Puppies & SNOW !

Full Album, Click HERE and go to Page 4

The puppies had their first interaction with snow today! It was too cold to bring the pups outside, but we didnt want to miss an opportunity for them to interact with snow. So, my husband brought in a Frisbee full of the light fluffy white stuff.

Take a peek at some of the cutest pics!

Misc Cute Pics (end of February)

2-25, 3.5 wks old

2-26

2-26

2-26

2-27

2-27

2-27

2-27

2-27

2-27

2-28

2-28

3.5 Week Old -- Individual Pics

Female 1= Full Album HERE


Female 2= Full Album HERE


Female 3= Full Album HERE


TJ, aka Male 1= Full Album HERE

Weaning & General Progress!! :)

The puppies are starting to become more aware of their surroundings, steadier on their feet, and playful. Watching them, you see tails wagging, play bows, pouncing, paw touches, nibbles, and investigation of toys or new things in their pens. Hearing them, you hear little barks (different pitches depending on what they way), whimpers, or growls.

Everyone is growing like crazy, too. They are all over 2 pounds now, most in the 2.5 pound range marker :)

They spend their time mostly in our living room now, hearing the washer, dryer, dishwasher, furnace, street noises (we even got 'lucky' and had an ambulance come down the other day), snow plows!, the other dogs barking, the tv, the phones ringing, computer noises, etc. ... If someone is not home with them, though, we do place them back in their whelping box for safety and security reasons.

Everybody has had their eyes and ears open for awhile, and they know how to use them to get lots of pets and cuddles. Also, they do all have teeth and know how to use them, so the weaning process began.

During this past week, we have begun weaning the 'little' pups.

It started with goats milk + infant rice cereal:





Then a little soaked kibble was added:



The pups are all doing well and enjoy their new meals of soaked kibble!

Necropsy Results on Little Boo

The preliminary necropsy results came in, 2 pathologists have already reviewed it and agree so far, and sent it onto a specialist in respiratory pathology to get a little more details...

But, in general, its good news for the remaining puppies and Kylee...

All infectious diseases were ruled out - bacterial pneumonia, distemper, CHV, parvo, etc. All cultures so far are negative for everything.

He had a normal structure to his heart (no missing or malformed valves), and all else appeared 'normal' except for his veins...
They were very abnormal - structure (size) and fibrous (too stiff, couldnt contract/open/close/pump), which resulted in congestion in his lungs. This explains the initial diagnosis of pneumonia, and his heart appearance plus the fact of no murmur. His heart was overworked in order to get oxygen (of any quality) into his lungs and body tissues.

This is considered an oddity, an anomaly, with no concern for the litter mates having any problems, as well as Kylee producing a puppy similar to this in the future.

He did have blood in his lungs and evidence of chronically 'oxygen-deprived' tissue.
This was a slow progression from birth with a gradual decline in lung function

The respiratory pathologist still needs to review the case. That person will give us more details - how often it has been seen in past? remarks/comments on genetic influence?

Play Time!

Yesterday, we decided it was time to move the pups to the living room for socializing and interactions :) They are getting more playful with each other, and interested in toys, too.

Here are some of my fav pics I took during the process, with a link at the bottom for the entire album :)

female2

TJ (male1) with toy

F1

F2

F3 on L, F1 on R

Exhausted!!

Entire album link HERE

Weights (2/15 - 2/21)

1

Date, Time	Female1	Female2	Female3	Male1	Male2
Feb 15, 11pm	1.3lb = 20.5oz	1.2lb = 19.6oz	1.2lb = 19.6oz	1.2lb = 19oz	1.3lb = 20.2oz
Feb 17, 11pm	1.5lb = 24.5oz	1.3lb = 21.1oz	1.5lb = 23.2oz	1.3lb = 20.5oz	1.4lb = 22.8oz
Feb 20, 2pm	1.8lb = 29oz	1.5lb = 24.5oz	1.7lb = 27oz	1.5lb = 24.6oz	n/a :(

With Saddness ....

I am very saddened to report that we did lose one puppy. "Little Boo" was also known as Male 2.

