I live on a farm - technically a pine plantation - in a rural county in North Carolina. My dogs enjoy running in the woods, chasing rabbits, deer, and anything else that they find. This is not without risk, but mostly my dogs stay near my apartment and barn (technically a very small one-bedroom house with a very large garage). I have (cat) trackers on my dog's collars, so that I can find my dogs if they get lost or too far away. I always tell people that Norwich terriers can NOT be let off-lead, except in a controlled environment, as they will chase small vermin. I consider my farm as a controlled environment, although it really is not (although my nearest neighbor is a mile away). I never would let my Norwich be off lead in a city or suburban setting; the risk of being hit by a car is too great. I have heard too many sad stories.
One of the dangers to my dogs is parasites. Every quarter I worm everyone, althernating between the dewormers fenbendazole and pyrantel. (I also have to keep up with flea and tick medication.) This usually keeps parasites under control.
Back in January I was planning to breed Freema, when we discovered that she had a parasite infestation. (Interestingly, the infestation was found during our annual eye exams.) Breeding was cancelled, and Freema was put on medication to get rid of the parasites, which was successful. All dogs have parasitic cysts (parasite eggs), which are kept under control by the immune system. But pregnancy is a time of weakened immunity, so that the immune system does not attack the puppies. Normally pregnant canines are put on a three-day dose of fenbendazole at T-minus two weeks till whelping, two days after whelping, and two weeks after whelping to control parasites. This reduces the chances that parasites are not passed to the puppies, either in utero or when nursing. (Puppies also get wormed, although with pyrantel.)
More than likely Freema has a large number of parasite cysts inside her. My theriogeneology (reproduction) vets at NC State University have recommended that Freema be put on a daily dose of fenbendazole starting at day 40 of pregnancy until two weeks after pregnancy. I know from experience that my dogs do not like the taste of fenbendazole. Usually mothers are so hungry during pregnancy and nursing that they will eat the febendazole if I put it on some tasty food. But keeping Freema on fenbendazole for over a month is going to be a challenge. I requested that the chemical be mixed (compounded) with different flavorings. So the pharmacy made me three bottles of fenbendazole - one tasting of chicken, one of tuna, and one of peanut butter. I am going to rotate using the bottles, in the hope that Freema does not catch on. So today Freema began receiving fenbendazole with breakfast.
Freema (you can just see that her belly is starting to bulge).
I did switch Freema from regular kibble to puppy kibble (which has more calories). I am keeping the amount the same. The textbooks say to increase the amount during the last few weeks of pregnancy. But what I - and other Norwich breeders have found - is that keeping the same amount reduces the need for a cesarean section (c-section).
Freema. Notice how big Freema's belly is!
I was asked whether the worming medicine Freema is getting will impact her puppies. The only effect I expect to see is that the puppies will not pick up any parasites from Freema. Both worming medications that I use (fenbendazole and pyrantel) have very wide safety margins. Research shows that one would have to give a very large amount of either for a very long time to see any effect. Both are sold over-the-counter in pet stores and agricultural stores. While I personally never have given fenbendazole for such a long period, I have confidence that my repro vets would not be recommending this unless they thought it was a good and safe idea.
The primary purpose of the x-ray is to get an accuate count of the number of puppies. Ultrasound is unreliable, but spines are usually easy to see on an x-ray. Freema's x-ray today showed that she is carrying five puppies! (One more than were guessed during ultrasound.) This explains why Freema looks like she has swallowed a soccer ball, as Freema's belly is very round.
The other purpose of the x-ray is to look at the size of the skull's of the puppies and the size of Freema's pelvis region. The question is whether the puppies can pass through the pelvic canal, or whether a cesarean section (c-section) is indicated. In Freema's case it looks like all the puppies should fit through the pelvic canal. BUT ... the vets are worried about two things. One is that given the number of puppies, Freema's uterus is stretched so much that Freema may have difficulty making uterine contractions. The other is that given the number of puppies (twice the average litter size for a Norwich) that she may be able to natually deliver some of the puppies, but then because of exhaustion need an emergency c-section. They said that I could try to have Freema free whelp her puppies, and that the ultimate decision was mine.
Perhaps if I was feeling better, I might have had more courage to try to free-whelp Freema. But the most I have ever tried to free-whelp is when I knew the mother had four puppies. And both times I only ended up with two surviving puppies. So I chickened-out and decided on a c-section. A c-section is safer for the puppies, but harder on the mother.
Unless there is some other indication, Freema and I will drive to NC State each morning to have her progesterone checked and puppies ultrasounded. The vets will decide when it is "the day" for the c-section.
We were up early, as Freema had an early appointment at NC State. I had been told not to feed Freema breakfast, just in case NC State decided needed surgery (a c-section). Freema did not come out of my bedroom, demanding breakfast as she normally would. Aha! Another sign that today was going to be the day.
The third clue that I got was that Freema went into the crate in the puppy playpen. Freema had never done this before. My guess is that Freema was starting to look for a safe place to have her puppies.
