It’s been both a horrific and wonderful week since the puppies were born. I lost one of the puppies on Friday, and the grief I have over losing this beautiful little boy is incredible. I had named him Udon Noodles, and he is the first puppy I have lost in my 16 years of breeding. All of my breeding mentors from various breeds of dogs assure me that, if you breed dogs long enough, you will lose puppies, and it never gets any easier. I would like to thank the staff of Northfield Veterinary Center for their patience and kindness when I blew into the ER with little Udon Noodles, doing CPR on him.
No matter how hard the grief has hit both their mother and me, the remaining six puppies need us, so we are still focused on and committed to keeping them healthy and thriving. Neonate puppies really do not do much other than sleep and eat, but even that is adorable. When they are pulling themselves around by their front legs, they make noises known as “et-epimeletic” sounds, which prompt their mother to care for them. Usually, it’s around the time when they are hungry and looking for their mom. Miki, their mother, is doing a great job of keeping the puppies fed and clean. Puppies should nurse about every two hours, though she lets her babies eat whenever they want. It is amazing that she can sleep through the puppies nursing, which involves the puppy latching onto a teat and then working their heads from side to side while kneading the skin to stimulate milk flow. It is very important that the puppies are nursed and milk is produced in the first 12 hours or so of their lives, as that is a critical time when they receive colostrum from their mother, which passes on critical antibodies to protect them from infections. A puppy’s digestive tract can only process colostrum in the first roughly 24 hours of life, so I am very relieved Miki has milk.
Since the puppies are still deaf and blind, they use heat sensors on the sides of their nostrils to not only find Miki to nurse but also seek each other out to pile together for warmth. Puppies can not regulate their body temperatures, so even though I have a heating pad in the whelping box, they still pile on top of each other to sleep. While watching neonates sleep, you might think they are dreaming the way their legs and bodies jump and twitch, but what is actually happening is called activated sleep. Since they sleep so much and really don’t move around much, the brain is sending electrical impulses to their muscles to stimulate growth.
The first two weeks of whelping a litter may seem like not much to do, and you may think the mother does everything. It’s actually the most tiring time, at least with bull terriers. I have been up frequently all night making sure the puppies are nursing and their mom is comfortable. Changing the bedding in the box seems like a nonstop process, as well as hand-feeding Miki, who has decided she shall not eat any other way, and trying to keep these babies still to cut their sharp little nails. It is exhausting but an absolute labor of love.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email heidi@fouronthefloordogtraining.net.
