Neverland-Retrievers

The puppies are getting into non-mother provided nutrition, see for yourself.

  

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This last week was full of milestone events. The puppies eyes all opened by last Saturday, Day 12. Then on Day 14, they took their first steps. Mr. Blue led the pack, and the others seemed to learn from his example, because they immediately followed along. Click HERE for a short video clip of the historic event.

The gang is growing very fast. Today is Day 20 and two of three are over six lbs. Mr White is about one day behind the others weighing 5.6 lbs. All three puppies are teething and Tink is not as anxious to run into the whelping box when they start crying. I’ve started feeding Puppy Weaning Formula 2-3 times a day to ease them off of mom. This is the bridge to the solid food coming in the following weeks. The puppies readily eat the cereal in the morning when they are the hungriest. In the evening, I mix the powder with goats milk to make it more palatable. Click HERE for a short video clip of one feeding event.

As BLOG readers can see, I’ve started adding more video clips to my postings. During the first litter, I was constantly switching between the still camera and camcorder, but it seemed like I could never get the picture or video moment just right. So, I decided for the next litter, I would buy one device capable of both. After many months of researching and waiting for the right technology to come along, I purchased the Sony HDR-SR1 Handycam. This is a High Definition 1080i camcorder that can also take 4 Megapixel still images. The video is recorded directly to an internal 30 GB hard disk and can hold up to 11 hrs of HDV. The videos I’ve posted are not HDV, but they are widescreen and MPEG-4 encoded to minimize file size. They can be played with Apple Quicktime or WinDVD. I’ve tried to keep the clips to around 1 min, but they are still 10-12 MB in size. Don’t try to play them unless you have a broadband connection.

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At this age, nothing is more satisfying, see for yourself. Be warned, this video clip is 7MB long and requires Quicktime or another MPEG-4 player.

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It’s hard to believe the puppies are 12 days old already. Each puppy is over three pounds and Mr Blue is four. As one can see from the graph below, their weight gain is steady. The three puppies are gaining on averaging about 3.5 oz/day.

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After an anxious Monday, Tuesday is relaxing and sedate. The routine is starting to set in with the puppies, eat and sleep. At this morning’s weigh in, all three gained 1-2 oz. The c-section doesn’t stress the pups like it does mom, so they gained instead of the losing weight for the first day. Tink is doing fine too. We had such nice weather that we were both outside and Tink was begging for a game of Frisbee. She doesn’t realize those staple in her chest will hurt after a few runs, so we’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for this kind of play. The puppies seem to be moving around well. Mr Blue keeps trying to climb on top of mom to sleep, Mr White is trying to make up for being the smallest by eating at every opportunity, and Ms Red is very pushy, moving everyone out of the way. Here are a few pictures of the clan.

 

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Here are a couple of pictures of each puppy taken this evening.

Mr. White
 

Ms. Red
 

Mr. Blue
 

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It began about 3am Monday morning. I was napping on the sofa, next to the whelping box, when Tink woke me up. It seemed that she needed to go potty and for the next 7-8 hours we must have made a dozen trips to the backyard. In the house, during this time, Tink was acting like an expecting mom. She constantly moved the towels in the box to make a nest and alternated between panting and sleeping. Around 10:30 am I called the Vet’s office to let her know what was going on. Her assistant suggested I bring Tink in so they could monitor her progress. Of course I thought otherwise, being a typical male, I knew better. I told her I thought everything was progressing by the book, however, a while later, I called back and asked to speak with Dr. Rickard. The Dr. thought things sound normal too, except for the numerous potty trip. This suggested to her that all during this time, a puppy could be in the pelvic region pushing on Tink’s bladder and colon. We agreed to check back around 2pm, but within ten minutes of hanging up the phone, Tink started Stage II labor with hard contractions and profuse fluid from the birth canal. The fluid filled amniotic sac was visible in the birth canal shortly thereafter. About 30 mins went by and no progress was apparent in pushing the puppy out. By this time it was 12:30 pm and I was concerned. Tink appeared exhausted and was not making any progress. Another call to the Vet and she indicated the puppy may be stuck in birth canal. She told us to get to her office right away. Unfortunately, the drive to the vet is around 50-60 mins when the traffic is good. My wife, Deb, drove and I sat in the back with Tink. Deb made great time and got us there in 45 mins. As I carried Tink into the Vet’s office, the fluid sac broke in the waiting room. They took her into the back and prep ‘d for C-section. Dr. Rickard came out a few minute later and told me a puppy was stuck in the pelvis and the heart rate was depressed, but it was still alive. Not long after that, they called us into the back room. I thought we lost one, but there were three crying wet puppies were being worked on the examination table just outside the OR. Thankfully all were fine. The techs and Dr. said they were huge and wouldn’t have been able to come out on their own. The smallest puppy, Mr. White, weighing 1.0 lb (.45 kg), the next was 1 lb 4 oz (.57 kg), and the last was 1 lb 5 oz (.60 kg). By comparison, when April was born last year from Tink’s first litter, she weighed 1 lb at birth and the Vet thought she was large.

As for Tink, she was fine after the surgery. A bit weak and groggy, but ready to go when I mentioned home. She is a tough girl, hardly ever a cry or whimper. The ride home was uneventful. Both mom and puppies are settled into the whelping box quite cozy. Here are a couple of pictures of the gang.

 

BTW – Blue and White collars are the boys and red is the girl.

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In the vast majority of bitches parturition will occur between 64-66 days after the ovulatory surge in LH. Today is day 64 for Tink. This morning her body temperature dropped approx 2degF, see graph.

The temperature drop is caused by the sudden decrease in serum progesterone and labor should start within 24 hrs. Tink is starting to show typical signs, such as panting, restlessness, and nesting behavior.

I have also activated the webcam, check it out at, www.neverlandfcr.com/html/puppy_cam.html

Keep an eye out for those puppies!

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Today’s visit to the vet was very successful. Dr. Rickard found at least three gestational sac with a fetus in each. Their heart beats were clearly visible on the ultrasound display. I was present during the exam and saw one of heart beats for myself. There were two embryonic sacs in the left uterine and at least on the right. The image below is my interpretation of the information presented by the vet along with my observations.

 

Two embryonic sacs were visible at the same time on the U/S display close to the junction of the left and right side. The third was found higher up on the left side alone. The next major milestone is the pre-whelping X-Ray to confirm the number of puppies. This is schedule for March 7th. The anticipated whelping day is March 19, which is day 65 from the LH surge.

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