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We were having dinner at our friends house and her dog was due today, Christmas. It was her first litter, so we had to be careful that her instincts would guide her.
Just before dinner was ready, as we were checking her birthing box every 5-10 minutes, we went by to check once more before sitting down. Sadly, Bella (her dog) quietly and without any ado, had delivered a still born. Well, it might have made it but since she didnt go to automatically lick off the placenta sack, the pup never had a chance to take a first breath. It didnt suffer, though we did remove the placenta ASAP but the pup was already cold (within 5 minutes as we had just checked on her thoroughly!) and my friend and my mom were so concerned, that even after I used suction, they actually went and tried animal CPR. Yes, we are dedicated animal lovers and put the thought of possible Parvo out of our minds during this time. He was one of 4, and the only male 🙁
Needless to say, dinner was put off until close to midnight! Just got home now as it’s after 3am! We tended to Bella the rest of the time. My friend was relying heavily on me for advice as I was a vet tech and delivered large breeds before. She has a small Shih Zhu. I also got some great advice from a forum member here who is a small animal vet but I dont know if I should say her name, just in case she is very private. She’ll read this and if she wants to reveal herself, she will. Thanks for all your guidance! It helped a lot and though we lost one, we saved 3 and consider it a success! You helped us a lot and my friend thanks you for all your patience to her questions, etc.
Watching Bella closely for signs of contractions and pushing, we knew we’d have to intervene because Bella was flat out catatonic and could barely keep her own eyes open and was sooooo exhausted that she couldnt even get to the pups right away to clean off the placenta and bite through the umbilical cords. So, we had to do this for her.
Her water DID break for the next puppy and when she pushed it out with some of our help, we got to the face right away and I did what I needed to do to stimulate the pup to start breathing on its own. She is brown with a white necklace. ALL the pups came out with white tips on their tails! This first live pup had trouble getting the hang of Bella’s teets to work though she tried. She knew she wanted to suckle right away, but didnt really know how. She learned soon enough.
Next pup was breach and water did NOT break (same with last pup; no water break and breach). Though she delivered her pups about 30-40 minutes apart, in the breach cases I had to pull both out quickly enough to get to their faces, clear placenta, get them stimulated to breathe etc., since Bella was just too exhausted to do this. She did not ignore her pups for she licked them once she got her strength back enough. But when the pups were initially coming out, Bella was down for the count. All pups needed human intervention or they would have died in their sacks like the first one, since Bella didnt go to them immediately to allow them to start breathing by clearing off the birthing material.
This third (well, second live pup, third in total if you include the first still born) pup may have arrived ass first but came out knowing exactly what to do! What spunk & pluck! She knew exactly how to get the teets working and went right to it and filled up her belly. It was like watching a balloon inflate! Then her slightly older sister figured it out by staying physically in touch with her slightly younger but more teet savvy sister, and learned how to suckle properly. This second spunky pup that came out I would call pick of the litter not only because of the personality, but the markings are tri-color (black, brown and white) in the coolest way! The first live pup (brown)- boy is she a yapper! She is going to be a vocal dog! Anytime we had to reposition the pups safely and remove the pups when another was coming out, the brown one would chirp cry to be next to mama! Bella responded well to this and licked her which is great.
The final pup (fourth in total) almost didnt make it. Also a breach birth I had to pull out but this one took longer to do, so, longer in the birth canal and in sack. I worked fast once it was all the way out and made quick work of clearing the face and breathing passages. She wasnt moving much but I was determined we were not to lose another pup. I tied off her umbilical cord as I did with the other 2, while my friend got me a warm wash cloth so I could hold her and stimulate the pup by rubbing the belly and back, to get everything flowing. A bit more suction from the mouth and nose, and a very nice clean/kiss/lick on the mouth & nose by mama Bella, and the pup began to come around. She is just like mom (opposite color markings in black & white) in personality thus far. Mellow! She learned to suckle quick enough too.
