Calm before the storm

Everything is chugging along nicely at the moment. All the pups are doing very well, all now have their eyes open though Dollars lot were a few days ahead here. Now that they can see it is very exciting for the pups when mum comes to feed them, they are all up on their legs wobbling around like faulty clockwork toys, hard to imagine the elegance they will have as adult dogs! Won't be long before they are all over the place causing havoc, it's at this point that the other adult dogs generally want to leave home :-)

They are finding good homes and out of 18 pups there are only 6 still available, considering they are only just over 2 weeks old I am delighted as it is so reassuring to know they have secure and loving homes waiting for them. If you think you may be interested in on of the remaining pups I would be very happy to talk to you. I know a lot of people have been following Tiny Tim (last picture) in particular and I am pleased to say that he is one of the pups who has a home waiting for him, with a 6 year old std poodle to teach him the ropes :-)

Getting bigger (well most are)

Things are nice and settled here at the moment and we are making the most of the chilled atmosphere, which will evaporate once the puppies are a couple of weeks older and start doing their 'great escape' routines.
I think Dollar got confused about different types of pups as hers look more like seal pups than puppies! Her litter are generally bigger than Audreys pups but one in particular, Big Bertha, is huge. The contrast is Audreys smallest pup, Tiny Tim. I had my doubts about whether or not he would survive but he has proved himself to be a little fighter. All he required was a bit of help to ensure some quality time at the milk bar, now he is a feisty little chap and is nearly always first for dinner.

I am expecting to see some eyes opening in the next couple of days. All the bitches from both litters were booked within 24hrs of being born. Most of the dog puppies are available so if you were wanting a beautiful pup from sound health tested parents reared in a real family environment please don't write these off purely because they are boys, in fact as a generalization male dogs tend to be more affectionate and hormonally stable.

Surpise Surprise

 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.

What a night

 Just goes to show, you should never take anything to do with animals for granted. This is Dollars 3rd litter and the previous two, although the labours have been fairly drawn out, have gone very smoothly, this one wasn't quite so straight forward. Dollar started early signs of labour early yesterday morning. Things progressed through the day until the early evening, by which time she was panting heavily and was having contractions. She continued through the night with both the panting and contractions gaining intensity but by the time it got to 4:30am she still hadn't started to push. I had to call the vet.
Once at the surgery it was established that Dollar was ready to have the pups so we tried an injection of Ocytocin to try and start the pushing. This would normally take effect in about 10 - 20 mins. Half an hour later we decided that nothing was going to happen so she would need a caesarian section. Whilst the vet went to call the nurse in and prepare for surgery Dollar decided that perhaps she would have a little push. When the vet returned I asked her to check to see if there was any sign of a pup, she did and there was. The 1st pup was safely delivered in the consult room followed fairly quickly by her sister.
At this point I left the surgery with Dollar and pups and another jab, just in case.
By the time we got home there were 3 pups and over the next couple of hours she had a trouble free time delivering 5 more. We have ended up with 4 boys and 4 girls. At the moment it looks like they will all be silvers or blues but they are still wet so I will have another look in a while, probably once I have had some sleep!

 

Now I am just waiting to do it all again on Friday with Audrey :-)

Another Day Out

We had another lovely day out today when a friend and I took Dollar, Spirit and Audrey down to Cornwall to catch up with Frankie (my blind pup from last year) and Fiki one of Dollars pups from last year along with their owner Mary and her Std boy Zuri and toy, Ebby.
I don't think that the girls recognized each other but Zuri was more than happy to have more girls join his harem and the youngsters had a fantastic time racing around the fields in the rain. Meanwhile Audrey and Dollar enjoyed a rather more sedate stroll with regular treat stops (I think they may have had 1 or 2 too many judging by the smell in my lounge at the moment, lol).

We are getting close now, the whelping boxes will be brought in tomorrow as Dollar is due this weekend and Audrey is not far behind with her pups due the following Friday.

All the Devon kittens have now been homed, including the torti girl that I was very tempted to keep. There is just one little torti sphynx girl still available. Please give me a ring if you would like further information about her

Afternoon at the beach

We were invited to join a friend on Bigbury beach this afternoon, so I took Audrey, Dollar and Spirit to meet up with Sarah. On arrival it was still a bit damp but within about half an hour the sun came out and we enjoyed a lovely couple of hours.

Dollar is now 6 weeks pregnant and Audrey will be 6 weeks at the weekend so they have started to slow down a little but Spirit, who is just approaching 5 months old, was full of energy and didn't stop. None of them would go into the sea and I had to laugh when I found myself in the water taking pictures of the girls on the beach!!

My chocolate Devon Rex kitten is off to London tomorrow afternoon and if we don't find the right home for the little torti girl in the next few days we will keep her here as she can then carry on Sybils line.

Two of the Sphynx kittens have homes which just leaves the pale boy with blue eyes and a lovely torti girl to find homes. They will be ready mid November.

Here we go again :-)

Once again I am in the unfortunate position of having to look for homes for 2 Devon Rex girls. They were due to go to their new homes last weekend but the family they were due to join have just had their son diagnosed as allergic to cat saliva (this makes 3 kittens that I have had to re advertise in the last month, due to allergies!). What is really frustrating for me is that I can't find the number for a lady who was really keen to have one of these kittens, must get a better filing system :-). So if you are interested in Sybils torti girl please get in contact, I may also be looking for a home for Miss T's chocolate tabby girl, I am just waiting to hear from someone about her at the moment.

Both Dollar and Audrey are doing well. Dollar is already getting a round look to her. Audrey had a week of being totally off her food and has lost a bit of weight but seems to be coming through that period now and has started to eat a bit better, despite loosing weight her tummy has a fullness to it so I am looking forward to both litters in about a months time.