Kirislin

shall do T :D This just goes to show what a brain melt down I go into under puppy stress. Yesterday I really wanted to get the same day old photos I had with Widget's litter of them being held in Marcus' hands. It was late in the afternoon and we were tired and grumpy after hardly any sleep the night before and lots of stress. I didn't increase the ISO on the camera, if I had I would have been able to get the shots I wanted, instead I got blurry spoiled photos. Oh well, I doubt I will change.

Hopefully I'll get better shots when I've had some sleep.

Hello world first born, sable girl (Neko look alike) 5F6A4936dppt by kirislin, on Flickr we had lots of "Jazz hands" last night 5F6A4938dppt by kirislin, on Flickr No cameras please! 5F6A4940dppt by kirislin, on Flickr big boofa boy 5F6A4943dppt by kirislin, on Flickr 5F6A4945dppt by kirislin, on Flickr Last born, the secret girl, tiny at 170gms 5F6A4949dppt by kirislin, on Flickr 5F6A4950dppt by kirislin, on Flickr 5F6A4951dppt by kirislin, on Flickr 5F6A4953dppt by kirislin, on Flickr 5F6A4954dppt by kirislin, on Flickr

hi everyone, thanks for all the good wishes. Neko and her 3 babies, 3! I still cant get over it, are doing well. She's an amazing Mum especially considering she went to sleep and woke up with these little aliens on her. I've only bred 3 litters and 2 of them have been caesars now so my record isn't great there. I think last night would have to go down as one of the most stressful in my life. The awful dilemma you are placed in. Do you let her try to whelp naturally and risk loosing a puppy, or perhaps all of them, and even her, then again, she might get them all out OK, or do you go for a caesar before the birthing has progressed too far and still risk loosing the mother due to the risk of surgery? After frantic discussions on the phone with Marcus who was driving up, we opted for the caesar. I knew what to expect regarding the distressing image of seeing your beloved dog on her back with her stomach cut open and puppies being pulled out. My friend Iggy Mum was there for me and Neko and we were each handed a puppy to rub to life and get breathing. While we were occupied with that, and it's pretty frantic and stressful, I suddenly heard IM say," is there another one?" and I thought dont be silly, of course not, then I glanced over and saw the tiniest puppy I've ever seen being held by the other attending vet. I couldn't believe my eyes, but I was so busy with the ones we had and it seemed lifeless to me so I just said "it's dead" and tried to focus on what we were doing, then we were brought over a third to keep us occupied while the vets stitched up my Neko. They went from being these wet still lifeless little forms to writhing squeaking tiny puppies in the space of a minute or so, but it's a pretty tense minute. Now that I've had some time to look at them I can tell you, the first born, the sable girl is almost the image of her mother. Not quite black, but looks it until you get a real black beside her. The markings are almost identical to Neko, the white chest and white feet. She weighed 225gms I think, pretty much the same as Neko at birth too. Then the huge big black boy who if Neko whelped naturally would have been first born and almost certainly caused massive problems, with a pretty good chance of being born dead, and maybe taking the other 2 with him, weighing 300gms he's the biggest IG puppy the breeder has known of in her lines in all her years of breeding. It doesn't necessarily translate to him being big as an adult, that's a wait and see. and lastly the secret little girl that I couldn't find, hidden up high where the experienced breeders told me she might be, but I didn't believe them, I didn't have a bit of doubt there were only 2 puppies, I'm so happy I was wrong, the tiny almost all black little girl. She was a bit slow to start to suckle, she did a bit last night but today was slow and I was worried for a while, but she seems to have it all sorted now and it plumping up beautifully and pushing and shoving with the other 2, and she's claimed one of the biggest teats low down so she'll get plenty of milk. I think she will be a plucky little girl. I wanted to get similar shots to Widgets litter, of Marcus holding the day old puppies, but we left it too late, we were all too tired and grumpy to persevere. I didn't want to take them out of the room to somewhere with better light and upset Neko all for the sake of a photo. Oh well, hopefully I will get better ones tomorrow when we've all had some seriously needed sleep.

