The whelping is over

Last night around 11 PM I gave Paika a shot of oxytocin. We were not sure whether she had more pups in her or not. She was having occasional contractions but nothing was coming out. After she got oxytocin she expelled a big placenta but no additional pups. Her contractions ended after that.Today we palpated her and we don't feel any additional puppies.

So we ended up with five nice puppies - four males and one female. We are really looking forward to all the fun we are going to have with them! Last year when we had two litters of pups at the same time, 14 in total, it was so much work. This year with just 5 it is going to be fun! I'll post some pics and video later.

Update 4:00 PM
Some pictures taken during and after whelping. Everything is going well except for the fact that Paika produces too much milk and two of her mammary glands got too full and hot. This condition is called galactostasis and it could lead to mastitis, a serious condition. I am trying to avoid it so I am keeping an eye Paika's temperature and started her on Clavamox.  I also put warm wet compress on the affected teats and milk them to give her some relief. Puppies are doing well, and all put on some weight. They have different ribbons around their necks, and to make things easier to identify the only girl she wears a pink ribbon.

Click on the images to see larger versions.