Unfortunately I've got another post to get behind me before we can move on. Sadly, we've got another angel among us. I lost the tiniest girl of the litter, Lavender, early yesterday morning. Less than 24 hours old.
Normally I would have posted much more about a litter by this stage in the game. But I must say, it's always much more difficult to write about the sad than it is to write about happy healthy puppies.
I noticed shortly after placing collars on the pups that Lavender seemed to consistently fall behind the others. I also noticed she seemed to have trouble holding body temperature despite being housed in an 80+ degree room.... she felt cooler to touch than the others. I worked with her much of Saturday, trying to warm her and assist to nurse but it quickly became apparent she was simply failing. This litter has gotten off to a rocky start and it's been a rough one for me emotionally. But with my tearful goodbyes said to that precious pup, it's time to move ahead.
So....
The rest of the pack is doing well. All birth weights are a little low in comparison to previous litters... but I expected that. Most importantly they're picking up strength by the hour and beginning to fill out their little frames. They're thriving. Interestingly, the males of the litter weighed in at first weight consistently less than their sisters. I expect over the next few weeks that may change. Often does, but not always. Generally speaking though, at one year of age the males nearly always outweigh and outsize the girls.
Today, our pack of nine experienced their first road trip and vet check and we've got our docking behind us. The pups tolerated the trip and procedure well and were eager to nurse once returned to mom. Ritz too remained calm. Listening to Enya on Pandora, I left her with half her babes while I stole away the other half. She seemed unbothered when I returned, as when I left, to exchange the docked for the undocked. Tails look great. And with that, I'll leave you with a few photos taken over the course of the first couple days. More tomorrow...
Thank you to those who've left comment... I finally realized Smartcaptcha was on (the crazy pick the picture rigamarole one has to go through to leave comment) and turned it off!!!
Normally I would have posted much more about a litter by this stage in the game. But I must say, it's always much more difficult to write about the sad than it is to write about happy healthy puppies.
I noticed shortly after placing collars on the pups that Lavender seemed to consistently fall behind the others. I also noticed she seemed to have trouble holding body temperature despite being housed in an 80+ degree room.... she felt cooler to touch than the others. I worked with her much of Saturday, trying to warm her and assist to nurse but it quickly became apparent she was simply failing. This litter has gotten off to a rocky start and it's been a rough one for me emotionally. But with my tearful goodbyes said to that precious pup, it's time to move ahead.
So....
The rest of the pack is doing well. All birth weights are a little low in comparison to previous litters... but I expected that. Most importantly they're picking up strength by the hour and beginning to fill out their little frames. They're thriving. Interestingly, the males of the litter weighed in at first weight consistently less than their sisters. I expect over the next few weeks that may change. Often does, but not always. Generally speaking though, at one year of age the males nearly always outweigh and outsize the girls.
Today, our pack of nine experienced their first road trip and vet check and we've got our docking behind us. The pups tolerated the trip and procedure well and were eager to nurse once returned to mom. Ritz too remained calm. Listening to Enya on Pandora, I left her with half her babes while I stole away the other half. She seemed unbothered when I returned, as when I left, to exchange the docked for the undocked. Tails look great. And with that, I'll leave you with a few photos taken over the course of the first couple days. More tomorrow...
Thank you to those who've left comment... I finally realized Smartcaptcha was on (the crazy pick the picture rigamarole one has to go through to leave comment) and turned it off!!!
Friday into Saturday....
A Really Tired Mama...
Sunday... Settling and recovering...
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