Whelp Watch

Robin, thanks so much for the update. Susan had called earlier while waiting for an update at the vet's. Glad to read things are going well & they are headed back home!

just got off the phone with Di. she has a total of five puppies. One more still waiting to be born but they are on the road home. so you can watch the last one being born.

These puppies are BIG

Choc. Girl
Choc. Boy
Black Girl
Black Boy
Black Boy

Good Luck Katie girl on your last puppy.

I am sure Di and Susan is

Katie, 5 pups and Di and Susan are back from vets. Katie has one more puppy to go, and hopefully it will go smoothly. The BIG FIVE are enormous, but doing well.

Puppy #6 has arrived! Last one, a chocolate girl.

Final count 2 chocolate girls, 2 black girls, 1 chocolate boy and 1 black boy. Mom and puppies and owner can now get some rest.

Congrads to Katie and family...

Okay so here's why poor Katie had such a time of it in whelp:

#1 chocolate girl 1 lb.6oz
#2 black boy 1 lb. 2 1/2 oz
#3 black girl 1 lb 8 oz
#4 chocolate boy 1 lb. 8 oz
#5 black girl 1 lb. 6 oz
#6 chocolate girl 15.2 oz (normal size pup)

I was lucky to see the birth of the last one, I was about to walk out for lunch. That is such a nice litter number, color and gender. Congratulations Di and Katie! . Wowwwww they are huge! Di when you are rested and have time do you mind to share what happened at the vet, maybe we can learn something, I did learn from Debbie's litter last weekend, on this hobby there is always room to learn. Thanks.

Here is what happened. Katie had puppy number 1 and 2 (big babies) without much trouble at all. She started pushing number 3 within 30 min of number 2. An hour later (with hard pushing), I did an exam, and could feel the puppies head and a foot. Not good. She was coming with both head and one leg together. I was able to push the puppy back over the rim, and dislodge the leg. She then presented correctly. Katie, however, was exhausted from an hour of hard pushing, and now her contractions were getting less effective. She pushed more, with no progression of the puppy. It wasn't stuck like a bottle in a cork, as I was able to push her back and move her around. I went ahead and bumped her with a very small amount of pitocin. This produced stronger contractions, but she wasn't pushing effectively with them except for a few times. I could still palpate the puppy, and I could still move her, but not enough to grab her. I injected lube around the puppy to help it. No go. I went ahead and gave her another small dose of pitocin, which produced good contractions and good pushing, but no puppy. I used more lube, and Off we went to the vet. The vet started to set up for surgery immediately, but she too injected some lube, and before Katie could be prepped for surgery, and after over three hours of pushing, she had puppy number 3 and shocking to all of us, it was still alive. Puppy number 4 came seconds later. He was pretty ticked off at being held up by his sister. We waited to see if puppy five would come, as Katie was pretty tired. She delivered number 5 without incident at the vets. We took an x-ray, and found she had one remaining. I told the vet I would take her home, give her another injection of pitocin, and if she did not deliver that puppy, I'd bring her back. Katie delivered that puppy within 15 min of getting the injection. These puppies are big babies, as Susan indicated.

All is well, and everyone is resting.

Thanks Susan for *all* your help!
Di

Hi Di, thanks so much for your info, always is good to learn, I'm a little chicken about to maneuvering the pups in the birth canal, I wish I would be close from someone like you to learn from. I had a girl that her first litter was a C-section because never went into the second phase, so the next time she got one puppy stuck only one rear leg in the birth canal, I rushed her for c-section and still her pups were all alive.

What is your thoughts about using calcium such as calsorb instead of oxitocyn, and do you have oxygen tank to give to your pups and mom?

I wander if I would've been able to push that leg back. I haven't been able to see your pups today, did you turn off your cameras?

Freshwater wrote:
What is your thoughts about using calcium such as calsorb instead of oxitocyn, and do you have oxygen tank to give to your pups and mom?

I've used calcium. If the litter is big I usually give some.
No, if my babies or mom need oxygen, they're where they belong...at the vet! What many folks don't understand, is that puppies are co2 dependent to breathe, not 02 dependent. If you give too much 02 to a newborn, you can actually prevent them from taking their first breath.

My camera was off, because we were on evacuation status with the CA. fires!


Dian