Puppies are here!!

 I have really gotten behind on reporting on this - once the pups arrived we got BUSY!!  But things are under control (hopefully) so I'm trying to catch up.  I'm going to post-date these posts until I get caught up, so the dates make some sense.

Anyway, Ellie had to have a c-section in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, Oct 19, 2021.  We did this since her labor wasn't progressing, and some of the pups were getting distressed (thank you Whelpwise for the technology to be able to detect all that!!  Scroll down for a post about them.  They absolutely rock and I can't recommend them highly enough).  I also am so grateful for my wonderful vet Dr Jennifer Barnett at Josey Ranch Pet Hospital, who not only came in to do the surgery but rounded up 3 wonderful techs to help. 

She did have 13 puppies, but we had to have one euthanized because it hadn't developed properly (failure of midline closure) so it's abdominal organs were outside the body.  Sometimes puppies like this can be saved, if the opening isn't too large but this was not the case for this baby.  Breeding can be a heartbreaking thing.

But fortunately the other 12 were healthy, and Ellie did very well.  Six girls and six boys.  They are a very consistent size, the smallest is one and a quarter pounds, the biggest is one and a half pounds.

Brand new puppies keeping warm in the incubator during their mother's surgery.

 

Vet tech helping the pups nurse the first time, to get that all-important colostrum.

Now the fun begins!!

 

The colors (basic rick-rack ribbon) are used to identify the pups, since they all look so much alike.  We have to monitor that each one is healthy, gaining weight etc.