Vet check

Yesterday we took the pups and mum off to our vets for a checkup of both mum and the puppies. Each puppy was checked by the vet for any inherited defects - checking mouth, feet, anus, chest sounds and a quick once over.  All the puppies are doing very well, putting on lots of weight and in good health :)

For poor Jess, the story wasn't quite the same though.  She has really been off her appetite which was worrying us - I know a lot of dogs get quite fussy just after whelping so I had thought that was the main reason and we were trying her on anything we could think of (never used to any sort of appetite issues from Jess before !) Thankfully she was still drinking plenty - and I was mixing tons of glucose powder in with her water.  Her vaginal discharge, which normally continues for the first couple of weeks after whelping, was a little pussy and "dirty" (vets words!). She also had a high temperature. The vet believed she had an infection in her uterus so prescribed her a course of antibiotics.  After one day of tablets what a difference !  Her appetite, while not completely back, was definitely heading in the right direction.  When Morag came down to relieve my puppy vigil at 4am Jess wolfed down a whole tray of natures diet puppy food along with some other treats :)  Yay, seems antibiotics are working very effectively (and quickly) which I hope is a sign that the infection was not too bad.  It's a five day course of antibiotics.

Started to take Jess on slightly longer walks and staying outside with her a bit to give her a break from the pups !  She will come back in and stay out of the box for a while but if there's too much noise coming back from the pups, she's back in and they're all feeding off her within seconds !  It really is incredible to see her mothering instinct.

We're back to the vets in 10 days time to start the first round of worming - 3 days treatment at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks.

Costs : Second treatment of oxytocin during whelping at our vets £34, xray before oxytocin £50, puppy and jess check up £26.50, antibiotics £22