On Thursday Feb18, around 630pm he began breathing difficultly. His respiration rate increased, was doing abdominal (labored) breathing, lost his suckle reflex, and stretched his neck out.

He was taken into MSU Small Animal ER where we were told they believed it was pneumonia. Placed him in an oxygen incubator and his breathing began to improve. We decided to leave him there, start him on IV fluids with antibiotics and all were hopeful he would be alright.

About 1030pm MSU called to say they thought he was still doing better, he had begun to relax, regained a suckle reflex, and seemed to have pepped-up. Great we all thought!

330am Fri 2/19 MSU called again to say he had taken a turn for the worse. His breathing was much more erratic, they were concerned he had entered heart failure. We made plans for him to see a cardiologist in the morning and hoped there was something we could do. In the mean time, supportive care was still being administered.

7am, I got another phone call. He really was not doing well. They believed he was entering soon into cardiac arrest, and would not even make it to the cardiologist appointment.

I, then, drove back to MSU to see him myself. His breathing was the worst I had seen it. I placed my hand in the incubator, by his nose, his eyes semi-opened, and he started to move and then began vocalizing. I knew then and there the right thing to do was to end his suffering, as he was in pain. This was no longer a 'simple' pneumonia case :(

The thing that really confused everyone at MSU was that he never, even at the end, had a heart murmur, but the other symptoms were there. Therefore, we authorized a necropsy to be performed. Preliminary results should be back next week.

The little guy was 2.5 weeks old and a sweetheart already. It just does not seem fair that the first ever Sympa Sheltie to pass was one that barely started his life.
In Memorium -- "Little Boo" (2/1, 8am - 2/19, 730am)

Welcome to the world!

5 days old

1.5 weeks old

2 weeks old

2 weeks old

PICTURES --- 2 weeks old

Ok ... WAY too many pictures to post multiple times... This photo album is set for "everyone" to see ... So take a peek at :

General Puppies> HERE

Female 1> HERE
Female 2> HERE
Female 3> HERE
Male 1> HERE
Male 2> HERE

EYES!! :)

Saturday Feb 13 --
Male 1 opened his left eye

Sunday Feb 14 --
Male 1 opened R eye

Monday Feb 15 --
All but M2 have their eyes open, his are just little slits.

Weights! (2/8 - 2/14)

No idea why you have to scroll down so far, sorry about that, but the weights are listed :)

Date, Time	Female1	Female2	Female3	Male1	Male2
Feb 8, 6pm	352g = 12.4oz	339g = 12oz	350g = 12.3oz	345g = 12.2oz	358g = 12.6oz
Feb 9, 9am	367g = 12.95oz	337g = 11.88oz	362g = 12.8oz	355g = 12.5oz	375g = 13.2oz
Feb 9, 3pm	372g = 13.1oz	348g = 12.3oz	368g = 13oz	355g = 12.5oz	377g = 13.3oz
Feb 10, 8am	413g = 14.56oz	361g = 12.7oz	375g = 13.2oz	367g = 12.9oz	411g = 14.5oz
Feb 10, 5pm	413g = 14.56oz	371g = 13.1oz	383g = 13.5oz	379g = 13.4oz	415g = 14.64oz
Feb 11, 1am	427g = 15.1oz	379g = 13.4oz	395g = 13.9oz	384g = 13.5oz	423g = 14.9oz
Feb 11, 1pm	427g = 15.1oz	376g = 13.3oz	409g = 14.4oz	393g = 13.9oz	430g = 15.2oz
Feb 12, 11am	470g = 16.6oz = 1lb	427g = 15.1oz	428g = 15.1oz	429g = 15.1oz	454g = 16oz = 1lb
Feb 13, 4pm	514g = 18.1oz = 1.13lb	440g = 15.5oz	474g = 16.7oz = 1lb	442g = 15.6oz	477g = 16.8oz = 1lb
Feb 14, 11pm	542g = 19.1oz = 1.2lb	498g = 17.6oz = 1.1lb	511g = 18oz = 1.1lb	485g = 17.1oz = 1lb	531g = 18.8oz = 1.2lb

General update :)

Well, its been awhile since I posted any kind of general update on the pups and Ky, so here goes....

