Puppy Gal's Presents
A Litter of English Bulldog Puppies
From AI to C-section and Beyond...
This is a chronicle of the breeding of Smart Cookie, a small English bulldog, with Mini Elvis. Included are discreet pictures of the breeding process, surgicial delivery and the puppies afterward.
Monday, June 16, 2003 -- Smart Cookie's heat cycle is starting.
There are blood spots on her bedding. Her last heat had started almost 7 months ago.
Starting 6 months after the beginning of a females last heat, we watch for swelling of the vulva and spotting.
The Puppy-mobile is poised for action.
Monday, June 23, 2003 -- A vaginal smear indicates that Smart Cookie will start her mating time in two days
or so. The 'mating time' is a period that's about a week long where the female bulldog accepts the male bulldog's advances.
If her system is normal, she will ovulate within this time frame and if there are sperm present, the eggs will be fertilized.
Wednesday, June 25, 2003 -- Smart Cookie's fertile time has arrived.
Mini E' has been selected as the father to be since these two produced such good looking bulldog puppies their last mating.
Mini loves to visit the vets.
-- Smart Cookie runs to the PUPPYS van as if to say, "Don't forget ME!"
-- Smart Cookie is one of the more active of our bullies.
The usual schedule for Artificial Insemination is every other day for about a week.
Before we make the 26 mile trip to the vets, a vaginal smear is checked to insure the female is still in the fertile period.
This procedure is followed to increase the chances that when Smart Cookie ovulates that there will be fresh sperm available for fertilization.
This is a photo of the AI gear showing the rubber collection sleeve with the attached test tube.
There is a syringe with a long tube for the actual delivery of the sperm through the cervix into the uterus.
-- The vet is expecting us and Smart Cookie is lead into the AI Arena.
Mini E' bypasses the foreplay except for a 'ring around the rosie!'
The Vet collects from Mini E'. Then he transfers the collection to Smart Cookie.
Because Smart Cookie is so active, she is administered a mild sedative. This allows Dr. Frank to insert the AI tube through the cervix with less chance of an accident. After the sperm is deposited, the Lab Tech, Crystal, holds Smart Cookie's tail end up so that gravity helps the little swimmers find a home. The collection is checked for quality and quantity. Today, the quality was excellent and the quantity was 7 milliliters.
The plan is that Smart Cookie and Mini E' will visit the Vet on Friday, Saturday and Monday (June 30).
If the she is still 'ready', we make another trip next Wednesday.
Monday, June 30, 2003 -- Smart Cookie's cervix is closing so today is the last AI for this heat cycle...
Sunday, July 20, 2003 -- Smart Cookie is looking a little chunky. We still can't tell if she's pregnant.
Monday, July 28, 2003 -- Today is day 29 from the last AI so off to the animal clinic for an ultrasound... The ultrasound machine allows the vet to look at a sonogram and see if there are puppies conceived. Dr. Jerry put water soluble gel on the wand and rubbed it over Smart Cookie's tummy.
The canine's uterus' shape is called a 'horn' but looks to me like a wish bone.
Puppies can develop on either the left or right horn. Dr. Jerry showed me three puppies on the right horn
and one or two puppies on the left. The count is inaccurate because it is VERY hard to follow the horns from start to end.
All Dr. Jerry would say is that Smart Cookie has multiple puppies...
Saturday, August 9, 2003 -- Today is day 47 from the first AI.
She is steadily gaining weight and settling down (just a little).
The average wait between conception and whelping (gestation time) is 63 days according to Dr. Frank.
Conception is sometime between the first AI and 4 days after the last AI and depends on the ovulation of the female.
We start watching the mother to be for signs of labor starting at 60 days past the first AI so we have
about two weeks to go with Smart Cookie.
Saturday, August 23, 2003 -- Today is day 59 from the first AI. Smart Cookie is very large! We are watching for the signs that it is time for a C-section.
- These are the signs:
- She must be at least 60 days from the first AI. (Less than 12 days to go...)
- She must be producing milk (Less than 5 days to go...)
- She stops eating (Less than 24 hours to go...)
- She starts to nest (in a closet, under the porch, ...(Less than 24 hours to go...))
- She loses her 'plug' or 'leaks water' (Less than 4 hours to go...)
- Her temperature drops below 99.9 degrees. (Less than 2 hours to go...)
- She starts panting loudly (Less than 1 hour to go...)
