Sunday - Day 60
At 7:00am, dam's temperature was 100 degrees F (and for last week, temp was 100* + ish).
At 4:00pm dam's temperature was 99.7 degrees F (24 hours from this time, labour should begin).
At 6:00pm the dam's temperature was 99.6 and she ate only 1/2 of her dinner.
At 9:00pm her temperature was 99.5 degrees F.
Monday - Day 61
Cuban Mysti Puppies WILL be born SOON..... for sure.
At 12:00am the dam's temperature was 99.3 degrees F.
At 2:00am the dam's temperature was 98.7 degrees F.
At 4:00am the dam's temperature was 98.2 degrees F.
At 6:30am the dam's temperature was 98.1 degrees F.
At 8:00am the dam's temperature was 97. degrees F. (12 hours from this time, we should be having or had puppies)
She has Refused breakfast.
At 10:00am the dam's tempeture was 98.1 degrees F.
She has hit the bottom low temperature.
Ok, so the temperature has dropped. Make sure all your whelping supplies are brought out and ready. (see whelping supplies)
Plug in your heating pad, or your warming box, and put your rags/clothes, in to warm.
CALL your Vet, and give him a "heads up"
At 12:00pm the dam's tempeture was 98.4 degrees F. (gave a squirt of Nutri-Cal) energy boost paste.
At 2:00pm the dam's tempeture is 98.3. She is just resting at this point all stretched out.
She is lying beside her whelp box right now. All stretched out, in the first stage of labour. Stretching out, so the pups can all get lined up.
(no signs of labour), no stress, she is just laying down.
At 4:00pm the dam's tempature was 98.7 degrees F and the panting started. Exactly 24 hours from the begining of the temperature drop, we are seeing the first visible signs of labour. She is now in stage one.
At 6:00pm the dam's tempeture was 98.7 degrees F more panting, and mild digging
At 8:00pm the dam's tempeture was 98.7 degrees F with panting and digging
The house was busy, till now. some dams will wait till the house quiets down to go into full labour. Mysti seems to be stalling. A Dam has the ability to shut down and wait, so if your home is busy, ask people to leave.
8:30pm, an internal exam, with rubber glove and lube, shows, she is dialated.
Day 62...
I give her paper, and she is trying to poop every few minutes. She is now feeling pressure of the pups, and having LOTS of little poops. I have given her some nutrical, to boost her energy.
As she is leaving the paper her tail is up, and she is having a contraction. If your dog, insist on going outside at this stage, as many new moms do not know the difference, between having babies, and pooping, and Insist on going outside, as it feels like they have to poop. If you take your dam outside, she MUST be on a leash, many a dog, has gone missing at this stage. Go out, with a flashlight, if dark, a leash, AND a cloth in case she pops out a puppy. (Be prepared) Toy dogs are easy, as you can set up a potty station.
Dam is drinking water, offer Lots of water, see her swelly belly.
11:45pm - I would like to see things starting, so I gave her 15ml of Calsorb, and she vomited it up. I have given her another internal, and she is fully dilated, and there is a pup at the beginning of the birth canal, about 4" up. Some people give Oxytosin at this stage, I HIGHLY RECCOMEND NOT!! It causes the muscles to contract, and the the placentas to detach. It is dangerous stuff. TRY CALCIUM FIRST.......... it works.
If you have no calsorb, tums, or liquid calcium, then vanilla ice cream works great, between puppies.
REMEMBER to have the dam on a LOW calcium diet, at least 10 days before whelp, NO puppy food, no extra calcium like cottage cheese and sardines.
I gave her a chewed up tum, she vomited it up.. I gave her a little more Nutrical, and she vomited it up.
She is in a little stress now, she has the squirts (diarrhea), vomiting, and shaking..... But I think she has absorbed some of the calcium.
The internal I gave her was a little more aggressive, not to hurt her, but I did some feathering, to try to get her going. It works most of the time.
12:30am - water sac... Yipee, a sac, just LEAVE IT, if she breaks it fine, but do not touch it.. just leave her, a pup should be out in an hour and up to 2 hours.
12:40am - I want her to have some calcium. If it were not midnight, I may have taken her to the vet for a calcium drip. (iv injection,) but I will compromise and make due.
12:40am 1cc of liquid calcium, given orally
12:50am 1cc of liquid calcium, given orally
1:00am 1cc of liquid calcium (the smaller amounts, is because I do not want her vomiting it up)
1:15 2cc nutriCal
1:20 2cc nutriCal (I am guessing there will be a pup in 10 minutes, as she kept it ALL down)
1:30am - a BIG STRONG push... Pup is in birth canal...
Pushing
My thumb is on the puppy's ear, , YES, this is a puppy, this is his head. Remember all the poofy skin around the vulva, this is holding the puppy, he is 1/2 out. This is a Big puppy, and she needs some help. (but I will let her try on her own for a bit.) I let her try on her own, and she just couldn't get it out.
Pup has gone back inside... after several attempts to get this puppy out, she exhausts herself, and just cannot get it past this point, NEXT contraction, I will need to help her.
Take your fingers, and push with your thumb, and kinda try to pull that skin back, to get the head out. She may scream, she may try to bite, you may need a helper. This will hurt her... I push the puppy head out, even though it is still covered in that skin.
The head is out
Puppy born at 1:40am
Pup is still attached to the dam by the cord, but lets worry about getting him going first.
This is a White champagne puppy, BUT !! he is kinda blue. NEVER give up on a puppy, you can revive them. LEARN HOW.....!! This puppy needs heat, and a good rubbing to make him mad.... get gently aggressive. HEAD down to drain the mucus
He is pinking up. Hemostats are on his cord, stopping him from bleeding.
I suck out his mucus with the blue bulb you see in the background.
I give him to his mom for a minute. Huge 230gram (8oz) puppy, from a 9lb Dam. (normal size is 6oz), but 5 to 8oz is common. This boy will be called Red Boy. I use a red Sharpee marker on this tail to mark him. I weigh him, dry him, and get him warm.
In a warmed up rice pad, that I microwave; I wrap the puppy like a hot dog, in a warm bun. See how nice and champagne he is, and how he has "pinked up". Reviving puppies is MUCH easier than some think.
Now when I clamp the cord, I put on 2 hemostats, and cut in the middle. One pair goes with the puppy, and one pair stays on the dam. 40% of the time the placenta comes out with the puppy, 60 % of the time, it stays inside, and follows. I like to keep a hold of it, and the sterile hemostats do just that.
Got That Placenta - This litter has 5 puppies (one born so far), I usually let the dam eat 2, but Mysti (the dam) doesn't want any.
See how yukky the placenta is and the green black tarry colour. This is the stuff you want to see AFTER the puppy is born, ideally. Normal textbook birth, is the puppy is born first, then the placenta. If you see black green tarry stuff, it usually means a dead puppy. Some green is fine however.
