Well Audrey caught me out on two counts today. This morning she didn't eat her breakfast but as she has been off her food during this pregnancy I didn't worry too much about that. I did however take her temp just to check and it was 100.4, I would expect it to drop to about 98/99 prior to giving birth. As all appeared normal I loaded all the girls into the van for their daily walk, Audrey shares a pen with Spirit on these journeys. Our walk is just over 10 miles away and I have to use a busy dual carriageway to get there, we were about a mile away when I heard noises coming from the back. I had to get off the dual carriageway to pull over only to discover Audrey had had a puppy!
I am not known for sedate driving but I made the journey home in record time with a cold wet puppy on my lap (I didn't know the van could go that fast). Fortunately the whelping box was already set up so Audrey was able to go straight into it.
The second surprise she had in store for me was the number of pups she was carrying. I think the fact that she hadn't been eating very well gave a false impression as she looked a lot smaller than Dollar, who had 8 pups yesterday, she also has a very deep chest so the pups can sit hidden in there. She produced 10 pups with absolutely no problems and at a very civilized hour. We have 6 boys and 4 girls. A couple of these are very small pups but appear strong so hopefully they will thrive, will just have to keep a careful eye out to ensure thay get their fair share of milk as, like Dollar, Audrey only has 6 nipples. Every single puppy is a lovely dark colour and although I will wait for a second opinion to confirm it, I think I have a mixture of reds and apricots.
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Uncle Charley sends his love to his little sis' and his lovely nieces and nephews. :-)
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