It's 1.46am and we are home from taking Neko in for a caesarian. Guess what, I have never been so glad to be WRONG!!!! so lucky I didn't bet money there was only 2 puppies, because we have 3!!!!! In order of birth, a seal coloured GIRL..like Neko weight 220gms. Next a jet black great big fatty boombah BOY weighing 300gms!!!! and last, hidden away like all the experienced breeders told me, a beautiful jet black GIRL weighing 170gms. If they'd been born naturally the boy would have been first and I think it would have been risky. I very much doubt she would have got him out. I'm disappointed we had to have a caesar, but I think it was for the best. Thank you all for your good wishes, photos will come tomorrow.

Nothing happening, she just ate her dinner with enthusiasm so I think it might not be for a while yet, maybe not even till tomorrow. She still doesn't look the right shape to me, her tummy hasn't dropped much, although perhaps a bit more than this morning.

could be a while yet. Talked to the vet via the nurse, and her breeder. Still early stages.

Nah, it's OK. I can put towels down if it looks like getting messy but it's unlikely to anyway. It was probably overkill. Mine too. I hate seeing her in pain. She stayed in the whelping box for several hours but got out about half an hour ago. I thought she was going to be sick but she didn't. then she started stretching and arching her back, clearly uncomfortable. She came into the kitchen and curled up on a bed and was trembling for a while then became very still and quiet. Now she's snuggled up with Feather.

OK, dont get excited just yet, but Neko's temperature has dropped. This means that she will whelp within 24 hours. It could still be quite a while before anything happens but I've let the vet know. I'll keep you all informed as best I can. Right now she's curled in a tight little ball in her whelping box. She is calm and surprisingly, so am I. Looks like I wont get to bunnings for that lino after all. Think good thoughts for Neko and her babies.

It's a rainy day here, been going for hours, I wont get any outside shots. For now this is all I can manage but it comforts me to know she willingly puts herself in the whelping box. This is the same one she was in as a puppy and she must remember it although the set up is different. I've put a card table over the top and some material over that to make a nice dark warm place for her, like a cave. Same system I used when Penny had her babies. I will go to bunnings today to get some lino to put underneath as it's in my bedroom. The plan is to move it after about a week. I just want her near me for the first few days so I can hear if anything's wrong. I was originally going to sleep by her in my swag on the floor and then thought I may as well just have the whelping box in the bedroom. I think it will work OK.....hope so. This is all you will see of Neko today I think 5F6A4934dppt by kirislin, on Flickr unless I lift the curtain 5F6A4935dppt by kirislin, on Flickr

I dont think Neko is going to go anytime soon, by that I mean today or tomorrow. Her belly doesn't look like it's really dropped and her temperature is within normal range. She is getting restless though and I've seen her eyeing off some dark out of the way places.

Just popped into the vets and so weighed Neko. She's 7.1kg and the vet said she's FAT!!!! this is the problem. I've always been told you dont want her to be fat at whelping, but Marcus (the boss) said feed her as much as she wants, so I did. Now she's going to have trouble getting them out. I'm calling Neko 'Fatsiana' it's her new name.

actually, I dont think he's in much if any pain now. the pins will stay in for at least 8 weeks and then it's alot of physio, probably swimming and on leash walking for quite a while I think. He's crated during the day while Marcus is at work, he's managed to organise that he can leave him in a house right near his work, so every break he goes and lets him out. He's also going to have a person stay with him at home some days. It's very hard for someone who works full time. If only Arkey had done it at the start of holidays rather than at the end.

oh for the good old days when you could take your dog to what ever beach you wanted. Your map is a good idea though provided it's accurate.

Neko cannot steal all the limelight, here's an update on Arkey. He had the dressing removed today for the first time since the break. Vet is pleased with how things are going and has reduced the dressing alot now so Arkey is not so encumbered image2 by kirislin, on Flickr image3 by kirislin, on Flickr Putting his full weight on it! image4 by kirislin, on Flickr

nothing yet, I haven't taken her temp this morning but I can see she's showing changes in personality. Last night she couldn't settle, whimpering, restless, looking in dark places, she's looking for a safe place to have her babies. This morning she kept pestering me for food so I gave her 2 sardines which usually fills her up but she wanted more so I gave her some mince and veggies and she ate 3 spoons of it so I offered her a 4th. Initially she didn't want it but she saw Puck hovering so she forced it down till I thought she was going to pop. I suppose it's her body telling her to stock up as much as she can because she wont be able to hunt for a while. Cute little thing, as if she could hunt anything anyway. I dont think her tummy's dropped yet but I think she'll probably have them right when they're due which is Sunday/Monday.