If we were going to let Freema try to have her puppies naturally, I would have loaded everyone into my car, taken everyone else to my petsitter, and Freema and I would have gone on and checked into the hotel next to NC State. I do not want to be out in the country, two hours from veterinary help in case of an emergency while whelping. But as the decision was that Freema would have a c-section, just Freema and I went on to NC State. From experience, I know that I would have time to come back home in case the repro vets at NC State decided that today was c-section day.
At NC State Freema had blood drawn for her progestone test, after which she was examined by the vet students and resident while the blood was spun down to serum which was loaded into the machine to check Freema's progesterone level. They also ultrasounded Freema to check on her puppies. Everything looked good. Freema's progesterone level turned out to be very low, so today was definitely the day for Freema's c-section. For canines, progesterone rises causing ovulation, stays high during pregnancy, then falls triggering labor.
From experience, I had an idea that it would take all day to prepare Freema for surgery (which might get delayed if there were emergency surgeries), have her c-section, and then recover from the anesthesia. I know that I go crazy with worry if I just stay in the waiting room. So instead I drove home - stopping at the grocery store to pick up cottage cheese - picked up all my dogs and took them to my petsitter. I like my mothers to have a few days of peace with their new puppies before the circus of my other dogs comes home. I then returned to NC State to wait. So most of my day was spent driving.
Finally around 5:30 pm, I was brought back to see everyone. Freema walked over to greet me. Note the shaved patch near her tail. Freema was given an epidural as part of her anesthesia. This morning Freema weighed 6.1 kilograms. Now I was told that she weighed only 4.6 kilograms.
And then I got my first look at the puppies in the incubator. The students told me that the girl Pink was the noisy one. I was given medication for Freema and we started loading everyone up. The puppies were put in my puppy transport box, which has a hot water bottle underneath the towel to keep the puppies warm. (Newborn puppies can not generate their own body heat.)
We then did the long right home, getting home around 8 pm. Freema was a little confused when we first got home, wanting to go into the crate in the puppy playpen. I had to convince her that it was all right to go into Izzy's whelping box, which was now going to be Freema's whelping box. Whelping box is a misnomer, nursery box would be a more accurate term.
Freema was initially more interested in the food which I put in the whelping box. Freema ate a lot! While Freema is nursing her puppies, with five puppies to feed, Freema can have all the food that she wants. Freema then licked the puppies and settled down to let the puppies nurse.
The puppies had been weighed at NC State. As I did not want to disturb the puppies nursing, I decided not to weigh them but to leave that until tomorrow morning. So we all settled done for the night.
With five puppies, I fully expected when I went to bed last night to be woken up every couple of hours because someone would have fallen off a nipple and be crying. But Freema kept everyone tucked up next to her and I was only woken up a few times.
I was surprised this morning when Freema went outside to potty. But as she had eaten a lot last night, perhaps I should not have been surprised. I quickly put the puppies up on my bed while the butler changed the mat in the whelping box. I got the puppies back into the whelping box before mommy Freema got back.
Besides kibble, I had given Freema a big serving spoon of cottage cheese last night, and she got another serving spoon of cottage cheese this morning. This will be part of her diet - morning and evening while Freema is nursing. The purpose is to get calcium into her system so that Freema can make milk. Freema will also pull calcium from her bones to make milk. Low calcium (hypocalcemia) is something to worry about and fear as it can cause seizures and death of the mother.
This morning I finally got a chance to look at the puppies. I changed everyone's collars from those given at the hospital to yarn collars which I prefer. I will refer to a puppy by the color of its collar. All the puppies are red (or possibly grizzle but it is too early to tell) with the exception of the one black-and-tan girl. Right now she is coal black except for some tan around her feet and face. (This will change as she grows, the tan will expand in area.) Since she is easy to spot, she will not get a collar and I will call her "Black". The other girl will get a pink collar. Which leaves red, white, and blue for the three boys. Here they are being weighed on my postal (puppy) scale:
For the first two weeks of the puppies' life, I will be weighing them twice a day, morning and evening. If a puppy gains weight, all is well. A drop in weight is a cause for concern. Everyone had gained a few grams over their birth weight recorded at NC State. Grow little puppies, grow!
Puppies nursing:
I also had a chance to weigh Freema and take her temperature. I will be weighing Freema every day while she is nursing. For this first week, I will also be taking her temperature every day to make sure she does not have an infection after her surgery.
Since Pink and Blue had the lowest weights this morning, any time I checked on the puppies I made sure that they were nursing. Otherwise I would wake them up and put them next to a nipple. Note that the other puppies are in the warmed whelping nest.
All the puppies were quiet today, meaning that mommy Freema was keeping them fed and that all was well. I offered Freema food and water every time I checked on the puppies, putting the bowl right in front of her face so that she did not have to leave the puppies. Sometimes Freema ate and drank, other times she just wanted to lick the puppies.
