Finally got some sleep

Last night was bliss - a full nights sleep in a real bed while Morag spent the night with Jess and the pups.  They are sooooo adorable !  I can't believe looking at them that they were actually all inside Jess - no wonder she resembled a blimp in the last week of her pregnancy.

Now that the whelping is over, it's time to turn my attention to the next stage of the process - care of the puppies (and mom).  I'm paranoid about room temperature (making sure it's kept between 23 and 25 degrees C) as this is the leading cause of puppies not making it past the first week.  For the first 7 - 10 days they are unable to regulate their own body temperature and rely entirely on ambient heat for their warmth, either from cuddling close in to mum or the bedding. I was originally going for some heat pads but didn't bother in the end - watching the little guys crawl around the whelping box I'm just not sure how you'd keep them in the area with the heat pad - I suppose they would gravitate to it in search of heat. I figured it was easier to ensure all the pups were kept at the right temp to monitor the room temperature. I have a large digital thermometer placed just above the whelping box with min, max and current temperature so it's easy to keep an eye on it.

We're also keeping a close eye on Jess - the poor thing doesn't get a moments peace. Thankfully she has been happy to leave the bed for a few minutes during the day so we can keep her clean, she can pee and poo and we get the chance to rotate the vet bed in the whelping box.  I took her around the estate for 10 min today to allow her to stretch her legs.  As soon as she's back in the house though she goes running quickly up to the box and checks on her babies :)

Amazingly enough (never thought I would see the day), jess is somewhat off her food. She normally eats entirely on a raw meaty bone diet - lots of bone, meat, liver, kidney, tripe etc.. but she's turning her nose up at most of it. Was able to tempt her with some steak as well as chicken mince. She had a few chicken wings but turned away after about 4 (previously she would have eaten 4 kg of them !).  Started giving her a little bit of puppy biscuit as well, the type we'll be using to wean the puppies.

Up until the birth, my research was solely on the birthing process - what was expected, what was not, what constituted an emergency and how to handle it - I must have read the same chapters in each of the books 20 times at least :) Now I can forget about that and concentrate on getting the puppies through the first 2 weeks which is such a critical period for them. The literature on fading puppy syndrome and the myriad of problems/complications that can arrive is daunting :(

We are lucky enough to already have enough people on the waiting list to ensure that all puppies will have new owners looking to provide them with all the love and the care in the world they deserve :)