Spring has Sprung Anew!

It's been a long time since I posted. After putting Jenni down, I just didn't want any more reminders of what we lost....

Just after Thanksgiving, we were at my brothers house and we had Tori the Lab with us. They have a large fenced yard too, so she was outside in the yard while we were inside. My daughter was outside playing with the dog and came in yelling that a dog jumped the fence and was hurting Tori. I ran out of the house and saw the dog alright (a huskie), but he wasn't hurting Tori, he was doing what boy dogs do to girl dogs.

The short of it was, that Tori hadn't been spayed by her previous owners who had intended to breed her. School and work made it so that Tori was spending about 16 hours a day caged, and they wanted better for her so they gave her up for adoption, and I was the lucky mommy. I had initially considered breeding her as well, but I consider myself to be a responsible person, and don't know the first thing about breeding and my schedule didn't really permit the committment either so I decided to have her spayed, of course, I had no plans to do that till after Christmas, and well, the Thanksgiving activities kind of put the kabbash on that plan!

Fast forward to January 31, 2006, Tori's labor started around 9:30 that morning. Around 2:30 she had her first puppy. A black and white puppy, a huge puppy... It died shortly after Mommy got her cleaned up, and pushed it aside. I tried to get the puppy to breath unsuccessfully. We waited for another puppy, and waited and waited. Around 8 that evening, I loaded her in the car and headed for the vets, all this time, she was acting like a normal dog, running, eating, playing, never showing a moments time of pain, so it was apparent her contractions stopped. I knew that there were more puppies in there because I could feel them moving. The vet that I took her to did and X-ray and said that there were 4 or 5 more puppies there. They quoted between 2 thousand to 25 hundred to do a Cesarian on her. I told them there was no way I could afford that. They advised me that I could take her to her regular vet in the morning and they would probably be able to give better price. So I took her home and worried through the night that she was suffering, but never showed any signs of it.

I loaded her back in the car and took her to her regular vets office, and they looked at the X-Ray and said that there was a puppy blocking the road out and he looked like he may have some developmental issues and appeared to be bent in half, and the only way to remedy would be a C-Section. They quoted me between 700-900. She said since it's been more than 24 hours since she started labor, chances of any of the other puppies having survived are slim, and I had been feeling her all through the night, and didn't feel any movement either. She said we could do a sonogram, but considering how long has passed, thought it an unwise expense. She said she would spay her and be done with it. I took Tori to the hospital where surgeries are performed, got her checked in and settled and went home. About an hour and half later, the vet called. She said that Tori did very well in surgery, and they were getting ready to wake her up. Then she went on to tell me that we have 3 puppies to bring home when we come to pick up Tori!!!!

Two of her puppies left at 8 weeks and 10 weeks to wonderful homes with co-workers of mine and we decided after 2 adoption attempts to keep the smallest and only male of the 3, ourselves and we named him Buster. He's a beautiful chocolate boy, with a white cross on his chest. All 3 have haunting, stunning blue eyes, actually their eyes are almost white. It looked for a time that Buster would have a blue eye and a brown eye but he has 1 1/2 blue eyes, only the top part of his right eye has changed, and those stark blue eyes up against this chocolate fur just cut right through me. Oh, and his tiny little white soul patch is to die for! He has since had a hernia operation, has been neutered and yes, the first order of business was his vaccinations. No more parvo worries here, and believe me, I was on pins and needles until his booster shots were done. I limited the out doors excursions until all had their second shots and both owners were only responsible for getting rabies vaccinations for the puppies at 3 months. I did find out when I took him in for his pre-surgery check that he has a heart murmur :| . The vet said that it may cause problems down the road or he may grow out of it. Anyone on this site know what I should be on the look out for with regard to a heart murmur? I've had a heart murmur my whole life, it's never given a moment of trouble to me, but then, I'm not a puppy...!!!

The two failed adoption attempts for Buster were due to my own unease, and gut feelings and I decided that no one would be able to take better care of, or love him more than me, so he is now his mothers companion. He's got a lot of dogality, and he's rotten to the core, obedience classes are in his near future.

Anyhow, sorry for the long post, lots to tell. Hope everyone and theirs are well, it'll take some time to get caught up on all the goings on. Happy Spring to all!

Lorelei

 

Your story could serve as a poster for both neutering and the difficulties of breeding. Everyone could learn from your experience. Sorry to hear about the problems but I'm glad you have Buster. Please post some photos. Would love to see those eyes you described.

 

WOW, what an ordeal. those blue eyese get you dont they?
My dog has one pale blue eye and it seems she can look right thru you.

Jimiyahere has a cat that has a heart murmer, (I think) that has done quite well hopefully she sees this or you can ut a seperate post about it