We are pleased to report that Topaz gave birth to 6 beautiful babies this evening! Unfortunately one was stillborn, so we have 5 living puppies to enjoy.
Her temperature had dropped last night and was still low this morning, indicating whelping was likely to occur within 24 hours. But it usually isn't right away, so we went off to our daily activites leaving my father at home to keep an eye on Topaz (well, after he got home from breakfast out).
The kids got home from school around 2:40 and reported all was well and Topaz's temperature was still low. Once the temperature rises again it indicates whelping will occur within the hour. But of course then you need to monitor temperature hourly...
The kids took all the big dogs out for a walk around 4pm and decided to cme back after not too long as Topaz seemed to straining tas though to poop, but she wasn't popping - maybe a puppy was on its way.
Back at the house, Topaz went into her crate and lay there quietly, so nothing seemed to be happening after all. Half an hour later, they went to check on her - and lo and behold, there were two puppies!!She had made nary a peep and there they were!
After that things got quiet for a while. Quite a while in fact. I got home and we ate supper and still nothing was happening. Then the kids remarked that she seemed to be straining but nothing was happening... and this went on for a while. Finally I investigated and I could feel a puppy a ways back in the birth canal, ready to come out but Topaz wasn't straining any more. It seemed the sac might have broken which got me concerned as the puppy can soon suffocate if it can't get out and start breathing. But it was too far in for me to reach - so what to do?
I phoned Linda of Canadian Doodle puppies who has had at least twice as many litters as me and she checked one of her books and gave me a ffew tips. We started by giving Topaz some calcium in the form of Tums, to heolp stimulate contractions. Then we held her standing up on her hind legs, to let gravity ehlp get the puppy down, and I massaged the opening - and sure enough, within 10 minutes we had actio and the puppy was out. But unfortuantely it had geen stuck in the birth canal too long and was stillborn.
About 10 minutes later, nice and easy. Then there began another long period of waiting. Generally I don't get worked up easily, but after two hours I was getting concerned again as Topaz was occasionally straining but nothing was happening. This time, however, I could feel nothing in the birth canal. I was sure I could hear a heartbeat with my daughter's stethoscope, and we could feel some movement, so things seemed okay.
Finally at 10:06 out popped #5, followed within 15 minutes by #6, both healthy and hearty.
So we have:
- red male, born at about 16:40, 172g
- black parti female, about 16:50, 227g
- balck female, 19:26, 202g - stillborn
- red female, 19:40, 208g
- black male, 22:06, 165 g (the runt)
- gold male, 10:23, 185g
Over the next two months you can watch them grow and develop int o beautiful little dogs!
(Pictures to follow!)
No comments:
Post a Comment