Sunday, February 24, 2008

Litter theme...

Our litter theme is: Constellations....

http://www.dibonsmith.com/constel.htm

http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/const.html

Play time!



Ava & her weeee ones....


"Purple Boy" ~ 3 weeks old







Adelaide & Purple Boy
Idela & Purple Boy

Purple Boy, at birth was the bossiest and loudest of the bunch, but now he's just really laid back. He's the biggest of the boys, although his sister, Pink tops him at the scales, and is also easy to pick out of the pack because the freckles on his belly are shaped like angel wings... His favorite pastime? Sticking out his tongue!

"Pink Girl" ~ 3 weeks



Idela & Pink Girl

Pink is a kisser. She loves to kiss everyone! She also loves ear scratches! She's really easy going, just like her sister, and they can always be found hanging together! Her favorite pastime? Wagging her tail!

"Teal Boy" formerly known as "Turquoise Boy" ~ 3 weeks old





Teal & Idela
Teal Boy is always front and center. He is the first to wiggle on over to greet you upon looking into the whelping box, and loves to play by gently pawing everyone, humans included. His favorite bud? Green Boy. The two of them are inseparable.

"Green Boy" ~ 3 weeks old






Idela & Green Boy

Green Boy is very identifiable when huddled amongst his siblings, as he has adorable freckles on his belly, and his private parts. He is Ava's favorite, and is always upside down seeking belly rubs, or playing tonsil hockey with his brother teal :) He's a real ham bone, and was first to walk and sit up.

"White Girl" ~ 3 weeks old




White Girl & Adelaide
White Girl & Idela

She's such a cutie pie, and soooo sweet! She loves to get belly rubs, and just adores ear scratches! She also loves to spend quality time with her sister, Pink. I think she'll be the "thinker" of the bunch...

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Copper, another 4 point major!

Copper took a four point major, under Judge Wendy Willhauck at the Manatee Kennel Club, with Stacy.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Copper ~ Agility




These are some agility photos, please excuse the blurry images, of Copper and I, just for fun...

Some pictures of Copper


Picture of Copper & Stacy in Florida. She took a 4 -point major under Judge Paul Willhauck.

Hopefully the picture of her other 4 -point major, under Judge Wendy Willhauck will arrive soon....



Pink Girl, 1 week old


White Girl, 1 week old



Turquoise Boy



Purple Boy

Green Boy



Saturday, February 9, 2008


Ava & Cobalt's Babies...
Purple Boy
Green Boy
White Girl
Turquoise Boy
Pink Girl

Ava & Cobalt's 8 little Angels... 1 Day old...

On the road again...

This evening we noticed White Girl had a sniffly nose, and had trouble drinking at the same time, then she sneezed. We didn't want to take any chances, so we ran her to the emergency vet. Her lungs sound good, and she was put in the nebulizer just in case, so hopefully, we won't have any more vet visits until Ava's recheck on Monday...

Also Thank You to everyone for your prayers for Ava and her puppies, and please keep them coming...

One Very Long Week

Well, it's been quite the week... Where do I even start?


On February 2nd, Ava went into labor, somewhere around 5:30 pm (it's all a blur now).


Luckilly, my M-I-L happened to be over, and talked the girls into a sleepover, and LITERALLY, as they opened the front door to head out, Ava's water bag had shown itself.


Labor started off slow, partially due to Ava's confussion of never having been through it before, and ours too :) ... You could read the expression on her face, she needed me to step up... So I hopped into the whelping box, that we all so lovingly hand crafted just for her, and we tried to push together. After the two hour mark approached, her water did break, but we all decided that it was time to head to the vets... Ava thought so to, as she headed straight for the door...


I grabbed the whelping box mat, a whole bunch of towels, a couple clamps (to clamp off the cords), and a pair of scissors, along with our one year old son, Cole, and quickly set up the back of our minivan, just in case... Jon grabbed the wheel, and I rode with Ava in the back.


Wouldn't you know, that a couple minutes down the road we met a police safety check point. Jon rolled down his window, and Ava let out a quick yelp, there was a pop, and out came the first puppy. The policeman hurried us on our way, and we quickly found a pizza hut parking lot to pull into to make sure everything was OK... It was a girl, Pink girl. I ripped open her sack quickly, and rubbed her vigorously with a towel and showed her to Ava... She had no idea what was going on, so I grabbed the clamps, clamped the cord, and cut off the placenta. I laid Ava down, and immediately attached Pink girl to Ava's nipple, she latched perfectly.


Shortly after, probably about 15 minutes or so, a boy popped out. Same scenario, opened the sack, Ava had no interest, clamped the cord, and removed the placenta. He latched well, and Ava enjoyed her little snack.


We arrived at the vets, and he had been waiting. We brought Ava in, and her two bundles of joy. It was then that Ava seemed to really realize what was going on, almost as if to say "Those are mine?" "Wait, yes they are..." So I brought them up to her nose, and she gave them tons of kisses.


Ava was given a shot of Oxytocin, and we were told we could go... We were a little confused, as we had assumed we would be given an x-ray to verify how many more were left to come, as the ultrasound had said 8-9, the x-ray said 7, etc... We were rushed out the door, and as we were exiting, baby number three was coming out. Luckilly she got back in the van, we shut the door from the cold, and it was another boy... but this one had no placenta... Boy was I shocked! I didn't know such a thing could happen, so while we were still waiting in the vets parking lot, Jon hurried in to ask if it was OK, and we were told it was normal... Luckilly, Ava took right to him and at this point she was more interested in her motherly duties, and started severing the cords, and cleaning them, etc.


