Let's Hear it for the Boyz: Zen x Carson pups 2011

Zen's final litter of pups were born on Saturday 20 August. Introducing

"The Boyz"
In order of birth:

Big Blaze
Full Collar
Little Blaze
Spot

I am totally losing all creativity with puppy names so these 4 boyz are obviously named for their markings! All the Boyz are bi-factored tris as expected.

Sadly the whelping did not go as well as I would have liked. Zen was scanned at 28 days with six puppies and the scanner was absolutely correct. Zen went into labour Saturday night and all seemed good but I became worried when she was having strong contractions for longer than normal. I called the vet (of course on a Saturday and after hours!) and we brought Zen right in. After 2 oxytocin injections Zen was contracting stronger but the puppy still was not progressing; we could feel him high up. The vet was hinting for a c-section and I was almost resigned to it but worried to death about it. The vet left us alone with Zen in the waiting room and kept coming in to check to see if the pup progressed. She was extremely patient and understanding; she even lowered the lights in the waiting room to keep Zen calm.

After over 4 hours of being on the floor with Zen both at home and in the vet's waiting room I had to get up and sit down in a chair. Dennis got on the floor with Zen and he kept talking to her and encouraging her. Amazingly after a few minutes we checked and now could feel the puppy coming far enough down the canal to pull out. Unfortunately this puppy was already dead probably from being in the canal too long. He was a very large puppy but seemed perfect in every way...

After that puppy was born the other 5 puppies came in quick succession. Twice, after a strong contraction, we looked to find TWO puppies born at almost the exact same time. The final pup was born on his own and we ended up with 4 boys and one girl.

Our sadness at losing the first boy was softened by the fact that Zen did not need the c-section. But I was concerned that the girl puppy did not look good; she was not only very small but she was gasping for air. We did what we could for Zen and all the pups and then took them all home at 2 am. I slept with Zen and the pups so I could check on them all night. At 5 am I knew the girl pup was not going well; so I took her into bed with me on a heating pad to keep her warm and held her until she finally took her last breath. My last chance for a Zen girl and she was gone....

After a long night we now had 4 boys. I was hoping that things would get easier from that point on. They might be all boyz but they were adorable.



As you can see from the photo one puppy is much smaller than the others. "Spot" was smaller at birth but I was not overly concerned about that. I started becoming concerned on day 2 when he lost some weight while the others were gaining well.

I made the decision to supplement him as although he seemed to be nursing vigorously he obviously wasn't getting enough milk. After unsuccessfully trying a few bottle feeds; I gave up and started feeding him with a medicine dropper. He seemed to like this and he ate really well. I fed him every 2 hours for 3 days after which time he made up on his weight loss and started gaining! Thank God! At 1 week old he started refusing the medicine dropper as he was too full from Zen's milk; I could now rest easy and let Zen do the rest.


Here are the pups nursing at 9 days old; fat and healthy!



Some photos of the little guinea pigs!

Little Blaze 2 days old

Big Blaze 2 days old

Full Collar

Spot at 3 days old


I will have more photos once the pups open their eyes and start looking less like guinea pigs and more like puppies! The are so precious right now and I am grateful to have a healthy Zen and 4 happy boys.

Bored Itzy wants to know why she has done no agility for a week!