A couple of videos

For your enjoyment: some video of Renee with her puppies.  She's still not got enough milk for everyone, but we still have lots of formula and bottles to make sure everyone gets lots to eat.

Renee with the first group of puppies.

Renee with the second group of puppies.

Great News

Renee can nurse her puppies!  Last night when Renee came home she was terribly upset to not see her puppies and was looking for them all night.  So this morning we reintroduced them, careful to not let the puppies nurse.  She was SO happy to see her babies.  Each one got a good tongue bath before feedings with the bottle.  Interestingly Renee's udders began to drip while she was caring for her puppies.  Clearly she still has milk, despite having the puppies off her so long and all the trauma she's been through.  So, I called the vet's office to find out when her milk might be clear of medications.  Turns out she had been on the safest pain med they had, and the meds should be out of her system in 24 hours from her last dose.  Since that was 8:00 am yesterday, the puppies finally got to nurse on Renee again.

Renee with the first set of puppies to be allowed to nurse.

Now Renee hasn't got enough to feed everyone yet, but that should come in a few days.  If not, we are prepared to supplement with bottles in addition to her own milk.

The second set of puppies getting a bit of milk.

I was to give a HUGE thank-you to Pierry Mclean from Royal Canin.  She heard of our situation through the grapevine, and offered us a ton of formula for the puppies.  While with Renee beginning to nurse again, we probably won't need it all, we are so thankful for the help.  The left-over formula will be donated to rescue once we have no further need of it.

And now for the fun part.  Lots of photos of happy puppies and mommy.

Orange chowing down.

Red hiding behind Renee's leg

Four happy puppies.

Renee giving everyone a once-over.

Bum wash time.

It's good stuff.

One Week Old!

It's been a very long week, but we've made it!  The puppies are now one week old, and have a very good chance of surviving.  They are all getting bigger and stronger all the time, with nearly everyone over a pound in weight, which would be a normal birthweight.

Everyone out for a bedding change and a feeding.

Everyone's on bottles now as Renee is still at the clinic.  However, she's doing really well there, and might be able to come home tonight.

Brown enjoying his bottle

I want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement throughout this week.  We will still have our hands full for a while with eight hungry puppies, but things are looking up.  I am looking around to see if we can find a foster mommy for these guys as Renee has been through so much with the surgeries that I think it would be too hard on her to reintroduce the puppies at this stage.  Her milk wouldn't be safe for them anyway due to the medications that she required.  But we are just thankful that she's recovering well, and will be home soon.

Full tummies and snuggled in their basket.  I think I will need a bigger basket soon!

And for those who'd really like to see these squirmy rascals go, I even got a bit of video today.  It's not great quality, but I hope that you all enjoy :)  It's a link as it wouldn't upload here for some reason...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2B98ZTMrUA

An Update

Renee is doing well at the vet clinic, just staying there a bit longer to make sure that she's well enough to come home.  The puppies are all feeding very well off the bottle, looking round and healthy.  While it would be nicer to have Renee home, the puppies are not suffering from it.  The only one lagging is Tan, who is still the smallest and least developed.  We have all fallen in love with the wee girl though, and have decided that if she pulls through she gets to stay with us.  She's just too sweet to let go.  More photos and such to come soon.

Updated, sadly Tan left us this morning.  She was just too premature to cope.

A bit of Good, A bit of Bad

I was hoping this post would be a nice happy post filled with photos of happy puppies and mommy.  However, I am here writing a rather different post than I'd planned for.  The last couple days have been quite the emotional roller coaster.  On the positive side, the puppies all seemed to be picking up weight, and many were nursing very well off Renee.  Renee herself was being a fantastic mom, happy to have her babies.

Unfortunately yesterday things took a less positive turn.  Renee bloated again last night and had to be rushed in to the clinic again.  She had twisted again, and this time they had to take out her spleen.  Fortunately her stomach had only half twisted, so they were able to tack it so that it will not twist again.  They didn't tack it the first time around as she had already been under too long to be safe.  We have no idea why she twisted again - she'd been doing so well.  Renee is still at the clinic recovering.

