I'm always anxious during the babies first week, especially with a new Momma. I left for a few hours yesterday evening to teach some classes, then came home to relax a bit before beginning a nightlong vigil with Stoker and the pups. Why is it that mother dogs and their babies are always so much more active and chatty during the night? Once again I didn't get much sleep as the pups seemed to be nursing in shifts and then taking turns fussing until Stoker cleaned them.
We weighed the gang this AM before Jan left for work and the good news is that all the pups gained weight in the last 24 hours. Weight gains ranged from half an ounce to 2.8 ounces. I'll try to make sure that the pup that gained the least gets lots of encouragement to nurse today.
Steady weight gain is a sign that the pups are healthy and that none of them are chilled or having difficulty nursing.
More later.
Preservation breeder of Portuguese Water Dogs.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Peaceful Brood
Stoker looks tired but serene with her new batch of babies. We'll give them all time to rest a bit, then freshen up the whelping box with a clean new rug for Mom and babies to lay on.
Reef
6th Puppy
Black
Curly
Male
13.25 ounces
Born 10:54 AM
With the puppies coming at pretty regular intervals of around 25 minutes, this little guy had us worried since he took almost 2-1/2 hours. Fortunately my friend Lisa just had a litter of pups recently and had some Calphosan and Oxytocin and was able to escape from Pup-A-Razzi to fly home to her house and then deliver the supplies to me. Thanks Heather for holding down the fort at Pup while Lisa was on her mission. One shot of Calphosan was enough to get the contractions started again and bring the last baby into the world.
He's got a good set of lungs on him, but Jan had to work to encourage him to nurse. No obvious signs of a defect, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that he is just a little tired from his late arrival.
I'll take his photo later.
Black
Curly
Male
13.25 ounces
Born 10:54 AM
With the puppies coming at pretty regular intervals of around 25 minutes, this little guy had us worried since he took almost 2-1/2 hours. Fortunately my friend Lisa just had a litter of pups recently and had some Calphosan and Oxytocin and was able to escape from Pup-A-Razzi to fly home to her house and then deliver the supplies to me. Thanks Heather for holding down the fort at Pup while Lisa was on her mission. One shot of Calphosan was enough to get the contractions started again and bring the last baby into the world.
He's got a good set of lungs on him, but Jan had to work to encourage him to nurse. No obvious signs of a defect, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that he is just a little tired from his late arrival.
I'll take his photo later.
The "Ready" Box
A towel lined box with a heating pad keeps the first four snug and safe while Stoker is tending to "Tiger". Five born and one to go. Keep it up Stokie!
Tiger
5th Puppy
Female
Curly
Born 8:32
13.25 ounces
This puppy is all black on the top, but it looks like her bottom half was dipped in white paint.
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