Back on the road, and whallaa, right before we reached our driveway.... another boy slid right out, making the grand total: 4 car deliveries! I was just starting to get comfortable in the van! Gosh, was I sure glad that we didn't own a compact car! This pup was another one with no placenta attached.


We got everyone safetly inside, and latched the puppies until we thought it was time for another, and then placed them into a laundry basket, with a heating pad, and some towels, to give mom some peace and quiet in order to concentrate.


This timeframe started to get blurry, as we were so tired, but Ava then gave birth to 3 more girls, not at the same time of course, and again, no placentas.


So, we had seven, but I kept saying there were 8-9 in the ultrasound... did they really absorb?

Ava was still pushing, but this time it was about two hours of pushing... Would it be the missing placentas? Or another puppy?


I had fallen asleep on the sofa, while Jon was eagerly watching Ava and her babies, when he started screaming, "Lisa, it's another one, get up!" I ran over to look and this puppy was green, I kept on Ava, telling her to "push, push" I could tell this baby wasn't breathing... She got her out. She was not in her sack, and I'm assuming hadn't been for quite some time... I immediately got to work on her... I was able to bring her back... Thank goodness, for that breeding book, that showed exactly how to do it, step by step! This was glitter girl...


Ah relief... All safe and sound...


On Monday, we brought Ava and her puppies to the vet. The puppies were to get their dew claws removed, and Ava a check up... As usual, the older women who works behind the counter, said "oh the pups are here, I'll bring them in the back for their dew claw removal... We said... "What about Ava... she was supposed to get a check up, and we had discussed it with the vet..." "Oh, well, everybody come to this room then.." This woman had done this to us before when someone was getting shots, and totally messed up which ones.... So we didn't think anything of it, and the pups got their hind dew claws removed, with the exception of white girl, and green boy, who didn't have them, and Ava was given a check up. We were told everything was great, with the exception of Ava having a raised temperature, and a patch of irritated skin from the wetness of the delivery fluid that she had been sitting a day or so previously, and was given an antibiotic and we were all good to go home. I inquired about the missing placentas, 6 to be exact, and the vet said that they would liquify, "not to worry".


Jon and I pulled 4-hr shifts all night to keep watch, and when Tuesday afternoon arrived, we started to see that yellow girl, who was our runt, and who was usually full of piss and vinegar, like complaining when you picked her up, or being stubborn when trying to get her to latch on, giving back the I can do it myslef attitude, I realized we had a problem. She was no longer fighting, and when I picked her up her body was weak. I hopped in the truck and drove as quickly as I could to the vet that was close to us (5 minutes away, not our normal vet, who is 30 minutes away), I could feel her losing energy, and was asked to leave her at the vets. When we got the call a little later, we were so pleased that the vet was able to revive little yellow girl. So we brought her to our local vet, who is five minutes away (our usual vet was 30 minutes away) and she worked on her, and yellow girl came home that night, but was to be fed formula and be given an antibiotic. We were thankful that she was back home with us, and hoped she would make a strong recovery...


On Wednesday all hell broke loose... Ava was acting very peculiar... She took a food & potty break so I had put the pups in the basket and placed it inside the whelping box. When Ava came in from outside she immediately went to her box, and hopped into the laundry basket. I was horrified, I didn't know if she wanted to feed them, or smother them... This was not the Ava I knew!

When Jon got home twenty minutes later, he looked into the whelping box and said "What's wrong with that one?" I looked in, as I was sitting right next to it at my desk, and it was orange girl. One of our bigger girls. Her tongue had gone from pink to grey, as well as the pigment in her muzzle, and her belly. My stomach sunk. Had Ava pierced her lung? I ran her to the same vet that helped yellow, but I felt her leave me a minute before I got there. I was devistated. The vets assistants tried everything they could, with no luck. I went home, and knew I'd have to break the news to the girls. Orange was there favorite. It was also at this point that we realized something more had to be going on... Did they catch something when they went in to get their dewclaws removed? Did the girls bring something home from school? Did one of the dogs bring something home from a dog show or agility class?


As we winded down into the evening, glitter girl started acting funny, and had blood coming out of her nose. Jon drove her to the emergency clinic, as both our normal vet, and the close vet were closed. Luckily the emergency vet was also within 5 minutes.

While Jon was there, yellow girl was starting to act weak again, and her breathing slowed (she was the one on the antibiotic from the day before), so I called him there and told him to come get yellow, so he came home, and brought her to the emergency vet. Little yellow didn't make it.


Jon decided to put glitter down, as she was spitting up blood and really struggling.


The emergency vet sent the report over to our close vet, and told us to get everyone into the vets, including Ava to get checked in the morning. So, the next morning, we brought everyone in, and to make a long story short, we found out that Ava's milk was poisoning the puppies. She still had a mass of what she thought was placental material, as there weren't any tell tales signs of skeletal remains in the xray. Ava was given the oxytocin, and passed the "indistinguishable" matter. She also said we were lucky to have brought Ava in that morning, as she was only hours away from death.


Lesson Learned... WHEN YOUR BITCH GOES IN FOR HER CHECKUP, MAKE SURE THE VET DOES AN X-RAY, AND GIVES HER A CLEAN OUT SHOT!

The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson. ~ Tom Bodett