Penny's Perilous Puppy Predicament

So early Saturday morning Penny started having her puppies.  I had estimated her due date at Friday so I was almost spot on this time!  Ricky woke up around 3am and told me he heard a puppy crying, I went and looked at her a little while later and saw one puppy in there and that she was still pregnant but not really doing anything.  It looked like she was almost done laboring but was still obviously pregnant.  I let her outside and she went pee and poop and ate and drank and was just walking around, it was really strange. 

I called my vet as soon as they opened at 8 in the morning and they set up an appointment for me to bring her in around 9am.  I took the girls with me and when we got there the vet examined her and found her to still be in labor, so we decided to let her labor a little and see if she progressed any further.  I think we ended up waiting an hour when the vet said she should have had that puppy by now, and took her for an x-ray.  The x-ray showed 2 more puppies inside and one puppy bent in half and stuck in the birth canal.  So they had to preform a c-section on her to get the puppy out.  The vet said it was good I got her there in a timely manner because she would have just exhausted herself pushing and pushing and never getting anywhere.  That one puppy that had been stuck didn't make it but she had two other very healthy looking puppies, a boy and a girl.

I brought her home a little after noon and she seemed to be doing OK but pretty weak.  that evening I noticed she kept laying on the floor of the kitchen and thought it was weird but then also thought it might be from her being tired from the c-section still.  Well Sunday morning we woke up and I went to look in on her and she looked near death.  I pulled her out from her puppies and she didn't even move a muscle.  I gave her a little juice to try and perk her up and she took it and lifted her head a little but just looked awful.  We all piled into the van and rushed her to the emergency vet hospital, since it was Sunday.  They admitted her right away and started IV fluids, blood tests, antibiotics, etc., etc.

We waited for a while before they came and told us that she would need to stay there overnight and her puppies could not stay with her as she was in such bad shape.  They didn't give me an exact diagnosis but said she was extremely dehydrated, had low blood sugar and suspected a possible infection.  They gave me some instructions on how to care for the puppies and sent us on our way.  I've never actually had to care for newborn puppies all on my own so I was very nervous about possibly losing them as well. 

It was a struggle to get them to take the bottle at first but after the first couple times we all started getting the hang of it.  I had to feed them every 2 hours during the day and every 3 at night, along with helping them pee and poop every time (lovely, right?)  I got up early Monday morning to go get Penny from the vet hospital and transfer her to my own vet.  She was there all day, still on IV fluids and I had to get her and bring her home in the evening.  When I got there they told me that they suspected the problem had been an infection, at one point she had a fever of 103.7!  I was a bit annoyed that they didn't send her home from her c-section on antibiotics but I guess there's no reason dwelling on that now. 

I went and got her from my vet on Monday night but was instructed to still keep her away from her puppies and not let her nurse them.  She was NOT happy about that and pretty much howled all night long... between her, and feeding the puppies, and feeding Katy, and Joanna waking up from being scared I was pretty exhausted the next day and looked a lot like this:

Tuesday morning, Penny was looking a lot better and even went outside to pee and poop.  I still couldn't get her to eat anything and had to make her drink from a syringe of water.  I had to take her back to my vet for them to look at her and they cleared her to go home and be in with her puppies. 

He told me that at this point he didn't really care what she ate as long as she was eating and drinking.  He gave me a few suggestions on things she could eat and sent us on our way.  Penny was beyond happy to be able to go in with her puppies again, although her milk had dried up in that time she was away from them.  The vet said she MAY get it in 24-72 hours or not at all, or maybe some but not enough and I may have to keep supplementing the puppies until they are weaned. 

Also once Penny was able to be in with her puppies she refused to leave them so I have to spoon feed her, and still give her water from a syringe.  but she is looking so much better and I am so happy that she is OK and that her puppies are OK!

[in desperate need of a bath]

Here is some of her gourmet food that I mix and heat and spoon feed to her:

There's ham and egg and chicken broth mixed with small kibble- which she eats around, of course :P

Even though it is really time consuming I kind of like bottle feeding the puppies... they are so cute.  I actually caught it on video:

If you notice her paw going, they do that while they nurse their mom and "kneed" her belly, it helps her milk let down. and then after I feed them they look like this:

It is getting a little easier dealing with them.  Penny seems to have a little milk, but still not a full supply, and she can clean them and make them pee and poop, which I'm happy not to do anymore, so it is a team effort now.  They are able to go longer in between bottle feedings and they are much more efficient at it now too.  It was taking me 40-45 minutes a feeding and now it's about 20 minutes for both of them.  They only drink one tablespoon at a feeding!  but when they started it was like a 1/4 tablespoon. 

So it's been a pretty tiring weekend and week but somehow we are surviving.  My wonderful Sister in Law, Patty, brought us a delicious meal the other night and that was so nice.  Also the kids have been watching a lot of movies this week.  Somehow I was able to fit in some spring cleaning and pulled out the stove and refrigerator to scrub them and the floor underneath them.