving” position (legs extended, facing down), and not with its legs tucked under or on its back). But I could only find one foot and I was worried the puppy’s other back leg was tucked under, so I “wheelbarrowed” Zhora (walked her around with her back legs in the air to let the puppy slip back up a ways and hopefully reposition a bit). I also called Dr Gray in there somewhere to make sure this sounded OK to her (in literally the middle of the night). Then as the puppy started to work its way out (or rather as Zhora started to work her out), I grabbed the back feet with a facecloth and just gently pulled down with her contractions (you almost never want to just pull it out, you can really hurt the bitch or the puppy, the main thing is to stop the puppy getting sucked back in between contractions so the bitch can gain ground with each contraction). After that, the puppy came out reasonably easily. She had a lot of mucus and I suctioned her well with my Delee catheter. After she was out Zhora was like my friend Lynn’s proverbial “salad shooter”, and the next three puppies (all males) came in quite quick succession.

And then nothing but occasional hard contractions. For four hours. That’s the maximum time my vet wanted to see between puppies if there were contractions. So I called again. I could feel the one remaining puppy still quite high up. Dr Gray walked me through a few things to try (small doses of oxytocin IM, “feathering”, etc.), nothing worked. I called back, she said she’d meet me at the clinic.

Once there, we started Zhora on IV (she was quite tired by then), did a quick ultrasound to be sure the puppy was still alive (it was, and with a good heart rate), and tried a few medical interventions (more calcium, more oxytocin, poor Dr Gray getting covered with poop trying to manually get the puppy out). Nothing worked. We checked the puppy again and its heart rate was dropping so we decided we needed to go to section and that there wasn’t much time.

Well thank goodness for well-educated, well-prepared and knowledgeable people!  Zhora was pre-oxygenated by mask (she didn’t like that), and then anesthetized and whisked into surgery. I was invited in to watch. Dr Gray got the puppy out and handed her to Renee, her tech, who pulled out ALL the stops. She had a warming mat and warm air blower running, she used epinephrine and dopram to stimulate breathing, she used the acupuncture needle spot on the front of the muzzle, she used subcutaneous fluids, and she suctioned and rubbed and pinched and pissed that puppy off until she woke up and got breathing well. It sounds mean, but when a puppy is first getting breathing it’s very hard work for the puppy and especially if they’ve had some anesthesia in a section they can be quite slow to get going. But they will die if they don’t breathe, obviously, so you want to make them ANGRY and squealing. That’s a sign they’re breathing well enough. We made sure she got to nurse from Zhora alone so she got some colostrum.

We then sat with Zhora (who was up and around, admittedly like a drunk arguing a DWI), let everybody nurse one more time, and then headed back home. Over 24 hours without sleep and a gallon of stress. But so far, so good.

Zhora shortly after waking up from her c-section, nursing puppies outside the operating room. Note the artistic tail-brush painting on the wall behind her in blood (normal post-whelp discharge) and poop. It’s a glamorous business!

What Dr Gray thinks happened is that a placenta was left behind and it blocked the puppy’s exit. Her sack had broken so she was dry, so that combination of physical blockade and lack of lubrication meant she just couldn’t get out.

Finally she lay down to sleep (after I made her). If you look closely, you can see a puppy lying ON her back foot to nurse.

I decided to use the makeup sponge method to top up the c-section girl as she had a rough start. I will probably hand feed a meal every day to everyone, I’ve done this in the past at my friend Diane’s suggestion, since it helps with associating people with good things early on. I made a batch of Myra’s puppy formula last weekend and I am glad I did!

Zhora had her last dose of Regumate on Monday at 5 pm. She was a bit more restless and clingy last night, and then this morning she started a bit of digging. The digging and panting has increased as the day has gone on, and I’m pretty comfortable thinking she’s in stage 1 labor now. Stage 1 labor in dogs is when the dog is having contractions, they are dilating and effacing the cervix, and they dig and pant and usually don’t eat. Zhora ate her breakfast this morning, but slowly, and she refused her lunch. Zhora hasn’t ever voluntarily missed a meal in her life, so this is significant! She acts hungry and even goes to the food bin, but when offered food she either takes it and spits it out, or simply doesn’t take it at all. Her body is saving its energy for labor, not digestion. Since stage 1 labor can last 24 hours and sometimes even longer, this is the “hurry up and wait” stage of whelping.

The neat and tidy whelping box with Game of Thrones (of course!) throw to make a cave.

Earlier today.

Those pads were neatly laid out before the digging started…

Even when you’re about to become a mum yourself, your mum is still your mum. Love that Nina.

Love you Zhora!

Massive pile of clean laundry. Towels, bedding, facecloths etc. Unpacked the supplies bin, washed everything in unscented detergent, folded. Ready to go.

Made a batch of liver water (OMG my whole house smells like boiled liver). Then made a batch of Myra Savant Harris’s puppy formula. Froze the leftover liver water and the formula in ice cube trays. All now in labeled Ziploc bags in the freezer. Better to be prepared. Plus Zhora can drink it!

I will make Zhora some mother’s porridge (steel cut oats, goat’s milk, eggs and other stuff) to help support her lactation once everybody has arrived.

Tomorrow night is her last dose of Regumate. Then we wait. I plan to be prepared from Tuesday night on (it takes a while for the Regumate to leave her system, most of what I can find says 36 hours at least before anything gets going but you never know). I will go to work Wednesday morning, Jim will stay here and call me if it looks like anything is imminent.

As of today, they are officially cooked enough to be likely to survive even if they’re born early (and remember “normal” is 63 days from ovulation plus or minus a day, which puts us Wednesday-Friday).

As much as I love planning breedings and raising puppies, I am not a fan of whelping. Even though 90% go just fine with no intervention at all (and how many dogs whelp in back alleys and do ok?), and there’s all that miracle of life stuff that really is amazing, it’s always stressful until everyone is out, and really until everyone is a few weeks old, to be honest.

I do feel much better with a repro vet on call. And I’ve reviewed my books and feel about as prepared as I can be. After tomorrow evening, it’s up to Zhora.