Goodwood Standard Smooth Dachshunds
Pups are here!
Vela delivered her puppies by Caesarian section
on Thursday morning at 5:30 AM.
We have 5 girls and 1 boy, all doing
splendidly!
Wednesday 7 PM. Vela is rooting and resting in her box. No signs of labor yet. Fingers crossed!
Vela hangs on to her new toy (destroyed already, of course) during labor.
At 11 PM her 1st water sac arrived. Then,
nothing, nothing, nothing.
At 3 AM, Dr. Lopate said "Bring her in."
Ultrasound showed happy beating hearts
X rays showed 2 giant puppies in the canal.
Too big for Miss Vela!
So.... C section!
Dr. Lopate and Laurice in the O.R.
Here the
doctor is pulling out the horns full of pups.
Look at the size of these horns!!! No
wonder she was so huge!
Poor Vela!!!! There are 3 in one, 4 in the
other. One wasn't viable, hence the 6 puppies.
Dr. Lopate waits until we are done with each
puppy to hand us another.
Each puppy is rubbed hard, given Dopram, O2,
basically, brought to life.
The highly experienced techs work their magic:
Laurice breeds Irish setters,
Tina, Irish Wolfhounds and I'm on the right.
Thanks girls for coming in at Zero dark thirty to catch puppies!
Vela's uterine horns, now empty, must go back
inside.
Vela is a trooper through it all.
Yours truly works on a puppy.
Dan helped
too! He took the pics though so I didn't get any of him!
Rub, rub, rub.
They are held upside down to
let any liquids escape.
The towels are warmed in the microwave.
This little one had a pale tongue and so needed
some oxygen.
It's a little bell with a rubber gasket on it. They
respond quickly.
Vela (bottom right) recuperates with her
cell-mate: a darling
Frenchie named Truffle.
The pups in the incubator waiting for Mommy to
wake up.
They are each put on a teat to make sure they can suckle before they
can go home.
Vela has loads of milk.
The kasbah where the babies will live for a
while...
Actually, they'll be here until it is Scout's time. They will
be transferred to their pool!
I was told that it might take up to 8 to 12
hours for Vela to get it together
and become maternal after all that
anesthetic.
She surprised us all by instantly falling in love with her
puppies.
Dan and I took turns taking watches over the pups until evening just
to make sure.
She's an uber mother, absolutely devoted.
Thanks to the entire team for making this happen!!!
Earlier in the pregnancy...
Vela getting to know her whelping box.
On our way to the vet for X rays!
Here is Dr. Lopate wearing the latest in "lead wear" during the actual X ray.
100% certainty for 6, 90% certainty for 7
Aerial view of La Vela Loca!
How much larger can she possibly get??? 7 weeks in...
Vela 5 weeks into her pregnancy
Vela gets a story from Dan. Here's how it goes:
Vela is knocked up, but she doesn't care,
'cause when her boyfriend gets out of the slammer, he promised that he's going to get a job!
She was mad when the 7-11 clerk called her a future welfare
mother, so she flipped him off after she stole some smokes.
Dan? Is that a nice story for Genny to hear???
(Vela features as a juvenile delinquent in many of Dan's stories!)
Bred by surgical AI on May 8th (see what it looks like!)
It's a GO!!!
The ultrasound says : 8 babies!
Dr. Lopate says Vela might jettison a few of
them as she is a maiden bitch and
her uterus hasn't been stretched out from a
prior litter.
She may or may not have enough room for all 8.
We'll see!!!
The black blobs with a squiggle in them are the babies!
Dr. Cheryl Lopate is calling the plays, we are lucky to have a therio right in our backyard!
Show and performance homes always embraced!
Pet homes much appreciated!