03/31/2024
Reason 12390 to never breed your dog.
It is 2 am. Puppies are now 3 days old, but this is day 5 of intensive work on the breeder's and dam's side of things.
After being up for 3 days straight while Kenzie was in labor, whelping puppies, having midnight escapades at the vet school, then trying and failing to save a puppy by warming, tube feeding, and giving fluids every 2 hours for 24 hours, on day 4, my mother and husband finally stepped in to help overnight last night...because despite Kenzie barely keeping food down for the first 24 hours post whelp, she is producing enough milk for 100 puppies and already has a hard lump in her mammary tissue. Not mastitis quite yet, but dangerously close. Even though...all these rotund puppies do is eat, eat, eat. Some have gained 7 ounces in their first 48 hours. I've had puppies born and survive who weighed less than that. 😳
So, thankfully my family worked a split shift and stayed up with her last night to do compresses every 2 hours through the night, and I got a few hours of sleep. Tonight, they were too tired... So I'm back on duty.
Kenzie HATES leaving her puppies for any reason whatsoever. To entice her to stay still, I've paired spoon feeding canned food to her with one hand while holding the heat or cabbage compress on with the other. This works very well.
Until.
It is 1 am and you get her all set up...she wags her tail in anticipation, which lands in the water bowl. She doesn't mind. Wags faster. Soaked tail is now flinging water into my eyes. I jump, she jumps, oh, now there's canned food in my eyes, on her head, possibly in the A/C vent... You grab a towel and throw it over the wagging tail and water bowl because...it's 1 am and you've barely slept in several days and it takes you entirely too long to realize it's within your human power to put down the spoon of canned food and MOVE THE WATER BOWL to end this insanity.
Whew. Eyes are washed and dried. We've resumed course.
After the cabbage compress, we take a walk outside and Kenzie deposits large globs of lochia onto the deck, then in the hallway on the way back to the puppy room. If you aren't familiar with what that is, that is a fairly high up reason all in itself to consider never breeding your dog. I get her settled, then return outside to clean that up.
Oh, the puppies are grunting and crying...why?
There is only one cabbage ni**le. You guys, these puppies are OBSESSED with the cabbage. At barely 3 days old, they are already standing on all fours and flinging one another out of the way because CABBAGE MILK IS THE BEST MILK.
Kenzie gently tries to nudge them to nurse elsewhere, then whines at me for help. I don't know, Kenzie. Your puppies have strong opinions.
And there you have it. Reason number 12390 to never breed your dog. Because you might end up sleep deprived and delirious, eyes still slightly burning from their encounter with prescription dog food, posting on social media at 2 am about cabbage milk and offering an advanced apology to these puppies' future homes because they may have an odd and unhealthy obsession with leafy vegetables. 😂
