2019 > 12
The puppies are now 10 days old and they have started to open their eyes. It is one of the best times in the puppies development I think, they go from little sausages to acctuall tiny dogs!
A few days overdue by here are finally the individual 1 week photos of the puppies!
It is not always easy being a mother of 14! After the delivery Mira has had a fever. This is normal but hers would not go down. She had discharge of mostly blood the first days, also normal, but those eventually changed colour and became a mix of blood and pus. Sorry for nasty details...
This made me suspect and infection in her uterus perhaps caused by placenta that had not come out during delivery?
I consulted my vet who at the moment did not want to start her on antibiotics. I gave her fluids under the skin for two days but the fever did not go down much. She ate and drank normal, came out for short walks and seemed ok otherwise, until yesterday morning.
She then vomited and had no interest in eating. Her milkproduction had gone down do to her lack of appetite and therefor the puppies had lost some weight over night.
I then decided to take her and the puppies to the animalhospital for help. They took some bloodtests which confirmed my suspisions about an infection and she got iv. fluids, antibiotics and antiinflammatory medicine. After a few hours with fluid we went home and during the evening her appetite slowly came back. I started to feed the puppies milk in a bottle during the day and night and this morning 10 of them had already gained weight again and the other atleast not lost any more.
Mira is doing a lot better today, she was begging for food at the breakfast table and her appetite is back to normal. She even came and asked for a backrub, so I would say she is feeling better!
Thank you everyone for you wellwishes!
The puppies are now 6 days old and have been weighed again today. All are gaining weight, some more than others but all doing well. Checked them for the second time for DS and could not find any this time either.
In our family there are three humanchildren, Ellen, Esther and Tove. They are all interested in the puppies, but Ellen and Tove the most. Tove today got to sit in the puppypool with Mira and the puppies and oh was she happy. She is pretty gentle with them and I don't have to control her the whole time. She pet's them softly and lays down next to them. Of course the highlight is when one climbs up on her ;)
Some mixed photos from today below!
I give you puppypictures! The puppies are today 5 days old (you count their birthdays from the day the delivery started, which was the 20th, even if some puppies were not born until the 21 st). They are all doing well, strong and gaining weight. Mira is an excellent mother as she has always been, and I am glad to see that she is so relaxed that she today even came for some cuddles on the couch, even if it was only for a few minutes before she went back to the puppies. She was also happy to walk around checking out all the Christmas food yesterday ;)
New individual photos coming on Friday!
Today I took the first individual photos of our precious 14 puppies! They are so similar so it would be impossible to keep some of them apart without their collars.
They are all doing well, good energy and strong, and Mira is well too. Tired of course after the very long delivery but feeling ok by the looks of it!
I checked the puppies for DS today and did not find any. Will check them again soon and hope the result will be the same!
Last night Mira started the delivery of our awaited Lionking-litter. The first 9 puppies came within 5 hours, then she had a good rest for about 3 hours before puppy number 10 arrived. After that another 2 hours rest for number 11 and then almost 6 hours break until we finally met our number 12.
I had seen for sure 12 heads on the X-ray, but was not sure if there was perhaps more, since I could not follow each spine to a head (sounds nasty I know!).
So not that surprised when she started having contractions and showing signs that the delivery was not over.
But is sure took some time... she rested, had some contractions, went outside to pee, ate some food and drank water, some more contractions and rest. Five hours later we got a stillborn beautiful correct girl. I knew it was too late but still tried all I could to resuscitate her but no luck.
But Mira was not finished here, she had two more puppes in there and now I was a little bit stressed since the one before had died, most likely do to the placenta getting detached and the delivery taking to long.
I could feel the nose and head when I examined her, but no legs, so they were folded backwards. We went outside several times, tried to have Mira standing with her frontlegs up on my bed, giving her more food for energy, eggyoke and dextrose but the puppy hardly moved forward, being a bit stuck on the pelvis. I tried several times to get a hold of it but couldn't get my fingers behind it's neck/head and I started to think that perhaps I would have to go to the animalhospital to get help. But then I got it, I got a hold and could pull her out when Mira had contractions and I was so happy to see the puppy alive! A wonderful girl who forgot her ridge.
