jr_inoz

hard to write..... not good news here. 3 dead puppies. Mum will be ok. To say I am shattered would be an understatement.

My girl was incredibly restless overnight last night. 20 hours to go. Quite weird having a set time for this litter.

All fingers still crossed here..... waiting is really really hard....

just to bore you all senseless...... temp 37.4 again this morning (at the same time as yesterday). Suspect it is just a thing she is doing. Not long to go

Rommy's temperature went back up again around 4pm. Then up a little more, so I got a bit nervous thinking something might have happened to puppies. She had a little vomit at dinner time when she tried to vacuum her food so I was a little worried. Everything back to normal an hour or two later - so I put the vomit down to her eating too fast with her puppies growing. Today - all looking ok..... so planned caesarean on wednesday still most likely and most hoped for. Fingers still crossed.

papers under the vetbed is a good idea..... need to increase my stack. Work had heaps before christmas and then when I went to get them, someone had a huge clean up and they were all gone! I have my box and hot water bottle ready - box is the size of the water bottle. She is having 3 - small breed. Assume I just use hot water from the tap in the hot water bottle. Fan is a good idea. I picked up one of those crate fans the other day very cheap. Might come in handy.

temperature back up again.... holding on....

small temperature drop here - which is NOT good news - being on progesterone she shouldn't drop at all. Watching and waiting. Hoping she makes it through to Wednesday.....

ok - so I have my whelping supplies all ready - which I don't need now as my girl is having a caesarean on Wednesday. Have read through the other thread on first litter and there have been lots of tips which have been great... Just wanting to make sure I have everything I need for the time afterwards. Am sure people will be able to add to my list I have a heated whelping box on top of a tarp. It has marine ply carpet on the bottom of it (inside) with a vet bed on top. I have two more pieces of carpet to change when required, and 3 more vet beds for changing over. I have a small stack of newspapers which I don't think is high enough (I've put a call out for friends to try and get more...) to line the area around the box so my girl have somewhere to toilet in case I don't hear her and get up in the night to let her out. (Not planning on sleeping the first couple of nights much while she settles in - will be watching her)... Small box with a hot water bottle and baby towells and receiving blankets (very cheap at spotlight) for bringing the puppies home from the vet. Crate for my girl. Wondering what best supplemental formula to get in case any puppies need extra feeding or tube feeding. Would be picking this up from the vet today, but would like people's input on this. I am thinking Wombaroo formula? There will be a little pen around the whelping box so that she doesn't go too far from her babies. (for overnight) and so that I can cover the whelping box to protect from possible drafts (planning on covering with a sheet). Weight scale, Record book for recording details about each puppy etc. (Already has 3 pages full of notes on this pregnancy) plus an electronic version (spreadsheet) Camera with batteries charged. Food for mum? What do others do? She has been on extra food the last few weeks (been increasing through her pregnancy as per vet and mentor advice). I know she will still need extra while she is feeding. It is going to be very hot later this week here, so am wondering about a thermometer to check the temperature in the whelping box. Going to be tricky to regulate it to be right for puppies with the hot weather. I am also planning on putting a pen around the whelping box so that I can cover off areas so that they don't get any drafts if I need to cool the house a bit. Any other things that people have done here with hot weather? I have to admit, this is the bit that worries me the most - keeping the whelping box at the right temperature with the hot weather. Other stuff I have forgotten?

I know what you mean!! With the other girl who lived here up until two days before she whelped, I could feel puppies moving from 7 weeks. Rommy is just over 8 weeks and I can't feel the at all. Makes me paranoid - but the weekly ultrasounds keeps confirming that everything is ok. Just back from the ultrasound - 8 weeks and 2 days - 3 puppies all still looking good. Good heartbeats, not stressed. Elective caesarean on Wednesday. I haven't been getting heaps ready cos after the last failed litter, I didn't want to jinx it. Guess now I can. The whelping box has been set up for a week, but now is time to pull all the other supplies out of the cupboard ready for her puppies.

wow!

my friend is a doctor, who works in the ante-natal clinic at the W&C hospital here, along with doing the GP clinic at the same hospital. I asked her where I could get clamps for the umbilical cords and could she help me source them. She said don't bother - clothes pegs work just as well and are cheaper... or those "bull-clips" that you use to clip pieces of paper together.

