Iymala
Well-Known Member
Let me preface this entire topic with the statement, I never intended to be a breeder and certainly never will be again. I cannot say that I am not since there are 8 little, nuggets of stinky puppy breath on the floor next to me. Also...puppies are sadistic parasitic creatures that gleefully suck out your soul and they scare the hell outa me. It is so hard to keep weight on Betty while she is nursing even feeding her 3x more than her normal diet.
Back in August, Betty went into heat, and like normal she had her panties on and we were doing the crate and rotate program that we had done in the past. She was nearing the end of her cycle and Claymore had lost interest, or so I thought. We made the mistake of only having one barrier between them rather than two and like superman he broke out of his crate and tied with Betty. Previously we had crated him and shut the door to the bedroom for extra security, but, like anything else, that one time you slip up... you pay for it.
So we waited, I did not want to do a spay while she was in heat or to abort the puppies. After a month, I was certain she was not pregnant. She was showing no unusual signs or any extra bulging. I thought we got lucky, but I was wrong. Practically over night her boobies started to enlarge and then the next week she ballooned up. There was no mistaking her for having a false pregnancy or not being pregnant at this point.
The poor girl was not at all pleased with her current condition, and around day 50 she was having trouble standing, her hind end was very weak. I, of course, immediately went to the assumption she had eclampsia and urgently called the vet. They got us in quickly, and did a thorough exam. Apparently, I am crazy and she was just a big ole girl who pulled a back muscle. I was extremely happy to be wrong. After a few days the weakness cleared up and she was back to waddling around and laying her big ole belly on the tile floor to stay cool.
Starting on Day 58 I was taking her temperature 3 times a day waiting for the drop. Poor Betty, I was constantly staring at her and holding my hand on her belly to feel the puppies kick. I had set up a nice whelping room for her in the spare bedroom so that I could sleep next to them at night and hang out with them during the day without keeping my fianc* up all night. I had purchased everything I could think of to help her with the process from kid scissors and dental floss for the umbilical cords (I didn't end up needing the floss to tie anything off, but used the scissors a few times when she was busy cleaning another pup) to sanitizers, more towels and handcloths than anyone needs, and all sorts of other things I ended up, thankfully, not having to use.
-notice my amazing cardboard handiwork to block off under the bed!
I read everything I could about whelping, from the vet and from the internet, and it is not for the faint of heart or the squemish. Colors and textures of grossness came out of her that I never want to be repeated. Her temp dropped on August 29th and I woke up to puppy squeaks at 7am on August 30th. The first puppy, a male (red), was born. Betty had taken care of everything but seemed almost afraid of it. She was in one corner of her whelping area looking at it like it was an alien. Once I put it on her belly she immediately warmed up to it and started having contractions again. The first three came out one after another pretty quickly. 2 males and 1 female all around 1lb 5 to 7oz.
She then took a break for about an hour. Then 3 more girls joined the party. Then another break for 3 hours... at this point I thought she was done, but out came 2 more. 1 male and 1 female. She was absolutely exhausted at this point and the vet had said anywhere between 8 and 10 puppies, but could not quite tell due to overlap. She had been still for 4 hours so I put down all fresh bedding and settled in for the night with them. After 4 hours she had some very weak contractions and I thought she needed to expel some retained placentas. I took her outside, and unfortunately she dropped 2 stillborn pups. One male and one female. Both fully developed and healthy looking. I spent 10 minutes on each trying to revive them, but from the moment they slid out unmoving, I did not have much hope. It was really heart wrenching to lose any of the puppies, and she kept looking for them once they were disposed of. That is a memory I would not mind losing.
With the sadness out of the way, I will say she has been an amazing mom.
Passed out
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Back in August, Betty went into heat, and like normal she had her panties on and we were doing the crate and rotate program that we had done in the past. She was nearing the end of her cycle and Claymore had lost interest, or so I thought. We made the mistake of only having one barrier between them rather than two and like superman he broke out of his crate and tied with Betty. Previously we had crated him and shut the door to the bedroom for extra security, but, like anything else, that one time you slip up... you pay for it.
So we waited, I did not want to do a spay while she was in heat or to abort the puppies. After a month, I was certain she was not pregnant. She was showing no unusual signs or any extra bulging. I thought we got lucky, but I was wrong. Practically over night her boobies started to enlarge and then the next week she ballooned up. There was no mistaking her for having a false pregnancy or not being pregnant at this point.
The poor girl was not at all pleased with her current condition, and around day 50 she was having trouble standing, her hind end was very weak. I, of course, immediately went to the assumption she had eclampsia and urgently called the vet. They got us in quickly, and did a thorough exam. Apparently, I am crazy and she was just a big ole girl who pulled a back muscle. I was extremely happy to be wrong. After a few days the weakness cleared up and she was back to waddling around and laying her big ole belly on the tile floor to stay cool.
Starting on Day 58 I was taking her temperature 3 times a day waiting for the drop. Poor Betty, I was constantly staring at her and holding my hand on her belly to feel the puppies kick. I had set up a nice whelping room for her in the spare bedroom so that I could sleep next to them at night and hang out with them during the day without keeping my fianc* up all night. I had purchased everything I could think of to help her with the process from kid scissors and dental floss for the umbilical cords (I didn't end up needing the floss to tie anything off, but used the scissors a few times when she was busy cleaning another pup) to sanitizers, more towels and handcloths than anyone needs, and all sorts of other things I ended up, thankfully, not having to use.
-notice my amazing cardboard handiwork to block off under the bed!
I read everything I could about whelping, from the vet and from the internet, and it is not for the faint of heart or the squemish. Colors and textures of grossness came out of her that I never want to be repeated. Her temp dropped on August 29th and I woke up to puppy squeaks at 7am on August 30th. The first puppy, a male (red), was born. Betty had taken care of everything but seemed almost afraid of it. She was in one corner of her whelping area looking at it like it was an alien. Once I put it on her belly she immediately warmed up to it and started having contractions again. The first three came out one after another pretty quickly. 2 males and 1 female all around 1lb 5 to 7oz.
She then took a break for about an hour. Then 3 more girls joined the party. Then another break for 3 hours... at this point I thought she was done, but out came 2 more. 1 male and 1 female. She was absolutely exhausted at this point and the vet had said anywhere between 8 and 10 puppies, but could not quite tell due to overlap. She had been still for 4 hours so I put down all fresh bedding and settled in for the night with them. After 4 hours she had some very weak contractions and I thought she needed to expel some retained placentas. I took her outside, and unfortunately she dropped 2 stillborn pups. One male and one female. Both fully developed and healthy looking. I spent 10 minutes on each trying to revive them, but from the moment they slid out unmoving, I did not have much hope. It was really heart wrenching to lose any of the puppies, and she kept looking for them once they were disposed of. That is a memory I would not mind losing.
With the sadness out of the way, I will say she has been an amazing mom.
Passed out
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
