Just a little help

Audrey is doing a fantastic job with her babies, attentive without being over fussy and she is feeding them pretty much 24/7, but 11 is a lot of puppies and unfortunately a couple have started to fall behind. A couple of times a day I put the 6 largest pups in a basket (in Mums sight) so that the smaller pups can enjoy a good long suckle without being pushed off, however, despite this, 2 are still not gaining as much as I would like, so today I took the decision to help Audrey by giving them a few bottle feeds a day. They will still be reared by their Mum, and will not be completely hand reared, just a little bit of 'top up'



I am delighted with the colour and pigment on these pups. I had assumed that seeing as both parents are apricot, the pups would also all be apricot, but having spoken to a friend who is extremely knowledgeable about colour/genetics in poodles, the fact that the sires paternal line goes back to red, means that some of these pups could very well be red. I will not know for sure until I start to clip their faces.

I started to let the cats in our lounge yesterday, Audrey coped with this ok and tonight I plan to allow my other dogs back in, I know that this will be a bit stressful for Audrey, but it will be strictly supervised and hopefully everyone will settle fairly quickly.They can be viewed on the webcam from about 8:30am to about 10:30pm, there is a link to the right of this post.

Miss Marple

I am starting to think that this kitten is destined to stay with us, but that is just not possible :-( The couple that were going to have her have changed their minds, I had another lady who was interested in her, but despite positive emails from her she has now gone quiet, so we are back to looking for a home for this wonderful girl.

She is so typical of her breed in terms of character, she is into everything, demands attention, runs round the house at 100miles an hour and then decides which part of your body looks like it will offer her the most comfortable place to sleep (usually your shoulder) and settles down for a cuddle/nap. She has a phenomenal appetite and fortunately has a very sound constitution. Her coat is a bit sparse at the moment, but again this is common in the breed and she should have lovely waves once she has matured.

 She was born on 08/10/2012 and is still very much a kitten. Although she is a bit older than most of the babies that leave here, I have no doubt that she will adapt and settle in a new home very quickly, nothing seems to phase her. As long as she has ample human companionship, I think she would enjoy being an only cat (though she would no doubt enjoy feline company too), she particularly loves Graham.

She is available purely as a pet. 

itzapromisepoodles' photostream

itzapromisepoodles' photostream on Flickr.

Just pictures :-)

Audrey is an absolute star

Not only did she wait until yesterday to have her pups (enabling me to go to Crufts on Friday) but she managed to calmly deliver 11 pups in 4 1/2hrs, with the first pup arriving at exactly 7pm and the last at 11:35pm. On top of this, despite only having 6 nipples, all 11 have nice full tummies this morning. The only downside was my mis interpretation of her contractions. After producing pup number 11, she continued to push for the next couple of hours. At 2 am I decided that I needed to call the vet, so loaded Audrey and pups into the van and off we went. In my defence, the vet also thought he could feel a pup, but an xray showed that this was not the case, phew. My sincere apologies go out to Rudy and Tracy for getting them out of bed unnecessarily, but thank you both for putting my mind to rest.

The final count is 8 boys and 3 girls, all are feisty with good voices! They are all a wonderful rich apricot, and some were even born with black noses (normally the pigment comes in over a few days). Of course Audrey can't take all the credit, Matti has obviously played a big part in producing this beautiful litter, so thanks to his breeder Sabine, who made our trip to Big Cheyenne poodles such a pleasant trip.

The webcam is up and running and will be on on a daily basis, from about 8:30am to about 10:30pm. Unfortunately, as the pups are in my living room, I will not normally have the audio on as it is just too intrusive to my family.

Puppies are being born

Audrey went into labour this morning, she had her 1st pup at 7pm, you can join us here http://www.justin.tv/itzapromise#/w/5065105600/12

Can't be too much longer

How many are hiding in there?

Never count your chickens... :-(

On Saturday, my suspicions were confirmed, Dollar has not maintained a pregnancy. I was sure she was in pup, and up to about the 5 week period she looked as I would expect. But then she stopped filling out and her nipples, if anything, started to look smaller. There are two possibilities, the first simply being that I was wrong and she was never pregnant, the 2nd is that for some unknown reason, she has re absorbed. I will never know for sure.

I am obviously really disappointed, as not only was I looking forward to seeing her babies, I was also planning on keeping a girl. I have also had to inform several people that they won't be able to have the pup they were waiting for, which is a horrible thing to have to do. But looking on the bright side, Dollar is very fit and well. I have already been in contact with the stud dog owner and we will try again in a few months.

Audrey is now getting very big, poor girl has a rock hard barrel shaped tummy which doesn't stop moving. That said, she has coped with pregnancy much better this time, no doubt helped by the fact she has been eating very well this time around. She had 10 pups last time, this time she is much bigger so I won't be surprised if she has a dozen this time (in fact, although I would much prefer her to have a smaller litter, I hope my guess is correct, as Graham and I always have a bet, and this time the stakes are high and I really don't want to loose!!)

Miss Marple has got a home waiting for her, her new Mum has an art studio, I have warned her that her art may take on a completely new style with Miss Marple helping!

I have started the countdown to collecting Cash now. He is due at Heathrow late afternoon on 21st March, can't wait to meet him :-)