10th of December 2005.

Today we took two of our rescue dogs, two Chihuahua's, to foster care.  I wanted them somewhere else before Mouse, my pregnant Tibetan Spaniel, went in to labour.   We came home and when I went to check on Mouse my heart jumped out of my chest... she had begun labour sometime while we were out and while she was happy and healthy she had neglected her babies.  Three were born and all were in their sacks with placenta attached and all untouched.  Mouse had not even attempted to clean her babies, the poor girl didn't know what to do. 

One of the babies was very cold, so I focused on the other two.  We were able to save one, a sable girl. Just as she started gasping Mouse quickly and easily whelped another!  It was a black boy, obviously very premmie but fighting like I've never seen before.  Two black girls did not make it.  Mouse nursed and cleaned her babies well and I checked on them regularly to make sure they were warm and that they were eating.  As you can see from the photos below, the black boy was very premmie.  We called him 'Star' because of a marking on his chest.

I am pleased Mouse whelped so easily... but so sad we lost precious little lives.

12th of December 2005.

We woke to find Mouse pacing and crying and neglecting her babies.  She began moving them around.  Thinking that she wanted to find a new more comfortable place for them, I allowed her to move them where she wanted... but she continued to behave anxiously and the puppies were getting cold from being moved and then left.  I decided to take the babies off her and see if she calmed down... and she did.  I gave the pups back to her and she began the behaviour again.  We moved Mouse onto my partners lap along with the babies and she fed them and calmed down.  But by this time the little boy was not doing to well.  We rushed off to the Vets to get some fluid into the pups and have tube feeding demonstrated to me.  The Vet says these are fading puppies but he didn't offer any tests to be done.  The vet checked over Mouse and found nothing wrong with her.  He gave us some Kalma for her.  He gave the pups some subcutaneous fluid and glucose and sent us home.  I tube fed the pups when I got home but did not hold much hope for the boy... the vet said he doubted they would survive.  In an hour I went to feed them again and the boy had passed away.  Poor precious little star... I wish I had acted earlier to take him away from Mousey, but I had just never experienced such a behaviour from a new Mum before, I gave her the benefit of doubt.

13th - 18th December 2005

Mouse showed no improvement on the Kalma, so I decided to handrear this baby myself.  The smell of the pup was upsetting her so I sent Mouse to live with my mother for the time being.  Mouse is doing well, is happy and healthy and has forgotten about her babies.  The poor girl.

19th December 2005

We wanted to name the sable girl something that would represent her will to live and the struggle that she went though to survive.  Just the other day my mother asked that I name her in the memory of one of her bitches (Chloe) who recently passed away and happened to be this little girls grandmother.  After a bit of thinking we came up with her new name: Aangkichi Chloe Prevails, call name 'Victory'.

She is doing well... she is strong and eagerly eats her meals.  She has had a bit of an upset stomach now and then but no real diarrhoea.

23rd December 2005

Victory is not doing well today, I think she is going to die.  She is lethargic and crying and will not eat anything.  Rhys has gone to work and I can not get a hold of him... he has the baby car seat in his car so I cant take Victory to the Vet.

I have called the Vet and she says that even if I brought little Victory in she would not be able to save her, she has had 0% success with fading pups this young.  She says keep up the fluid & glucose when she becomes weak.  Don't give her anything if her temp is down.  Keep her warm and pray that she survives.

25th December 2005

Victory goes through stages... where she appears to be getting better but then during the night she gets worse again.  This morning I really though I was saying my goodbyes to her as she screamed in pain.  However... as the day went on she grew stronger and started eating again.  She is very clearly sick but my vet is not working for the holiday period.  I would never take her to an emergency Vet, they do not have the time to care for such a young and such an ill puppy.

26th December 2005

She has survived and is looking brighter.  I cant believe how much fight this little dog has in her.  I think her survival is the best Christmas present I could have hoped for.

31st December 2005

Things are looking brighter and brighter for Victory!  Today she had a check up with my Vet. 
The Vet is not 100% sure what is wrong with Victory, but she thinks it is unlikely to be one of the major tummy bugs.  There is also a possibility that she was sensitive to the first formula that she was on, or even a combination.  My Vets best theory is that her immune system was down after having such a rough first few days and she has just had an upset stomach from a number of sources (bacteria imbalance, food sensitivity etc).  She has put Victory on Scourban twice a day and we have changed her formula to Di-vetelact.  She appears to be doing well already.  She is only 225grams today... the smallest pup we have had at this age previously was 260grams.  She is not doing too badly considering, I think.  She stands and walks very well and very quickly. 

1st January 2006

As you can see... Victory is doing very well.  She is such a small little thing... but we hope that now that she is on Scourban she will put weight on quickly.  I accidentally overfed her at 2:40pm when I fed her well before her feed was due because I couldn't remember feeding her last time.  My memory is shocking.  She was meant to be fed at 4:30pm!  I normally write every detail down on a chart... but I forgot to do that as well today!

I thought she would be a dilute, but it now seems unlikely... she is still as dark as the day she was born.

3rd January 2006

Last few days have been tough... the good news is that Victory is doing very well... her stools are firm, she eats well and is regulating her on temperature very well... a good thing in the terrible heat.  My aircon is on high and the temp is still 30.4degC in here.  Victory now chews on things and behaves very much like a tiny tibbie.

However, my 11month old Daughter Keira has been ill.  Her temp went past 39degC in the evening on the 1/1/2006.  She has had a temperature since and looking after a sick human child and a puppy is so tiring.  I've forgotten what it is like to have a life :-)  We think she is teething.

I will have to get more pictures of Victory, they grow so quickly at this age, she already looks different.

9th January 2006

It turns out Keira actually had a nasty virus.  She developed a rash and had a temperature for a few more days.  It hasnt been easy, the hardest part having to endure her screams as I tried to cool her down from her temperature.  She is such a good baby.

Victory is doing so well, but she is so small.  I have taken some photos of her in the bed I made for her out of HALF a shoebox.  The toy with her is a toy you can buy from Bi-Lo in a cat pack... it is just about the same size as her.  She uses it as a pillow.
I think you can imagine just how tiny she is... She still fits fully into one hand. 

She is otherwise healthy though... but I dont think she will ever get to full size.  She has a great little personality and is such a clean little girl, I think she will be very clean, having a head start on toilet training. 
She was asleep when I decided to take the photos but I woke her up while I was taking them.  Soooo cute.