All the puppies are doing wonderfully, theyre starting to really crawl/kind of walk instead of slithering and pulling themselves. They are all eating well and gaining weight.

Ky is doing wonderfully nursing them -- on her own now even ! :) Shes never had a problem or been reluctant to clean them, thankfully. She is back on dry food (puppy) only, no canned and we are no longer supplementing her or the pups with Pedialyte (some pups had diarrhea for a few days).

The other dogs in the house are curious about the pups - especially when they make their little noises (grunts, yips, 'barks', etc).

Im hoping to get some good pictures of them this weekend to post. Theyre starting to resemble real Shelties now, and not guinea pigs, gerbils, or whatever little animal you think newborn pups look like :)

As of this morning, no eyes (or ears) are open yet. Should be soon though.

So, all in all, it was totally worth the experience and stress to see these 5 beautiful babies grow and evolve in just such a short time, even. I wouldnt trade the emotional rollercoaster for a second. In fact, I kind of enjoyed hearing that Female1 (natural born) might not make it, but having her be the chubbiest puppy the other day!

I also wanted to mention a change in the webcam. There is now audio on it most of the day as well. And I have had several people (mostly from a Sheltie group I belong to) ask about sending money or toys, to help cover the costs of the ER Csection, extra bandwidth our computer is using doing the webcam 24/7, etc. While it is *not* necessary, I 'broke down' after being asked multiple times to put it up. We will greatly appreciate anything that comes in our mail to stimulate these pups. Any financial resources will also go to help another Sympa puppy (from a previous litter in 2003) who will be needing two very expensive & invasive surgeries shortly.

Any puppy produced by us, we stand behind, and will assist with any major (genetic) health concerns into their lives. We feel this is the right thing to do, without a doubt as we brought the pups into the world. We arent just responsible for their genetic health for 1, 2, or 3 years... Breeding is not about making money, and when done correctly, it does not happen. Breeding is for your passion of improving the breed as a whole. ... Some have asked about our contract, as well. My contract is a little different than others. In addition to the extended support I offer for genetic complications, I offer refunds/rebates for titles (performance and conformation) you put on your Sympa puppy. This encourages doing activities with your new family member, and gets our name out and about in the show circuit as well.

Everyone is sleeping now, so Im going to grab myself a late breakfast and get on with the rest of the day :)

Puppy Weights ! (2/1-2/7)

Female1
2/1 pm = 7.37
2/2 9a = 7.37 ; 7pm = 7.55 ; 10p = 7.69
2/3 10a=7.97 ; 10p=8.22
2/4 3pm=9.1oz
2/5 4pm=10.12
2/6 noon=10.7
2/7 5am=11.1 (Diarrhea since 9pm 2/6)

Female2
2/1 pm = 8
2/2 9am= 8.1 ; 7pm = 7.86 ; 10pm = 7.9
2/3 10am=8.25; 10pm = 8.47
2/4 3pm=9.60
2/5 4pm=10.34 ( !! )
2/6 noon=10.8
2/7 5am=11.4 (loose stool this am)

Female3
2/1 pm=7.72
2/2 9am=7.72 ; 7pm=7.5 ; 10p=7.86
2/3 10am=7.97 ; 10p = 8.11
2/4 3pm=9.07
2/5 4pm=10.19
2/6 noon=10.9 (!!)
2/7 5am=11.9 (!!)

Male1
2/1pm = 7.8
2/2 9am=7.9 ; 7pm=8.22 ; 10p = 8.4
2/3 10am=8.61 ; 10p = 8.64
2/4 3pm=9.31
2/5 4pm=9.59
2/6 noon=10.3
2/7 5am=11.1

Male2
2/1 pm=8.2
2/2 9am=8.4 ; 7p = 8.32 ; 10p = 8.47
2/3 10am=8.29 ; 10p=8.60
2/4 3pm=9.14
2/5 4pm=10.19
2/6 noon=10.7
2/7 5am=11.4 (Diarrhea since 9pm 2/6)

PICTURES!!!!!!! :)

Ok, here's some pics :)

Female 1 --




Female 2--




Female 3--





Male 1--




Male 2--