After Lizzy had her big brood of puppies, we knew something was wrong. Besides being obviously tired, she showed signs of being in shock -- not the emotional I-Can't-Believe-I-Had-This-Many-Pups kind of shock. This was more like hypovolemic (lost too much blood) shock. We kept her warm, fed, and as comfortable as we could. I called and chatted with my vet and she agreed that time and supportive care was about all we could realistically do for her. Over the next two days, we had a couple of surprises. Lizzy had TWO more stillborn pups. She perked right up after that. We just cannot believe that this poor, old dog was carrying a litter of THIRTEEN. They are all good sized pups and there is really not a runt.
She is doing great but we are helping her out. During the day, Lizzy stays in the garage under a heat lamp on her cushy dog pillow with about half of her pups. The other half are in Prissy's little bed in front of the fire place. We feed these inside pups at least once with a bottle and switch them out every two hours.
At night, we move Lizzy inside to the laundry room. We keep the pups in seperate batches until bedtime. Lizzy keeps all of her pups ALL night long and seems delighted to see us when we come to let her out and take half of her brood. She is an excellent mother with lots of milk. Lizzy has always been the absolute sweetest of dogs. Since she might have an infection from the retained pups, we are giving her a mild antibiotic. Salena tries to hide it in her food. Even if Lizzy finds it, Salena just has to show it to her and speak kindly. Sweet Lizzy will pick it up and swallow it.
One member of our household is not happy with all these dogs in the house.
The first night, Salena stayed up all night bottle feeding every two hours while Lizzy was at her sickest. Prissy was so jealous and upset at Salena that she would not have anything to do with her. Prissy is devoted to Salena and suffers greatly when she goes off to school. She will grieve for her for a day or two. When Salena comes home, Prissy is beside herself with joy and Salena can't make a move with out her. These puppies are just too much!
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