The puppies are here!
I think now tonight we can get excited about it again.
We were quite excited the day they were born, which was about 6:15 am Friday morning. Shelby is the greatest doggie mom. She does so well. She had five puppies. Each one just gorgeous.
One was born about 2/3's the size of the others. I wondered right away whether or not this little guy was going to make it. But he was active and seemed to be doing just fine. But, by 11 pm that night, I knew he probably wouldn't make it through the night. I've seen enough puppies to know what that looks like. He was already too weak to nurse, poor little guy. *sigh* And yes, he was gone by Saturday morning.
Ah well. Four beautiful pups remained. The kids were sad but I had warned them that this could happen, and they took it well.
Then last night I noticed one that was the same size as her siblings at birth (4 girls), was now considerably smaller. Its amazing how much these pups grow in a day, and she just wasn't growing. And she couldn't seem to latch on when nursing, even though she tried so hard. So I called my friend and super-dog woman, Renae, for advice. Brandy stopped over there about 10:30 pm, when he finally got off work and picked up some milk replacer. So I fed her at 11 pm, 1 am, 3:00 am, and 5:30 am. Shianne feed her before and after church. But after the first feeding I noticed that it easily came up through her nose (aka nasal passages). That could be a sure sign of cleft-palate. But I couldn't see it even tho I tried and tried. So I endured a little sleep deprivation (kept quoting the verse, Matthew 25:40, where Jesus says, "whatever you did for one of the least of these...you did for me," I don't know that he was talking about little precious puppies, but I didn't think he'd mind if I took it in that context) just in case--oh I hoped!--I was wrong.
Renae stopped by today and confirmed. Once she showed me where to look inside her mouth it was obvious. That meant that poor little sweetie didn't stand a chance. She could never nurse, and there was a high chance of aspirating milk into her lungs and pneumonia. Surgery, if even an option, would probably cost hundreds, if not thousands (one quote online was between $1200-$2500) and she would probably always have complications. So my sweet friend took her home to put her to sleep. This was more humane then letting her starve and the kids didn't have to watch. Plus, we told all but the oldest, Shi, that she was going to take her to her house to try and help her. Which she did. Thanks, Renae. I'll let them know in the next day or so she didn't make it.
Shianne had tears, and her parents did too watching our tender hearted child hurt as she thought it so looked like Shelby was crying. Still tonight we think Shelby is looking for her. {{hugs}} to our great dog.
BUT...life lessons learned at home where you are protected are the best ones. And we try to remember that. AND, that is part of the reason we have puppies. To teach life lessons and love.
SO...we rejoice in the 3 beautiful puppies that remain. Aren't their colors gorgeous? In a couple weeks their eyes should be open. In four weeks or so their hair will grown longer and they will be the cutest little darlings you've ever seen!! What a joy!!
Well, at least until we wean them at 6 weeks. Then their doggie momma no longer cleans up after them...I do! LOL! Then the training begins.
Animals, what a gift from God. So cool.
No comments:
Post a Comment