Ruby's Puppies

Saturday 14th, July.


Ruby is very stoic, she quietly gets on with her labour and is no trouble at all. It is hard to detect just how far she is with her labour because of this.

These puppies are early. As Ruby only had one mating I can be sure of this and so, for the first time, we have some light puppies. Pandora is long but at 15 ounces needs to fatten up and the other two girls weigh just over one pound. As my son Alex pointed out, their weight on monday will be more of what we are used to in terms of newborn puppies.

Ruby is so quick at eating placentas that although I have recorded them as not delivered I am pretty sure she ate most of them and in view of the fact that she has not been eating well over the last few days I am very happy about this.

The puppies came very quickly at first, six being delivered within 3 hours and then things really slowed down. Puppy number 7 arrived over 3 hours after number 6 and was breach At around 09.10 I examined Ruby and could not feel more than one puppy but her abdomen was hard and palpation was very difficult. Kasidi always had a soft abdomen. I had seen 8 puppies on the X Ray but 9 was always a possibility, so It was at this point Igave her 1ml of oxytocin as I felt her uterus was clearly giving up. She delivered the 8th puppy about 20 minutes later. After much angst I decided to give another half ml of oxytocin to deliver the retained placentas and that is when she delivered puppy number 9 which I have to say was a complete surprise.

I am not happy at being left to make these decisions but I do find the service of veterinary care at weekends and out of hours to be pretty shocking. When I lived in the Scottish Borders we were more rural than here in the Catskills but a vet was always available locally if needed.

All puppies have no kinks in their tails and have minimal white.

At 12:10 first puppy was born, a dog named Beckham. perfect ridge, and placenta delivered. His weight was 1.6oz and first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 12:42 am the second puppy was born, a bitch named Venus. She has an extra crown and a placenta delivered. her weight was 1.1oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 12:44am the third puppy was born, another bitched named Posh. She has a perfect ridge and no placenta delivered. Her weight was 1.2oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 2:04am the fourth puppy was born, a dog named Rooney. He has a perfect ridge and no placenta delivered. His weight was 1.4oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 2:25 am the fifth puppy, a dog named Gerrard was born. He has a perfect ridge and no placenta delivered. His weight was 1.4oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 3:00 am the sixth puppy was born, a dog named Neville. He has a perfect ridge and no placenta delivered. His weight was 1.2oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 6:40am the seventh puppy was born, a bitch named Pandora. She has a perfect ridge and no placenta delivered. Her weight was 15oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 9:30am the eighth puppy was delivered and dog named Ronaldo. He has a crown missing and no placenta delivered. His weight was 1.3oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 10:am the ninth puppy was born a dog named Keane. He has a perfect ridge and a placenta was delivered. His weight was 1.3oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

Mum and pups are doing well.