Congratulations Ellie Mae!

Congratulations Ellie Mae 1-9-07
Category: Pets and Animals


On the 3rd of January, Daisy's puppies went in for their first vet check (passed with flying colors) and their dew claw removal. They are growing SO FAST! They seem like they came out of the womb jumping and are ahead of schedule on every measure. Daisy is doing a wonderful job keeping up with them and making sure they stay plump and happy.

In the meantime, Ellie went in for her x-rays on the 9th. We wanted an evaluation to see if she would be able to deliver naturally and to find out how many puppies. She was so small, that can mean a smaller litter and larger puppies. The x-rays showed for, and the heads looked like they would pass through just fine. But in the back of my head I was wondering if they would grow too large by her due date on the 13th.

Well, Providence, always being well-prepared, made sure that the delivery went just fine. It started by rescheduling the delivery to the 9th, then bumping me out of work early for lunch, then by making the fast food drive thru line sooooo long that I decided I could certainly scrounge up something for lunch at home. Any delays that day would have certainly lost one of her puppies. As I got home for lunch, the dogs were more interested in the bedroom than going outside and there was blood on the living room floor. Ellie Mae had knocked out one of the sofa cushions and was hiding behind it.

When it finally hit me what was going on, I discovered she had been in the bedroom, had made a nest of the clean sheets and bed coverings I had laid out the day before to make the bed, and had delivered her first puppy there. It was still in the sac with the afterbirth intact, and 5 other dogs standing in a circle looking at it wondering what to do while Ellie Mae hid in the sofa cushions. The puppy was still warm, I went into action and got it breathing and Daisy took care of the rest. She was a wonderful surrogate to the newborn until it finally sunk into Ellie Mae what that blob really was. Then her maternal instincts kicked in and she took great care of it.

I called into work to let them know I'd be an hour late (how long can it take to deliver 4 puppies? And Tony was on his way home, so he'd be there with them). Two hours later, nothing, just occassional contractions, so we put a call into the vet. They suggested we stop by and pick up some oxytocin and try that, and if it didn't do the trick, to bring her in for a c-section. At exactly 3 hours after the first puppy, I went into the room with the oxytocin and needle, and she took one look at me and went into serious contractions for #2. Next time I'm going to show her an empty needle and save myself the trip. But it wasn't until I sat on the one clean corner of the bed for her to get into my lap and deliver that she felt safe enough to actually pop out #2. Number 3 was soon to follow and #4 not too much later. In fact, all together it took less time for her to deliver than it did for me to wash all the bedclothes and clean up the mess she left behind. For those of you courious enough to know, we actually have a waterproof mattress pad on the bed. You just never know what's going to happen around here, and I've found it's best to be prepared.

Ellie's pups went this morning for their vet check and dew claw removal. Again, thumbs up all the way around. They are thriving and Ellie is doing great. Maybe it's because there are only 4, but they have rarely required rescuing (from her sitting on them). The only real problem we're having is that Ellie Mae wants to find bones (nylabones, rawhides, etc.) and bring them back to the whelping pen where she gets so enthusiastic about chewing them that she will elbow her puppies unintentionally. So I've had to take them away from her or she's only allowed to chew on them outside of the pen.

In the meantime, Ellie is protective of Daisy's pups (gets nervous when I pick one up) and vice versa. The two moms both have whelping pens in my bedroom and they really look out for each others puppies. Out of the other dogs, Isabelle is making the best nanny, occassionally helping with cleaning duties, and just checking in on everything overall to ensure all is well. Izzy doesn't like Mariah getting close to the puppies, so she chases her and the others away if they get too close, an arrangement that seems very suitable to the mommas.