This past week has been something! I had thought this pregnancy was different. Maya seemed bigger faster. I had read about maternal hydrops, a rare but dangerous pregnancy condition most common in Goldens. Yes, reading up on pregnancy conditions and asking Google for more information on symptoms can send a Breeder into a panic just the same as a pregnant Mom seeking information! But Maya’s belly remained soft and the ultrasounds remained normal.
We estimated via progesterone testing that she would likely deliver on New Years Eve, early in the morning. But right after Christmas she started getting really clingy. And we had to wonder how much bigger her belly could possibly get! So I started assuming these puppies were coming earlier than her anticipated due date.
Monday/Tuesday she started digging a nest and digging the linens in her whelping box. Gloria joined her in the whelping box I believe to comfort her, and lay down blocking the entrance to the whelping box.
Tuesday Maya refused her Meals and only ate ice chips and a few of her favorite treats. Her only mission was digging and staying near the family members. She was fretful when I left her side. When I settled down on my bed to just stay near her for good and she settled in her whelping box, I put on music and ran a lavender EO diffuser. She looked peaceful and it seemed in only a few minutes she was grunting and working to deliver her first puppy.
Jim had guessed early on that Maya would have 9 puppies. I had guessed 11. She delivered puppies for four hours and it was just before midnight when she delivered number 13. That’s a really fast delivery and a really huge litter! We were in awe.
Puppy deliveries are amazing and can also be stressful, just like human ones. Something is likely to go less than perfect, and at worst those somethings can mean puppies don’t make it or even sometimes Mom dogs don’t make it. It can mean racing off to the vet hospital for a c-section, or other treatments to help mom and/or puppies. In between two of the puppies, Maya was having some unusual bleeding. There are recommendations on what to do when things are going wrong, and I started wondering if I was going to be packing up several fresh puppies and a dog in active labor to go to the vet hospital late at night. She was straining to deliver this one puppy. I helped her deliver this puppy who was born outside the amniotic sac and with the umbilical cord already severed. This could have been really bad & sad, but the puppy did great without a hitch. I’m writing about this because so many people go pick up puppies having no idea what love, care, blood, sweat, and tears have gone into the provision and raising of the little 8 week old bundle of energy that gets picked up! I had to keep a close eye on Maya because she was the one bearing having some complications from the delivery of that particular puppy, and I woke up at least hourly through the night and checked her closely the next two days, conferring with our vet as needed. All is looking normal with that now and Maya and the puppies have all done well.
Maya stays with her puppies the first 48 hours only leaving infrequently for 5-10 minutes to potty and stretch out. Then she races to return to her puppies. She’s a very loving and attentive mother. Because she has 10 teats and 13 puppies, there are almost continually 6-10 puppies feeding and several sleeping with Maya or in dog piles. I feed her in the whelping box every few hours and we are hand bottle feeding puppies on a supplemental basis because the demand on Maya’s body is just too much.
Puppies, like human babies can have some strong preferences about bottles and nipples. They all of course prefer to drink their milk from Maya. Some quickly and greedily take a bottle and others are revolted, wanting nothing to do with it. So it’s a dance and a balance between the puppies and the caregivers; and it’s a quest to find the perfect bottle or the best combination of bottles for this particular bunch
The First three Weeks the puppies are quite vulnerable, and particularly the first 48 hours. We are coming up on 72 hours old and they are all well. The biggest goal right now is keeping up the calories for all puppies to be gaining weight well. All puppies weighed 12 1/2 - 16 1/2 ounces at birth.
Maya amazes us with her deep care for the puppies, and the puppies delight us. Three days ago 13 new Bennett’s just joined the family. Our other two dogs have been sequestered from the puppies but they have been so anxious to meet the puppies ever since Maya started delivering and they heard the first cries. They waited at the gate outside the room continually and slept in the hallway right outside that first night. They bark more fiercely at the mailman, and have joined Maya’s efforts in digging a den! They’ll meet them in a couple of weeks, or when Maya encourages it.
On the agenda between now & next Friday: Early Neurological Stimulation
Here are a few more pictures from our first 3 days!
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