A Superstorm, A Litter of Puppies, And a Giveaway Winner…

ISN’T IS FUNNY HOW KIDS ARRIVE AT THE MOST INCONVENIENT  OF TIMES – LIKE DURING  A HURRICANE. HERE IS LYDIA AT 4:30 AM TODAY WITH HER NEW LITTER OF PUPPIES. SHE’S BEING A GREAT MOM. AND FOR NOW, EVERY THING HERE IS ABOUT WHELPING.

SO, SO TINY, AND SO WEAK. THIS YOUNG MALE IRISH TERRIER WAS BORN SMALLER THAN HIS LITTERMATES. 24 HOUR CARE IS REQUIRED FOR A FEW DAYS.

I’ll make this quick, not because we are waiting for the ‘Superstorm’ to arrive…( is it me? Or is the media making a bigger thing of this than any other storm in history?, or because I can’t wait to get more pictures of Lydia’s new litter of puppies, but because I am just plain tired….Lydia went into labor at 9:30 Saturday night, and her first puppy arrived at 3:00 AM. The rest followed, with the last arriving as a still-born at 6:30 am. She gave birth the 5 live pups, but two are barely hanging on. We rushed her to the medical center at 8:00 am, and although she is fine, the two puppies have a slim chance. Still, we are trying the only thing we can at this point – some hand feeding, since they are not suckling.

ONE OF THE BOYS, THE FIRST BORN IS SO SMALL, THAT HE IS TWICE AS SMALL AS HIS BROTHERS. WE ARE ADMINISTERING PLASMA TWICE A DAY, AND LIQUID DIET EVERY TWO HOURS AROUND THE CLOCK TO TRY AND BRING HIS HEALTH BACK TO NORMAL, AS WELL AS HIS SIZE. WE’VE DONE THIS BEFORE, BUT IT DOESN’T ALWAYS WORK OUT. FINGERS ARE CROSSED FOR THIS LITTLE FELLA.

This part of the venture has been interesting since our vet hospital has us trying some canine frozen plasma (FFP)- which is rather state of the art, which is like magic food for young puppies only good when used in the first 36 hours after birth. It comes from W. Jean Dodds, DVM HEMOPET in Garden Grove, CA, and is is provided to the patient orally. One important use of blood plasma is to provide a source of globulins ( plasma protein antibodies) to protect weak, fading or orphan newborns against the common infectious agents to which they are exposed.  Joe and I are taking turns feeding them with a stomach tube which we’ve done before, but it requires us to feed them every two hours around the clock. It’s fine, but this first day is difficult since we’ve already been up more than 24 hours.

So far, so good. The rest of the new family is fine and healthy, Lydia has been an amazing mom so far, eating and drinking like crazy, and caring for her infants.

Now…for what we’ve all been waiting for ……the winner of the Gas Powered Leaf Blower  provided by the great folks as Troy-Bilt, is AMITY BEANE! I will try to contact you directly for shipment info, but if you read this, please feel free to email me your shipping information. Congratulations!

And thank you all for entering!