So the puppies are back on bottles and tubing (for the weaker ones).  Six of the puppies are doing really well, feeding strongly.  The others are much weaker.  Sadly White puppy passed away early this morning, he just wasn't strong enough.  We are very concerned about Tan, and moderately concerned about Black and Yellow.  Lots of prayers and thoughts for them and Renee.

Anyway, to end on a more positive note, here are some photos of everyone from Tuesday night.  Enjoy!

And photos of all the puppies:

Black

Blue

Brown

Green

Orange

Purple

Red

Tan

RIP - White

Yellow

That's it for now.  I'll try to post another update on Renee later today.

New collars on - some colour chages

The puppies are getting stronger and doing well, so I decided it is time to put on their longer-term puppy collars.  They are really neat velcro ones that adjust by velcroing to themselves at whatever length you need.  So anyway the new colours are as follows:

Blue = Blue - male
Orange = Orange - male
Red = Red - female
Peach = Tan - female
Purple = Purple - female
Turquoise = White - male
Green = Green - male
Yellow = Yellow - female
Black = Black - male
Brown = Brown - male

All the puppies in their new collars

Not much else to report, except that most of the puppies are nursing reasonably well off Renee.  I'm still supplementing them, but one three (Purple, Tan, Brown) really haven't gotten the hang of nursing yet.

They're Gaining!

Happy update.  All the puppies are gaining.  Nearly everyone is up to their birth weight, and some have gone over it!  What a nice change :)  We'll still be keeping a very close eye on things of course.  Anyway, I need sleep, so here's a few photos to enjoy.  Sorry about the poor quality of the photos lately, but I've been stuck with using my phone as a camera...  Better photos once life starts getting less chaotic.

Renee, looking much happier.  Though she wishes her puppies were with her, not in that basket.  This evening she surprised me by "stealing" a puppy out of the basket while I was upstairs for a few minutes...  She didn't like hearing them crying.  So clearly she's feeling MUCH better.

Not sure which puppy this is, possibly Blue.

Here's Black getting his bottle.

And here's Peach having her bottle.

More tomorrow - but now I plan to sleep for another 4 hours or so :)

Updates

Sorry for the long gap in updates, but this is the first time I've really had any time to post.  We've been working really hard to keep everyone going.

All the puppies were getting dehydrated, and having troubles with keeping a reasonable temperature.  At this young age the puppies are not developed enough to regulate their own temperatures, so we need to be extra careful that they are not too hot or too cold.  They have been nursing, but just were not getting enough down, particularly some of the smaller ones.

Brown puppy in particular was having a hard time.  His temperature had dropped quite a bit, and he wouldn't even try to nurse, so off to the vet we went.  At the clinic they took his temperature and he wasn't even registering on their thermometer.  Brown was put on fluids, tube feedings, and antibiotics.  For the rest of the puppies I was given a back of fluids to give subcutaneously (under the skin) once every 12 hours.  I also took home some antibiotics for anyone who seemed to be weaker or failing.

Back at home we took everyone's temperature, measured their weights, and gave sub-cu fluids.  Everyone had lost a fair bit of weight, more than would be considered normal at this stage.  All the puppies needed the fluids badly as they were clearly quite dehydrated..  Only one puppy, Blue, seemed to need antibiotics thank goodness.  Then fresh hot water bottles and comfy towels later, they were settled to sleep.

At noon today we did a second weight check.  Most of the puppies had maintained their weights, but two had actually dropped a bit more.  The two puppies I'd been putting extra care into due to their poor nursing skills, Peach and Yellow, had actually gained, which was nice to see.  But overall, I was really concerned.  So off to the vet again for a check-up and some advice.

At the vet's the puppies were doing well, other than the evidence that they were not getting enough into them.  So, the vet showed me how to to tube feed puppies, and send us home with what we needed to do the job.  Fortunately Brown was doing quite well and was ok'd to come back home with us.

I've only given one feeding since we've been back, but I have some good news to report.  Renee's milk is finally in!  Three of the puppies who nursed off her back teats had such full tummies I didn't even have to tube them.  The rest got some of Renee's milk, and were tubed enough to fill their tummies.

