Puppy Day at El Rancho de Douglasio. April 3, 2005.



'Jimbo' just seconds after being born - under the watchful eye of mama.



With mama away at the hospital, 'Jimbo' had to be bottle fed until her return. After mama comes back, we'll have to help him get used to feeding the old fashioned way.



Mama was too tired to go to the puppies, so the puppies had to be brought to her. They big guy in the middle has become affectionately referred to as 'fatty cakes'. At 14 oz, he's the bruiser of the litter. Because the two puppies were born through c-section, there was a risk that mama would reject them, but even though she's completely worn out from labor and two major surgeries, Maulee does her best to stimulate the puppies.

'Mini Cody Me' has his dad's coloring and the healthiest appetite in the bunch. With this guy, it's nonstop eating.



Feeling left out, dad get's a congratulatory hug. He's very protective of mama and the pups, and has calmed down his usually rambunctious antics.



'Mini Maulee Me' will not sit still for pictures (hence the blur). She would rather sleep.



Which she promptly does, draped over mama's hind leg. Who can blame her. It's very tiring spending your first day eating, and, well...sleeping.

Freshly fed, the gang fall asleep.

But not for long - it's feeding time again



Proud mama and the kids

Yes, it's been one helluva weekend for all concerned. As I was writing earlier, Mom went into heavy labor on Sat Night, Sunday morning (she had started showing signs of labor late Thursday).

After her first live birth, the vet told us to wait - we did - and nothing happened. So, Sunday morning we rushed Maulee to the Emergency Vet Hospital where they gave her hormone shots to try and stimulate the uterus. That didn't work. The vet took x-rays and sure enough, there were four puppies still inside. Then - it was time for the 'talk'. There was definitely something wrong - they didn't know what - and they'd have to perform an emergency c-section. We'd more than likely lose *ALL* the puppies and we stood a iffy chance that Maulee would pull through either.

This had turned from some great event into a potential disaster. Jimbo (the first live birth) was at home being bottle fed and he was doing fine. But now, we risked losing Maulee and the rest of the puppies. My 15-year old daughter (who had come to the vet with me) was terribly upset. I phoned Sue (who was looking after the one live puppy and she took the news even harder). I felt helpless, but gave the Dr. the green light to do whatever it took. (Oh, BTW - did I say the procedure was to cost almost $2000.00?).

We were told to go home, given some instructions on nurturing Jimbo as an orphan, and told to wait. Sue spent the afternoon bottle feeding Jimbo (and stimulating his rear end via wet naps - to encourage pooping and peeing) A few hours passed, and no phone call. So I called the vet and the receptionist told me that my doctor was tied up, and would return my call when she was free. He refused to give me any information on Maulee and I took that to mean the worst. Wondering how I was going to tell Sue and Amy, my heart jumped when the vet called minutes later. Great news - Maulee was fine! As were two of the puppies. Maulee's uterus had ruptured so they had to perform emergency surgery but she pulled through. The two surviving puppies looked like a mini-Maulee-me, and a mini-Cody -me. Jimbo (the first live birth has characteristics of both, but a unique red brown).

My son and I brought the puppies and mom home (we had to be careful - it was still snowing and bitter cold). Maulee was too shagged out from the surgery (she actually tilted over in the living room) to actively nurse the puppies, so my daughter and I took turns bringing the three puppies to feed. With c-Section puppies there's a risk that the mother may reject them, but Maulee was too tired to do anything except roll over.

Well, this morning Maulee is an entirely different dog. Back to her old self with life in her eyes. She gingerly went into the puppy box and began to lick and feed the puppies all by herself. All are now doing well. We've been up in one form or another all night since Thursday, with various catnaps here and there (I slept all day today, missing two meetings - lucky enough Sue called my office to tell them I would not be in). We're all exhausted.

I've got tons of photos, but haven't got them into my laptop (or resized) them yet. I've put a few above to give folks an idea of Maulee and her pups.

Everything turned out relatively well (except for my second guessing on what I could have done better). I feel sad about the puppies we lost, but thankful we managed to save Maulee and the one's we did.
Wild, wild weekend.

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