Once each found a teet, they suckled, fell asleep, suckled, fell asleep, while mama Bella just passed out completely. She was licking them so her mother instincts are there and will kick in more each day as she recovers from such an exhausting birth.
My friend and mom took Bella to the sink to wash all the gook off of her when she was done (tho the Green lochia as some staying power like hair dye!), while the pups lay wrapped in a warm towel in the palms of my hands. After drying Bella off, we had a new nest set up for her that was clean and dry and private, and we put her in the bed box in her favorite closet, and lay the pups in a semi circle. Bella rolled to one side to allow them to feed more, and was good about not smooshing them. My friend however exhausted, will watch Bella through out the night to be absolutely positive she doesnt accidentally roll onto them. She has taken the next couple weeks off work so we can watch the progression of the pups and Bella carefully during this critical time.
Sorry this was so long, but it was a very exciting Christmas to be able to deliver 3 little miracles, and have the prima mama make it through with no complications save for total exhaustion. Wouldnt you be?! I snapped a couple of pix. Dont know how good they are but I’ll add them here when I get them onto the computer. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story and journey!
PS: they have another large dog which is half Lab and half American Staffordshire Bull Terrier who is a ball of love to human and animals. He was concerned for Bella though she was making no noise. Animals just know. When he came in for a visit, we had a couple of the pups wrapped up in warm towels while drying them off, and we let him smell them. He was SO scared (though lovingly interested) of these baby Squash (vegetable) sized pups, that he pricked his ears and backed away! It was funny to see but you may have had to be there! Very funny dog that I love so much, I may have to steal for visitation at my house 😀
Hopefully youll be able to make heads or tails, so to speak, of these photos. If you look closely, youll see 3 puppies suckling. In one however (2nd pic), the brown one is totally under her sisters, but we fine and didnt want to let go of that teet!
My fave one is the one mom is holding up (second live born) to reveal the brown one (first live born) with the 3rd live born on right
My favorite one, the spunky one, is the one laying on top of her sister(s)… the first live born brown one is under her sisters in this photo.
Hard one to see properly- brown one first live borns butt on the left. Third live born laying stretched across others with pink little mouth, the one that almost didnt make it. And then my favorite, whose head is under mama to reach her preferred teet.
Similar photo to one above, but I flipped it around for a different angle. Brown butt is now on right, the little fighter underdog survivor is in middle w/ pink mouth, and my favorite spunkster with patch of white on her back, remains at her favorite spigot underneath 😀
What a great Christmas gift! I’m sorry one didn’t live, but at least it didn’t suffer. It’s great that you were there to help, PhoenixTears.
Great story. Thanks for sharing. It was great that you were there to help. It’ll definitely be a Christmas to remember. 🙂
Wow! That is one magical and exhausting night! I am so glad you guys were there to help Bella, and I am glad the other puppy didn’t suffer. It’s sad to think about it, but there are three other happy, healthy puppies!
Aaaw! Lookit the little tails! They are so cute. Thanks for sharing.
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmI cant believe I had the energy to share that last night or this morning, as I was falling asleep in the car on the way home! But it felt so good, I guess I got a second wind to do so.
Thanks for all your comments. It was always planned that me and mom would be there to help in the delivery, regardless of day or time. Phone call at 4am, and we’d have been out the door speeding to our friends. Bella’s actual due date was set for Christmas. She snuck in that first baby under us, as we’d been taking her temperature (which was supposed to drop to near 87 or 85) and she never went below 97. And, when she was giving birth, she was very hot to the touch. It really was too much for her (as it can be for some ppl). We all suggested to our friend that she not breed her again (Im pretty sure her husband will keep his finger on that). But, if she does, I suggested that she give birth in a vet’s office so that she can be more comfortable in ways they could make her, that we couldnt. But I gotta tell ya, she was amazing. She made NO noise or jerky motions during contractions and delivery. Heck, I was in pain watching it! But she handled it (other than too much exhaustion and unable to do her maternal job and clean them off immediately so they could breathe) as if this was something she’d done every day of her life. Her facer wasnt even concerned. Only time it changed was when we brought the brown one (the yapper) away to clean her off or reposition her, etc. Bella responded to the tiny cries the pup did by turing her head to the sound and perking her ears (and then regardless of whether she was delivering, they put the swaddled pup down to Bella’s face to let mama know nothing was wrong. That worked perfectly.