One thing that we dread is the sight of greenish black fluid issuing from her vagina. This means that a puppy has been compromised (the placenta has been displaced) and odds are that it won't make it.
This is the nerve racking part of raising English bulldogs.
Someone always wants to know if it would be better to have the C-Section early.
The answer is that if the puppies are taken too early, they aren't developed enough to survive.
Sunday, August 24, 2003 -- Today is day 60 from the first AI.
We've been up several times during the night to feed Charlotte's puppy and check on Smart Cookie. She can not get comfortable. She is not eating her breakfast! She has a little milk. She is panting. But, her temperature is normal.
10 A.M. -- Smart Cookies temperature has dropped to below 100 degrees (99.4) -- Time to go!
Judy calls the Vet's emergency phone and arranges to meet the doctor at 11.
The Puppy-mobile is loaded with whelping gear and the lady in waiting (who can't wait any more!)
11 A.M. -- We talk to the doctor, Kerry Pulse, and review her status since it's only day 60.
Smart Cookie is dilated so a catheter is inserted into a vein in her right fore leg.
This will allow anesthesia to be administered and water supplement to replace any loss.
Bob is comforting Smart Cookie while turning the fore leg out to expose the vein for the doctor.
Smart Cookie is administered the anesthesia (about 60% of that which is used for a long nosed dog).
She is sleeping peacefully within 10 seconds. She is positioned on her back and
the breathing tube is inserted to prevent her tongue or soft palate interfering with her respiration.
The doctor prepares the area and makes the first incision.
The horns are full of babies!
They are so large, the doctor is forced to extend the incision so the horns can be lifted out.
The first puppy is a water baby and is twice the size of the others. He will not survive.
The doctor removes the next puppy, breaks the embryonic sack and places the puppy onto paper towels in Bob's hands.
Bob attaches a hemostat onto the umbilical cord about an inch away from the puppy and
Dr. Pulse snips the cord to detach the placenta.
Bob then slings the puppy by securely holding the head and swinging the puppy in a big arc.
The mucous in the lungs is forced out the nose and mouth.
Bob also uses a rubber ear syringe to suck out any mucous from the puppy's nostrils and mouth.
Judy vigorously rubs the puppy to stimulate breathing.
The puppies take a shallow breath, then another 10 seconds later, then another.
Eventually, all seven puppies are breathing -- some a little ragged.
Bob uses the syringe on those that 'gurgle' or sound like they still have mucous.
Judy keeps them warm and dry.
Most of the puppies are crying now -- some are crawling...
Dr. Pulse ties off the umbilical cords and the hemostats are removed.
Judy arranges them in the puppy basket with the 'Snuggle Safe'.
Snuggle Safe is a warming disk that keeps the babies warm without the danger of overheating like a heating pad.
While the puppies have been revived, the doctor has sewn the incisions and cleaned up the new mother.
Smart Cookie is still sleeping but will be awake before we get home.
She needs to keep warm so she's wrapped in a blanket and taken to the van.
She wakes up to the sound of puppies crying.
As soon as we get home, and are sure that Smart Cookie is 'really' awake and most of the anesthesia is out of her blood stream,
we put her puppies with her. We never leave her alone! She can turn over and injure a puppy in a flash.
I also prevent her from chewing the umbilical cord for two days -- I let them dry up and fall off.
This means that I take over the 'potty' procedure. The mother usually licks them until they urinate and deficate.
But, with the aid of a damp wash cloth, the 'temporary' chamber maid does the job.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003 -- The puppies are two days old.
The feeding schedule for the puppies was every 2 hours their first 24 hours and every
3 hours the second 24 hours. These first feeding sessions are very important.
The puppies are learning how to nurse, they need the colostrum from the mother
and they are trying to make up for any weight loss from whelping.
One of the puppies is not nursing well so I express milk from Smart Cookie or
Charlotte and feed it to the puppy. I let him nurse on the end of my finger
while I dribble the milk VERY SLOWLY beside my finger into his mouth.
Tuesday, September 2, 2003
-- The puppies first trip to the vets.
The littlest Cookie is "Spritz Cookie" (which means 'squirt') was examined by Dr. Frank -- his heart is okay and everything seems to be formed correctly but, he is smaller than all the rest. We may have to call him "Goober" after his brother, 'Peanut Butter Cookie' who started out as the smallest but now is the largest in his litter!
The others in the litter had their dewclaws removed.