First romp in the grass

 Finally the weather was good enough today to put pups on the grass.

Pups are 25 days old, and Paika is still the only source of nourishment.

Pups are getting more interactive

Paika and pups are still in my den. The pups are confined to the whelping box, but Paika can go where she wants to. She cleans the pups and lets them nurse, sometimes she falls asleep with pups snuggled to her. That's a sweet sight. They have quite a few toys and they start to explore them. They also started to give kisses when I give them my cheek. Sweet...

Pictures of (almost) three-week-old wirehaired dachshund puppies

This is the 20th day of puppies' life. Now they can certainly hear and see (and smell of course). The pups are much more mobile, and they can walk, albeit awkwardly.

Above and below Theo von Moosbach-Zuzelek

Above and below Thor von Moosbach-Zuzelek

What's up with all the loose skin Thor?

Above and below Tarah von Moosbach-Zuzelek

I think it is Tarah's paw.

To the left and below Tuesday von Moosbach-Zuzelek

Puppies get their names

It took us a while to come up with puppies' names. It looked like John and I could not agree on any name, but finally we did:

• Red male is Thor
• Blue male - Theo
• Pink female - Tuesday
• Yellow female - Tarah

When it comes to names, it is such a personal thing. Most likely new owners will call the pups something else.  I think that the only name here that people will consider unusual is Tuesday. Well, I like the word sound, and I love two songs that have "Tuesday" in their title. One is Tuesday Afternoon by the Moody Blues, which is one of my favorite songs ever. Another one is one of my favorites too -  Ruby Tuesday by Rolling Stones. Ruby Tuesday was also the name of my first wire, which is seven generations back in the puppies' pedigree.

Pups at 17 days

A couple of days ago I took Paika to our vets to remove her stitches. She has healed nicely. Paika was handled by my favorite vet there so we had a lengthy conversation. I asked him what he thinks about risks of breeding her in the future. He did not think there were any increased risks associated with what happened during whelping two weeks ago. So this is a big relief :) 

 

Pups are 17 days old now, and they are much more active. They start to interact with one another and with the mom. They have been treated with Nemex 2, and had their nails cut.  

 

Weights are

•Pink female born at 310 gram, now 1100 (355%) 

•Blue male born at 360, now 1190 (330%) 

•Red male born at 385, now 1260 (327%) 

•Yellow female born at 230, now 915 (398%) 

Almost two weeks old and too fat

Pups' eyes are open so we will have to be careful with taking pics in the next few days. Paika is an angel; I know that she would rather run rabbits than stay with puppies but she is not showing it.  Three big pups look like walruses, they seem so fat. Yellow Female on the other hand is the smallest and most agile. She is not thin, just looks right.

In my opinion, size differences that we see now reflect pups' position in the womb and their size at birth. Over time these differences will change. For example, in the previous litter Sky was born weighing 315 grams and Summer was 300 grams. At two weeks they were 935 and 870 respectively, and at three weeks they both were the same weight 1220 grams. Now at almost 9 months, Sky is significantly larger than Summer though I don't have their currents weights.

Puppies are ten days old

Puppies are ten days old now, and soon they should be opening their eyes and ears. They all look healthy and very plump. Paika spends less time with them, but still takes excellent care of them. The whelping box is spotless, and we are very grateful to her for keeping their pups' bottoms very clean.

• Pink female born at 310 gram, now 740 (239%)
• Blue male born at 360, now 830 (231%)
• Red male born at 385, now 865 (225%)
• Yellow female born at 230, now 595 (259%)

Puppies are growing!

Paika and puppies continue to do really well. This morning (Wednesday) pups were:

• Pink female born at 310 gram, now 540
• Blue male born at 360, now 605
• Red male born at 385, now 610
• Yellow female born at 230, now 410

Not much else to report. Pups' eyes and ears are still closed but they certainly respond to touch and smell.

Day #3 for Paika's puppies

Things could not be going better. Paika is healing well. She has a good appetite, and spends all her time with the pups. The pups seem to be very content and well nourished :). They have put quite a bit of weight and this morning they were (we are switching here to grams as lbs and oz are just too complicated)

• Pink female born at 310 gram, now 405
• Blue male born at 360, now 470
• Red male born at 385, now 480
• Yellow female born at 230, now 305

Pups are one day old

Things are going much better today. Paika is healing well, and I think her uterus is going to recover. She is taking exceptional care of the pups, is eating and drinking well. Pups put on some weight, and the little girl is vigorous and nurses well.

Today pups got their color ribbons to identify them. They are according to the sequence of their birth
Pink female born at 10.4 oz, now 10.8
Blue male born at 11.8 oz, now 12.6
Red male born at 12.8 oz, now 13.8
Yellow female born at 7.8 oz, now 8.2

Puppies arrived with complications

On Thursday Paika spent all day in the whelping box. She did not eat, but when at 7 PM John asked whether I think that she would be whelping that night I said definitely "no". She was not nesting, not scratching the bedding; she did not pant. She exhibited all the signs of upcoming labor last year when she was about to whelp "S" puppies. Then, 5 minutes later, I looked at Paika and noticed that she was having contractions!

So on April 5, she whelped two puppies at 8:40 PM and 9:40 PM with ease (a girl 10.4 oz and boy 11.8 oz), but then we ran into complications. She looked like she was resting for the first half of the night. This can happen though really long intervals between pups' arrivals are not that common (at least not for us). In the second half of the night her contractions increased but no puppy could be palpated in the birth canal. At 4 AM I called our vets, and they asked us to be at the clinic at 7:30 in the morning. It did not look good.

The vet could feel more pups in Paika but no puppy was descending into the birth canal. A C-section provided some answers. The first two pups born on Thursday evening came from the same uterine horn, and when they were born this horn became empty. There were two pups in the other horn, and Paika's uterus at this point flipped and got twisted. The vet said that he sees a similar scenario in the cattle all the time, but he has never seen it in a dog. The two pups were alive and got extracted OK. The girl is vigorous but small 7.8 oz, the boy is very big at 12.8 oz. Because of the flipped uterus there was no way that Paika could have whelped remaining pups naturally. We were so lucky that her uterus did not rupture and we did not lose her.

The last 24 hours have been rough on everybody here so this is going to be a short post. Paika and her 4 puppies are back at home and she seems to be doing well. She has been eating, drinking and looking well after the puppies.

The first puppy, a female was born on Thursday night.

The next three pictures show the second pup, a boy

After surgery Paika back home with her four puppies

Waiting...

Paika lost her appetite for dry kibble and today she refused breakfast of kibble mixed with canned food. I checked my pre-whelping notes from last year, and she went through several days of eating very little or not eating at all. Yesterday she ate quite well, especially raw diet, but what she liked the most was a mix of rice, egg and ricotta cheese.

During the day she rests a lot, mainly on her back, but if she hears other dogs going to the field she is ready to join them. I think we are still several days away from whelping. The whelping box is ready in my den, and yesterday she checked it out and spent some time in it. She has my den all to herself as Summer and Sky's crates have been moved to another room. Now we just have to be patient...

Todau she is going to get a bath, and I'll groom her some. By the way, we don't know how many pups she carries. I would say maybe 6. Her belly is hanging low, but she is not very wide. When Keena had nine pups her middle section looked like a ball.