That's it for now.  Feeding is MUCH faster with tubing so hopefully I can catch up on a bit of sleep...  More photos and updates later - after I'm better rested ;)

More prayers for the puppies

Renee is still doing well, but we are concerned about the puppies.  While they seemed to be nursing ok earlier, they have lost weight and are dehydrated.  The vet prescribed some sub-cutaneous fluids (under the skin) and antibiotics for the ones who need it.  I've been playing with the bottles to see if we can get them more efficient for them too.

This has been a steep learning curve for us, so we are figuring out each step as we go.  Brown is back at the vet clinic for some extra TLC as his temperature dropped quite low.  The others also are a bit low in temperature, but more reasonable.  It's hard to find ways to keep the puppies warm enough without letting Renee get too hot.  Hot water bottles help, but they cool down quickly.  Our heating pads have flown the coop... might need to find a new one tomorrow.  We are also out to get a better scale as ours isn't accurate enough at these low weights.

So keep rooting for these little guys. In particular Brown, Yellow, and Peach need some extra good vibes.  If we can just get them through this first week the prognosis is good, but we need to get there first.

Renee's Home!

After a long, tiring night, I'm pleased to announce that Renee is back home!  The vet cleared her to come home and be with her puppies this morning, and we brought her home around noon.  She's not out of the woods yet. While she is healing well, she's in a ton of pain right now.  She can barely walk as her hind legs are weak and sore from the surgery.  I feel so bad for my girl :(

While I'd love to give Renee the pain meds she needs to be comfortable, there's a catch.  If we give her pain meds, she won't be able to nurse the puppies.  The meds transfer into the milk, and are not puppy-safe.  We do have one med that is lower risk, but I am being very cautious.

If we keep the puppies off and bottle fed long enough to get Renee through the painful period, we risk her milk drying up.  That means the puppies would have to be bottle fed the whole time.  So, for now, we are trying Renee without the meds.  If we need to give her pain meds we will try to hand milk her a bit to keep her milk coming in, and possibly feed when the meds are mostly out of her system.  If necessary we will bottle feed them all, which we are already doing as Renee doesn't yet have enough milk to feed everyone.  But, it's something I prefer to avoid as it isn't nearly as nice a way for them to grow up as nursing their mother.

Anyway, because Renee was away so long we had to reintroduce the puppies to her.  She'd not been able to really meet them much at the clinic as she was very out of it when we took the puppies home.  When puppies are away from the mom after they are born there is always some risk that she might reject the puppies.

We started out by setting Renee up to nurse, and slowly introducing the puppies to her and letting some nurse.  She was a super girl, but really wasn't too sure about the puppies we kept sticking into her face to smell.

What is this puppy doing here?

Fortunately instinct is a powerful thing.  I noticed that one of the puppies was starting to defecate.  Well, once I put that poopy bum in her face, Renee knew just what to do.  She started to clean the puppy, and was all ready to be a mommy!  She promptly began to wash any and every puppy I brought to her.

Puppy bath time.

Soon we were able to get small groups of puppies on her, and she was alert and interested in them.  What a change from the way she was before.  I don't think she had connected the experience she went through with having her puppies.  But now that she has them, she's a much happier girl.

Three of them?  Where are all these puppies coming from?

Puppies in the basket, waiting their turn.

Of course Renee is still in a lot of pain, so she's not the cheerful mom she usually is.  But she's doing great.  Despite everything she's not shown any signs of not accepting our intervention and care around her, and other than giving a look of pained resignation from time-to-time, is happy to have her puppies with her.

Look at all those puppies!

Keeping a watchful eye on the brood.

Introducing the puppies

Renee is staying at the clinic for a while longer as she's still very groggy. The puppies are on their way home - a night of bottle feeding for the little guys. In the mean time I figured I'd introduce you to the puppies.  There are 10 total, 6 boys and 4 girls.  I "name" the puppies by colours - based on the colour of their collars.  Right now they have temporary wool collars, but will eventually wear the puppy collars we have at home.  I will likely adjust what I call each collar colour to fit with the regular puppy collars, but for now they will go by the wool.  In no particular order, here they are:

"Black" : Male brindle, 15.5 oz

"Brown" : Male brindle, 13.75 oz

"Blue" : Male wheaton, 13.75 oz

"Green" : Male brindle, 15.5 oz

"Peach" : Female brindle, 11.6 oz

"Red" : Female brindle, 13.75 oz

"Turquoise" : Male grey, 14.8 oz

"Orange" : Male brindle, 15.2 oz

"Purple" : Female black, 13.4 oz

"Yellow" : Female brindle, 13.75 oz

Sometimes things don't go as planned...

