Finally got a few hours sleep after being up for two days, so I can write a little more about what happened. Yesterday things finally got started late in the morning and the first two pups arrived in short succession - a gorgeous 12oz girl at 12:15pm and a wee (but feisty) 7oz boy at 12:59pm. When several hours went by with nothing further, and Frankie perfectly calm and content, I started thinking maybe there were only two and that the other two seen on ultrasound had been resorbed, but then just after 5:30pm contractions resumed and 15 minutes later #3 arrived, another boy, lively and strong. Unfortunately he was born with his intestines hanging out. We rushed to the vet (thankfully theyre open until 7pm on Thursdays,) and he underwent surgery. Wed brought Frankie (and the other two pups) in case she still had another pup to whelp, and after the puppys surgery we checked her with doppler and ultrasound which showed she did indeed have a fourth puppy still to come. Under normal circumstances she probably would have been able to whelp it on her own, but with the stress and chaos of rushing to the vet, combined with the length of time it had been and the fact that she was completely exhausted, and the pups heart rate was starting to go down, we opted to do a C-section to get the pup out. #4 was a girl, not breathing at first but with a lot of work there were some signs of life. Sadly in the midst of attempts to get her going we discovered she had a serious cleft palate (the first Ive ever had in a Beardie, in 25 years of breeding,) which explains why she never did rally beyond intermittent gasps despite all the effort. So with a heavy heart she was euthanized. Frankie came through the surgery fine, and has been an absolute rock through all this. She truly is awesome. ♥ The pup who had surgery is so far so good. Hes nursing well and acting perfectly normal. To look at him in the litter no one would guess there was anything wrong. He started out after the surgery crying constantly, which upset Frankie to no end, but although he still complains a lot he is much better, and he is often quiet snuggling with mom or nursing. Infection is a big risk, and hes on antibiotics 3x a day, and there are still things that can go wrong with the intestines twisting or getting blocked up or who knows what, but for now hes doing ok. I am unbelievably grateful to those at my vet clinic for all they did. Theyre not an emergency clinic but they stayed well into the night to help with Frankie and the pups. It was after 1am before we all got out of there, and they had to be back at work first thing this morning. Truly above and beyond. Pictures to come in a few minutes...
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 19:28:24 +0000
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