I’m sorry to have left you all hanging – I had no idea how much work these puppies were going require. For those who want the quick news:
Lizzie had the puppies by emergency c-section on Thursday, July 22, 2010. There are 5 girls and 2 boys. Everybody is doing well.
Now for the long story:
Lizzie went into labor on Wednesday, July 21, as expected. Using the WhelpWise service we were able to monitor her contractions throughout the day. We expected that serious labor would begin in the early evening. The contractions continued and finally regulated late Wednesday night. Finally, around 8 am, a water broke and we thought that a puppy would be arriving very soon. Lizzie, however, thought differently. After trying various tricks and medications, we – with the help of the WhelpWise service – decided it was time for a c-section.
We called our local vet and were in his office by 10am. He did a quick exam and x-ray. We were surprised to discover that Lizzie wasn’t carrying 5 puppies – there were 9 puppies in there! Based on his advice, we tried some stronger drugs while they prepped for the c-section. At 10:45, Lizzie was getting prepped. Poor girl had been in labor for almost 30 hours at that point.
We were able to watch the c-section and see the puppies as they were removed. (Sorry, no pictures – we ran out of the house too fast.) Unfortunately, two of the puppies weren’t alive – it appears that Lizzie’s uterus couldn’t support all 9 puppies to term. The rest of the puppies were kept in the incubator while Lizzie was cleaned up and brought out of the operating room. Once she was settled, we were able to get the puppies to nurse, getting the all important colostrum.
VET PICS HERE
Once Lizzie had woken up from the anesthesia, we brought her and the puppies home. All the puppies were weighed and given their little yarn collars. They ranged in size from 1 lb 9 oz down to 13.5 oz.
Here’s a who’s-who of the pups:
- Pink – Female – Fawn
- Orange – Male – Fawn
- Yellow – Female – Apricot
- White – Female – Apricot
- Green – Female – Apricot
- Purple – Female – Apricot
- Blue – Male – Apricot
I’m planning on doing a couple of posts over the next few days, covering Weeks 1 through 4, when we should be all caught up and then post weekly covering the development of the puppies.