UPDATE: on Bella and the pups– Bella has regained some of her strength today and wanted to eat and go for a piddle. Good sign. (oh! and I couldnt believe that last night, just after the last pup was born, my favorite pup who had understood how to suckle immediately and wouldnt let go- she was seriously clamped- squeezed out a tiny little doodle of her own! Baby puppy poop soooooo tiny, that poop actually became cute at that moment)! She is very much more aware that she has three little wiggly things in her bed, that she feels compelled to attend to and loves very much (sometimes it goes the other way: new mamas can ignore or even attack & kill these foreign creatures that suddenly appear). In fact, shes such a good mama, that when she feels that a pup has gotten under her, she barks for my friend to come in and reposition her. Soon, she’ll realize how to do that herself. But the bark alarm is a great maternal sign because she understands she is lying on something that is important and she shouldnt be. She’s a very good dog and loves everyone she comes in contact with. She is a mellow small dog too; quiet as well. So, it’s great that she barks to let my friend know something isnt perfect in the baby bed.
I’ll eventually (soon I hope) get more photos of each pup, and then you can see their faces and full markingss better. I’ll get a good photo of Bella too as you can see by the photos, she was just SO exhausted she couldnt hold her own head up (not that I asked her to).
Definitely a Christmas to top ALL Christmas’ and one I will never forget. I really needed that, regardless of what day it would have been. But they really wanted it to be on Christmas, so Im glad Santa gave it a little push 😀
WOW
Sure beat the Christmas I had!!
I LOVE animals!! Congrats on helping with the delivery.
I have never actually been there for the birth of anything. All 4 fo my cats are fixed. I’d Love to see it one day though.
Sorry the little guy didn’t make itIm sorry if your Christmas was anything less than stellar, DM. At least you know you can come here and chat and know how much youre loved!
Yea- Ive only delivered larger breed dogs before as a vet tech, so this was very exciting to deliver small breed pups. They were SO much smaller than say, a Lab or AmStaff or Rottie, etc!
It was a blast and will continue to be so during the next 16 weeks. Im glad I had some place to go (here) to be able to vent the joy! I dont have a blog and you all know how it goes when you just want to bust and share news. Thanks for letting me do so!
As for the one male that didnt make it (the first born that Bella didnt know what to do with such as lick and break the sack so it could start to breathe- he didnt suffer), is being buried on my friends HUGE property and will have a puppy sized headstone (theyre building a new house and have tons of acreage in a very rural country area in the suburb of Ocala, FL).
They have so much land and so many animals (and will continue to save many animals as they have the room and resources to do so), they have sectioned off a small portion of their land that will be a pet cemetery. Colin (Sharon’s husband- realized I never mentioned her by name- those are our friends) is a builder, contractor, handy man, etc. He can build, crearte, fix, etc., anything and is building their house with very custom specifics. He is incredibly smart and knows how to tend to the land. They are both very grounded and down to earth ppl. They KNOW this is the last place they will live (though theyre only in their early 40s), especially since the area is quiet and safe, and he is building the house himself. He’s already worked on building his work shop shed which is MASSIVE enough and set up to be able to drive a large truck through, and will be air conditioned. He’s already worked on building little path ways with little Koi like ponds with slate and rocks around them. When it’s all done, it will very much be like following the yellow brick road, so to speak.
Anyway, they have set a section aside for lost pets which I think is great.
I don’t think there is any greater joy than helping deliver a litter of puppies. Especially when the mother is a family pet and trusts her humans!
Fortunately I have had this honor a few times 🙂 Even with the death of the first babe…it was still worth every second!
It is wonderful that you save 3 of them! What a great Christmas! Congratulations! What a Wonderful Christmas Miracle!
You can’t beat that for Christmas!!!
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