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.