After a little rest Mira started to have contractions again and did a new examination and yes, there was another puppy on the way coming with backlegs first. I left it for a while to give Mira a chance to do the job herself and she did so well, and puppy number 15 came out without a problem.
This is my biggest litter ever, previous record was 13 puppies (12 alive in Mira's It-litter) and now we got 15 (14 alive).
A summary of what we got: 15 puppies, 10 females (6 correct, 1 stillborn, 4 ridgeless) and 5 males (4 correct, 1 ridgeless).
I think I have managed to sleep about 3 hours in total since yesterday morning so feeling just like Mira, pretty tired! I will take the first individual photos of the puppies tomorrow so more updates will follow!
Full birthreport below:
1. Female - correct, 589 grams, 21.27 pm - Ms Red
2. Female - correct, 603 grams, 22.39 pm - Ms Pink
3. Male - ridgeless, 554 grams, 22.56 pm - Mr Blue
4. Female - ridgeless, 493 grams, 23.46 pm - Ms Orange
5. Male - correct, 555 grams, 23.52 pm - Mr Lightblue
6. Female - ridgeless, 536 grams, 00.53 am - Ms Yellow
7. Female - correct, 579 grams, 01.10 am - Ms Purple
8. Female - ridgeless, 498 grams, 01.43 am - Ms Beige
9. Male - correct, 547 grams, 02.38 am - Mr Black
10. Female - correct, 520 grams, 05.44 am - Ms Brown
11. Female - correct, 565 grams, 08.08 am - Ms Grey
12. Male - correct, 591 grams, 13.56 pm - Mr Green
13. Female - correct, stillborn, 498 grams, 19.08 pm - Ms ...
14. Female - ridgeless, 556 grams, 20.55 pm - Ms Lightpurple
15. Male - correct, 573 grams, 22.37 pm - Mr No Colour
Mira has done an amazing job, as always. The birthweights where a little bit lower than previous litters, but that is just good since she usually pushes out tiny monster puppies! She is such a good mum, keeping an eye on each and everyone, gathering all of them close to her not happy when one wonders off in thw wrong direction.
All the puppies seem healthy and strong at the moment. I have not gone through them all for DS so will have to get back to you about that status.
For now we are both very tired after two long days and one night with very little sleep. To all of you on my waitinglist, I will contact you soon!
Some photos of Mira from tonight when she was having her dinner. Her belly has really filled up now, just over a week left to duedate!
Today I made an X-ray on Mira and I am sure we have at least 12 puppies. It is not so easy to be a 100 % sure, some puppies lay very close to eachother so hard to tell which spine belongs to which head! So it could be another one hiding somewhere, but at least 12 puppies I would say!
Today Mira got to stand on the scale at work. She has gained almost 12 kg since before she was mated. She will probably gain about 1 kg more before delivery, if not more.
I normally count that the bitch gain about 1 kg/puppy, so this would mean that she is carrying more than 10 puppies. Will be so interesting to see her X-ray on Thursday!
Mira is today on day 48 and her belly is getting BIG! Tomorrow we have two weeks left to go, but I don't think she will last until then, I do expect to meet these puppies a day or two earlier than that atleast! She is doing well still. No problems to come along for our walks. It is just when she sleeps she is breathing a bit heavy because of the pressure from her big belly on her lungs. But so far she is fine, I think she will have it a bit tougher in another week.
My plan is to do and X-ray on her belly on Thursday to try to count the number of puppies she is carrying, so check back then!
Tomorrow Mira is on day 42 and we have three weeks left until delivery. I can't get over how big she is already. I know the facts of her having a C-section last time might give her less strength in her abdominalmuscles, and she has carried puppies before and most likely get a bigger belly sooner, but she looks to me like she is hiding about 20 puppies in there! Or at least 10!
Today she came with me to the traininghall and did some rallyobedience, she sure still got it!
If you have Instagram you can see a video of her at my page karins_lantliv.