Neverland-Retrievers

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.

…P

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.

…P

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.

 

…P

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

Mr. White
 

Ms. Red
 

Mr. Blue
 

…P

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.

…P

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!

…P