Day 3: Well, That was Traumatic!

Today was D-Day.

Dewclaws 😬

I only do the rears and this time I was thinking of leaving them on. Unfortunately, seven of the eight rear dewclaws were D for Double, and those are too big to leave on.

And so I packed everyone up and off we went to the clinic. Some breeders remove their own dewclaws 😱 but I am not in favor of practicing veterinary medicine without a license.

Anyway, it was fast and they got to nurse right before and right after so that helped. Bottom line — we all survived.

Jasper

I have collars for the puppies but there are only four puppies and they are so distinctive that I decided to skip the collars. Today’s post is all about how to tell them apart (and processing my trauma — see above).

Jasper is easy — he has the extra white on his neck. Plus, he is a baby moose. “Chunky Monkey” the tech called him at the clinic, and that is not fat shaming for at least two reasons. First, it is accurate and second, we love our plump puppies!

Anyway, you will know Jasper by his extra white, his almost perfectly symmetrical muzzle markings, and his heavyweight crown 👑

Topaz is easy for the exact opposite reasons — he is small (for now — that won’t last), and darkly marked on his face.

Topaz

Sapphire and Star Garnet are interesting. Each has one side of the face that has slightly less white than their other side — but it is the opposite, and that makes them easy to tell apart (plus they have different plumbing).

This is Star Garnet — the left side of her muzzle has lots of white. The right side of her muzzle has white but it is less.

Star Garnet

Compare to Sapphire — he has less white on the left side and more on the right.

Sapphire

Sapphire

Sapphire

Also, Star Garnet has an on/off button!

Star Garnet. The pink is the thread tying off her umbilical cord.

Easy Peasy! Plus I will try to always label the photos 🩷💙💙💙

Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday!

Day Two. Litter Introduction! (Updated)

Finally! I hope you will think it is worth the wait.

End of the Day

This is Jasper.

He is the adventure puppy right now, always off on a crawl-about. He has extra white on his neck that will shrink as he grows into it.

Jasper was the biggest puppy and may have been gumming things up with the planned vaginal delivery. He was a distressed puppy, having taken in a considerable amount of meconium-contaminated fluid before birth (that is a bad). The amazing techs at Idaho Vet worked hard with him, sucking so much gross fluid out of him. I thought Jasper was a goner but instead he is an adventurer 🙏

This is Star Garnet.

It is so entertaining to see the ways that puppies drape themselves over each other, their mom, and/or anything else that is available.

And right now, not much is available — they don’t need extra stuff in their space right now. It is like a human baby — extra stuff in a crib is dangerous for infants. Cute — but dangerous. The whelping box is boring right now — safe, but boring.

Capella is nursing puppies well and keeping them sparkly clean. Her milk is just coming in and the puppies are gaining nicely. Nobody lost weight in the first day or so, which is unusual. Until the milk comes in, critical colostrum is what is on tap at the milk bar, and supply is such that it is normal and expected for small weight losses in the first day or two. I guess with only four of them, there was plenty to go around 🎉

💙💙💙🩷

Day 1 (Updated)

You would think four puppies would be a breeze — and I am sure it will be — but for now Capella is still influenced by the anesthesia and is not keen on nursing. Specifically, she is growling some when they start nursing. Yes, I have trimmed nails and Capella is getting calcium.

💖

The surgeon warned me about the potential of this and emphasized the importance of not leaving the mother alone with puppies. The need to carefully manage things makes it complicated to have someone else watch the puppies/Capella, and so I have been up for 27 hours. Yes, I am exhausted. We will manage it so I can sleep later today, and hopefully Capella will be mellower by then. She did just clean puppies so that is a promising sign.

I am still too tired to properly do the introductions and so please enjoy these photos that Cindy took yesterday at the clinic.

I cannot say enough good things about the clinic, their processes, and their staff.

Kira, Cindy, and I got to be present and help with the puppies.

For c-section puppies, they were a lively bunch from the beginning.

Happy Thursday (I think it is Thursday).

End of Day Update

1. I slept for over seven hours (after being awake for 34 hours!). My son, Galen, is helping out this first week so I can sleep 🙏

2. Capella seems to be settling into motherhood 🎉

🩷💙💙💙