What a day.  Mixed news for everyone.  Early this morning Renee was distressed and started drinking copiously and vomiting it right back up.  She looked more distended than usual, and was clearly not herself.  Now, if she'd not had puppies in there, it might have been easier to figure out what was up, but even with puppies, we knew she wasn't right.  Our first thought was that she was bloating.  So, a quick call to the vet, and we were on our way in to have her seen.

At the clinic the diagnosis was confirmed, definitely bloat, and worse - torsion.  Torsion is when the stomach, intestine, or other parts inside become flipped or twisted.  It is extremely serious and quite possibly fatal.  Renee needed surgery right away.

Because Renee wasn't due until next Saturday we had a bit of a dilemma.  The puppies might not be viable this early.  One of the last things to develop are the lungs.  Before 57 days of gestation, the lungs just are not ready to cope with the outside air.  Renee was only at 55 days gestation, two days too early.  However, to save her, we needed to operate, and very likely take out the puppies.

As much as we want the puppies, Renee is our first priority, so we did what we had to do, and Renee went into surgery.  Without it Renee would die.

Miraculously the surgery went very well.  There were some minor complications as she had huge blood vessels that wanted to bleed a lot, but the vet is a good one, and made sure he caught the "bleeders" and closed them before she lost too much blood.

There were 12 puppies in there.  One had died in utero, so had no chance of survival.  This isn't unusual in a large litter of puppies, even if whelped naturally.

All the puppies were very groggy and took a while to come around.  Because of Renee being anesthetized, the puppies also had some of the drug in their system.  Normally it doesn't take long to get into the bitch to take out puppies in a c-section, but because of the bleeding, it took longer than usual.

The dedicated clinic staff working on resuscitating puppies.

A dog's uterus is Y shaped, with two uterine horns.  Both horns have puppies inside them.  When whelping usually the puppies alternate as they are born.  In a c-section, the vet takes out all the puppies from one horn, repairs it, then takes the puppies out of the other horn.

There were 6 puppies in the first horn.  These puppies had the least anesthetic, so recovered more quickly.  The second horn also held 6 puppies, including the one dead puppy.  The last puppy in the second horn had been under anesthetic the longest, and was very groggy.  Sadly this puppy did not make it.

Puppies in towels while being rubbed down to get their breathing going.

However, amazingly the other 10 puppies all started breathing on their own.  All seem to be fat and healthy, and of decent birth weights, considering that they are a whole week early.

Eight little puppies all in a row.

While Renee's surgery continued the puppies got to snuggle together in a basket, all nicely padded with hot water bottles below them to keep them cozy.  The vet was able to work on Renee without removing her uterus, which is nice as I had not hoped to spay her at this time.  Sadly spayed bitches cannot be shown, and I really would like to take Renee out to a few shows again one of these days.  Everything got put back where it belonged, and the vet feels that Renee has an excellent prognosis.

Puppies snuggling up to Renee for a drink.

Once Renee recovered enough to be conscious, we put the puppies on her for a chance to drink.  Thankfully she already had some milk starting, so the puppies should have enough to eat without supplementing.

More puppies snuggled up to Mom.

Renee is still at the clinic with her puppies.  She needs to have some more time to recover, and get some post-op bloodwork done before she can come home.  We are busy finishing the set-up of the whelping bed, which was only halfway done as I'd not planned to move Renee there until tomorrow.  But, assuming she continues to recover well, Renee should be home later tonight.

Renee recovering from her ordeal.

I will post more once Renee is home and settled in for the night.  I will also have some photos and info on the individual puppies soon.  There are still no guarantees that everyone will make it through, so any prayers and good thoughts are welcome!  But so far things are looking as good as can be expected.