I had read this as well. The repro vet here in Adelaide says that using tablets to supplement doesn't produce this problem. (As opposed to injections)

mini girl, I am not sure of the exact name of the test, but I am pretty sure that the repro vet here said it was done through Monash. It has a different name to "pregnancy loss syndrome" - something scientific but I can't remember what it is. I didn't write it down at the time. I just remembered what it was testing for.

Yep - i was exposed to termite spray in a building I was working in where it was supposed to be safe about 25 years ago. That spray is since banned in Australia. ANother girl in that office and I have had issues since. I now have an intolerance to anything that contains sulphur - including preservatives in food and many antibiotics. Can't do much about it - like you said, some things are beyond our control.

my girl had had the heart worm vaccination in the 12 months before the first litter she lost. She hasn't had that vaccination since (coming up for two years now since her last vaccination) after I had read some anecdotal evidence about heart worm vaccination causes issues in bitches (with resorption and abortion) in the US. She has had the revolution treatment since though. Would be interesting to see if it was the heartworm medication. She hadn't had a litter previously though. Makes you think. (And spend hours chasing your tail trying to find answers that may not be there). Good thing I quite like the chase even if I don't get the answers I need.

This raises a whole series of questions for my and my current situation. No ticks here, but I have been using Revolution on my girl for topical flea (and heartworm) treatment because it is supposedly safe for breeding bitches. I have never used it when my bitch was either in season or after she had been mated. I have, though, used it just before she came in season, cos on each of her last 2 seasons she has surprised me and come in season a month earlier than expected - so the treatment has been on her just a few weeks before she came into season. hmmm......

thanks so much for your advice. I was meaning to respond earlier with your other post as I found your information really helpful for my thinking. It helped to rule out things in terms of knowing that it wasn't close breeding that was the issue. I am having a quiet chuckle at the bit I've bolded - in South Australia, there is now a compulsory subject called "The Research Project" for all year 12 students that I am teaching. Kinda ironic that I am conducting my own research project whilst I'm teaching the subject.

Whew - you only have to hold your breath for another 2 weeks.You have probably already said but you intended to keep a bitch for breeding if the progesterone thing wasnt in the mix - is that right? Yep. So not sure now. I am only ever going to be a very small breeder - possibly only one or two litters ever - so not sure as to ways forward really. There is apparently a DNA test you can do for pregnancy loss syndrome that I didn't know about until after she was mated and may be the issue here. Will test her for this later. If she doesn't have it we will have exhausted all the reasons as to why her progesterone drops. The two repo vets here said that sometimes there is just no reason for it that can be found, anyway. The other sheltie breeder that used prog supplementing had a bitch that lost a litter, needed to supplement the next one, but not the one after. Weird.

In this case, it hasn't appeared in the lines before - although the mum had two puppies not survive birth. In this case too, the mating was a complete outcross - from an imported dog. It is also a rare thing in this breed. (In this state at least). I am uncertain as to what I will do in the future. Fingers still crossed for a successful litter. She is just over 7 weeks pregnant and things still ok.

Is this still the case with the carpark construction going on? I know I had to do this big circular drive around the other day when I was there. Still pretty easy to find though, when you come into the airport precinct - it just might be a bit tricker for the OP when they get off the plane and get from the terminal to AAE with the road works.

Bunnings have a 3m x 3m gazebo at the moment, which looks, in every manner, exactly like the oztrail deluxe. The velcro on the roof is even in the same spots to fit oztrail walls. Their roofs are better than the oztrail IMO, as they have an air vent at the top which lets not only the hot air escape, but also the wind on stormy days. Best thing - the Bunnings ones, last weekend when I was there, were only $159. Can't beat that really.

soap and water then a quick spray with a 1:10 ratio pineoclean and water

what vaccination protocol do people follow for their puppies - especially given the AVA recommendations which state the final (second) puppy vaccination should be at 16 weeks? I know most vets currently do 6 weeks and the follow up at 12..... If I wanted to follow the 16 week protocol, at what age would the first vaccination be? Also, what do you tell your puppy buyers if you follow this protocol? (Do they still need to stay at home after the first vaccination until after the second? - a couple of the articles suggest otherwise) I have started following the AVA recommendations (thank goodness have a vet who agrees). Since stopping annual vaccinations, my girl's "itchy skin" has all but stopped. She no longer has the originally thought high allergy to grass. She has been titre tested and has high immunity levels, two years and 1/2 years after her last vaccination. Also - has anyone got any links to the heart worm vaccine and its possible effects on canines?

thanks all. Vet is recommending topical ear drops only during her pregnancy - safe. Will be starting on those.