This One Goes To 11!
…progesterone, I mean. No worries on that front, she was 11 ng/mL yesterday, which is more than high enough. Dr. Hutchison emailed and said to do a spot check middle of next week, but at this point it looks like I am just a nervous Nellie!
Tomorrow Nina will get some delicious Pyrantel dewormer (it’s sweet, they usually love it)…because her official due date is just TWO WEEKS from tomorrow! It’s a good idea to deworm a preggo two weeks out to minimize any parasite load on the puppies – worms have ways to hide from dewormers (called “encysting”…gross), and even moms who have proper heartworm prevention year-round (most heartworm preventatives also kill at least some intestinal parasites), like Nina, can still sometimes pass those nasty Ninja-like worms along to their puppies.
The pet pads from ODC are in the wash (they are recycled and sanitized human hospital incontinence pads, plus the company that sells them employs adults with disabilities, so good for the environment, and more generally good) to freshen them up. Jim has cut the wood for the Kate Original whelping box (we needed a replacement for the slide-out panel), and it can be two different heights now, lower for when the puppies are small (and Nina has a lot of undercarriage), higher for when the puppies are bigger. It just needs sanding and treating with butcher block finish (food safe). This weekend I am cramming in one day of AKC agility at Double Q with Tish tomorrow, and Sunday in Toronto to see my mum and sister, because I don’t want to go too far away after this weekend…getting too close to deliverin’ time!
They all shared a giant sweet potato mixed into their dinners today. They LOVED it. Nina will get some extras like scrambled eggs, too. She is very happy and very large.