so long as it's not Black and Tan, that's a big NO NO in IGs. Actually that colour of Arkey and his brother Milton was the first time the breeder had seen it in her lines, she's been breeding for about 30 years I think, but interestingly she's had at least 2 more since then. One of them, a girl from an unrelated litter to Arkey looks more like Arkeys sister than Neko does. The colour is red fawn. It's not uncommon but just hasn't been in her lines before.

I think we've got a few more days yet. I'll let you know when her temp drops, it's usually within 24 hours then.

Thanks. Just been talking to a friend and said I've done all the right things, wormed her as per the protocol, feeding her fresh unprocessed foods and been adding extra leafy greens to her diet as well as natural bone foods, and offal, and fish, she's eating well, is shiny and waggy tailed, I am prepared, got the vet on standby, am taking her temperature twice a day now, I dont know what else I can do. Looking at her there's no reason to think anything is wrong, other than she is very big for just 2 puppies, the sums dont seem to add up there but still, she has to go full term and then all will be revealed. Wouldn't that be lovely :D

I was excited about numbers and colours and sexes for a while, now I'm just stressing that I want everyone to come out of this alive.

I would so love to be proven wrong in this case but I am 100% sure there are only 2 puppies. I've found 2 clear heartbeats, one on each side. Unless you have the stethoscope right over the top of the puppys heart you can still hear it but it's muffled. When it's on top of it there's no mistaking it. It almost has a slight clicking sound, I dont know another word to describe it. It's normal but that's how it sounds to me. Then the vet ultrasounded her and looked all over and he too could only find 2 puppies. I have had lots of experienced breeders say IGs hide them up under their ribs. Well I would dearly love to be proven wrong and have a few more pop out on birthing day, but I am certain that wont happen. I've got the room set up now, did it all yesterday, even shampooed the carpets, but thanks for the reminder about the camera batteries!

these are really old photos, I've never managed to get anymore of him, even though he does it on every hot day. I call him a Whippoptamus. Sometimes he puts his head under water and comes up with all the azola fern plant on his face. Whippapotamus by kirislin, on Flickr Whippapotamus by kirislin, on Flickr

When you posted the other day that she was carrying only two puppies but they were biggies, I started thinking about all the things that might make for bigger and healthier puppies. Just a lay person’s views of course and could be total rubbish. But look at the life Neko and her near forebears have led: the best of everything in terms of nutrition, veterinarian care, love, interesting lives, lots of fun and exercise, etc etc. Surely this must lead to bigger and better babies. It’s happened with humans - why not dogs, I wonder? I think in this case it is probably more to do with them being totally unrelated to each other. They might double up many generations back but essentially they are unrelated dogs. It might almost be like hybrid vigour. I dont know for sure though. If she had more puppies they would probably be smaller too but since she only has 2 they've had all the nutrition and room they needed to grow like little dinosaurs. I'm going to speak to the vet today and take his and the breeders advice, hopefully that wont be conflicting advice.

I suppose if you are prepared to let her live her life as an only dog, and never take her out where she can attack other dogs you dont have a problem. Otherwise perhaps a dog behaviouralist can help you. If you keep the puppy how are you going to cope? Keep them separated their entire lives? I dont know what else to suggest.

this might be the last week of this series. She is due next Sunday but if she's a bit later then I'll get one more shot. Here she is at Week 8. She hasn't grown as much as I initially would have expected, but now we know she's only got 2 whopping puppies in there, I think I'm glad. Even so she's put on at least 2 kilos, so that's a kilo for each puppy. I realise they wont weight that much but even so it's still alot. An experienced breeder told me she usually estimated about 500gms per puppy which includes the fluid and placenta. Neko is carrying double that amount. To say I am worried is an understatement. Weight 6.9kgs 5F6A4930dpptw by kirislin, on Flickr Her own mum Widget at about the same stage, but she had 4 puppies, Neko only has 2. url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/32012294@N02/9384837413/][/url] 5F6A7115dpp by kirislin, on Flickr