06/06/2024
What’s on your mind? Facebook asks… this week I was looking forward to announcing our first long hair litter, chocolates, our gorgeous Athena was due to have her first litter on 30 June our own little EOFY litter.
If you remember Athena and her siblings they were born at the end of July 2021 and were referred to as the GP litter (George and Peppin).
Things have not gone as planned.
Firstly Athena is fine, thankfully. I was doing her four/five week check this is usually when you can get a definite on whether pregnant or not. All looked positive and it was as I was putting her back down that I paused. Is that a mass in her back teat?
Yes a strange lump nearly as big as my fist. My first thought was inguinal hernia but it looked wrong. A hormonal breast cancer? Yes my mind automatically went to what I thought was the worse possible outcome.
Vets on Monday ultrasound. Athena was pregnant two puppies. Mass was an inguinal hernia. Decision was made to operate the next day and hope that Athena did not miscarriage with anesthetic, then elective caesarean and desex in four weeks.
We arrived Tuesday morning to a worried vet. I love my vets. She had thought about it all night and researched, something wasn’t right, hernia didn’t feel right, only 2 puppies that seemed strange. I agreed. Her thoughts Athena had actually herniated one horn of her uterus and the lump was a puppy!!
We went into the surgery actually hoping it was a normal hernia but if it was her uterus and a puppy then she would be desexed right away. I left the decision as to whatever was best for Athena.
So poor Athena came home Tuesday night recovering from some rather major surgery.
Desexed, inguinal repair on both sides she obviously had groin weakness on both sides that did not show until put under the pressure of a pregnancy. There had been two viable puppies, the puppy in the hernia and an ectopic pregnancy on that side as well. We were 48-72 hours from the puppy going septic.
She is sore, a little hormonal and confused as to what is going on with her little body but in reality has bounced out of the surgery really well.
Athena baby photo then 24 hours post op not wanting to deal with the world and then this morning not even 48 hours post op and quite happily looking for a way to go next door and check out the neighbours pigs 🐖
If you have got this far you are as much as a trooper as Athena 😂
