My Cavooodle's Caesarian and the pups first two weeks

My Cavoodle’s Pregnancy, Caesarean Birth and the Puppies' First Fifteen Days.

The reason that I wrote this diary is because when I discovered that Sookie was pregnant I Googled everything about delivering and caring for puppies, but it seemed as if much of the information was copied from everyone else. Everybody talked about birthing boxes and heat lamps, but why? It was as if birthing had been overtaken by a list of ‘must-haves’. As we went through the days of caring for the new pups, I realized that a lot of events had not been covered – and so I kept my diary.

As you read this remember two things: I am not a vet and I have no veterinary experience. I have written only what happened and what we did. This is not advice and if you copy any of the things that we did, then the consequences are entirely your own.

Here is our story…

I have a stud dog Cavoodle named Buster. He’s 2 years old. I have Sookie, a female Cavoodle that I always intended to mate – but I never got around to it and then she got old. Too old for puppies. But Buster didn’t know that and on Christmas Day he gave her a Christmas present. Suddenly, Sookie, my 9-year old Cavoodle, was pregnant!

She’d had a phantom pregnancy a year earlier, so when she started putting on weight, I ignored it and assumed it was old age. Then in January, she needed her annual jabs. I mentioned to the vet that she might, just might, be pregnant. Our vet immediately told me to leave her for X-rays and Ultrasounds, so I went shopping and 3 hours later her pregnancy was confirmed – with HUGE reservations from the vet and even a recommendation to abort.

I was dead against it. So, our vet told me to take great care and bring her back in a fortnight. In the meantime, they had detected 3 heartbeats. One puppy seemed viable but the other 2 were small and doubtful.

DIET: Feeling terribly guilty, I swung into ‘Grandma will take care of this’ mode. On vet recommendations, I bought Di-Vetilact puppy milk powder and Royal Canin puppy bikkies (from Petbarn) and began feeding them to Sookie. Apparently, it will build up her puppies. Without advice, I also began feeding her a supplementary diet of cat food! Yes, every day I squeezed half a sachet of either Tuna, Salmon or Sardine cat food onto the top of her bikkies. It had 2 effects: 1) she loved it and gobbled it all up and 2) I hoped that the fish would give her the additional protein and nutrients needed to help the puppies grow. I also bought fish, cooked and chopped it up as an alternative food. And a cooked chicken from the supermarket was shared with her. The vet said it was important not to give her raw meat. I also ground up a half tablet of calcium per day and mixed it into her food to supplement the calcium that she was giving to her puppies. I remembered that two puppies were small, I figured the extra calcium would help. On one occasion I gave her half an iron tablet – but I think she may have vomited that back up with a tummy full of grass. Not sure. I began giving her three meals a day. She thought it was wonderful and ate the lot. She wasn’t that keen on the Di-Vetilact puppy milk. She preferred water.

PROGRESS:

Two weeks later I took her back to the vet for more ultrasounds and X-rays. Wonderful result! The two small puppies had caught up and all three pups looked strong and healthy. I told the vet about the calcium and she advised that I stop it as the dog produces her own calcium. I agreed – but I’m still pleased I did it. We humans take calcium during pregnancy and I’m quietly confident that it did her good.

We discussed that Sookie (being 9 years old, or 60 in human years) was in danger of not living through the pregnancy, or may not suckle well, and so I should be prepared to have a bottle of milk ready for the pups.

My next trip was to Chemist Warehouse for supplies. I bought a pack of two small (new-born human) baby milk bottles. I figured that I could only feed one or two at a time, so getting 3 was a waste.

I had read that the dogs temperature drops dramatically when she is about to give birth. We had tried to take her temperature only to find that the 2 thermometers we had in the house – were both not working! I bought a digital read-out thermometer for $17.

TEMPERATURE: I really didn’t want to stick a new $17 thermometer up my dogs bum only to throw it away after – so I wrapped it in a small freezer bag. Don’t forget, it doesn’t need to be inserted far – just the silver tip needs to be covered. Keep the tip pointing slightly upwards, towards the spine, because that is the way the rectum points. Just insert about 1 centimeter (less than half an inch) and the thermometer beeps when the temperature has stabilized for a reading. Then I threw away the bag and washed and sterilized the thermometer. It didn’t come in contact with the dog – but I’m happier that it got cleaned properly anyway.

Sookie’s temperature was 41⁰C. (100⁰F). That’s about normal for a dog. Apparently one way to tell if she’s about to give birth is that her temperature drops. And three days later it did!

On Tuesday 23rd February, she was registering 37.8⁰C. She was due on Friday 26th, but now we were on a 'Code Puppy' alert. The vet had said she might ‘pop’ early.

Wednesday night we had a storm and Sookie hates thunder. Wimpy-girl wanted to be cuddled. When the storm abated, I was able to pry her off my lap but the dogs slept that night in the kitchen, whereas they usually sleep outside. The storm came back and I was woken by Buster licking my face. I ended up curled up in a foetal position on the 2-seater couch, keeping an eye on Sookie. The only thing that happened was that I woke next day with a sore back.

EXERCISE: We felt it important to keep her exercise going with two walks a day. The only difference was – shorter and slower walks. But she loved it and looked forward to it, getting very excited when I brought her lead out.

By Wednesday 24th Feb she was panting heavily all the time. True, it was a 30⁰C day – but I had the air conditioner on in the kitchen/meals room and she sat right under it. We joked that she had found her birthing-place.

GETTING PREPARED: Everybody talks about keeping pups warm and maybe getting a heat-lamp. I was completely against that! For one thing, I felt that it could hurt the pup’s eyes. They are born with their eyes shut because they are not prepared for light yet. I decided on a 2 litre milk bottle filled with warm water and wrapped in a towel to warm them if they needed it. That gives them a natural heat source and one that they can move away from if they get too hot. Also – that advice about a heat lamp covers cold climates. Currently we are in an Australian Summer and I suspect that keeping them cool will be the challenge. Sookie pants all the time, even underneath the air-conditioner.

Birthing Box – we decided to put Sookie in the laundry where she has ready access to the back garden to go out and relieve herself. Also, I have ready access to water, so mess would clean up easily. We just placed a plank across the door to stop the pups from escaping and I got a shallow cardboard fruit box from the greengrocers to place the pups safely away from harm and give them a comfortable place to sleep. (It turned out that we only used this for carrying them from room to room). A quick trip to the op-shop got me 6 x $1 towels and 3 velour blankets for them to sleep on. Pete stuck a ‘Beware of the Dog’ sign on the door – and we were all set.

I found some dental floss to tie off the pup’s umbilical cords. Each pup is born inside its own sac and has its own placenta which Sookie might eat. I had read that ideally, Sookie would tear the birthing sac off each pup as it was born, allowing it to breathe. While it is in the sac, there is no air, so getting the pup free is really important. Then, (I read on Google several times…) ‘if the pup isn’t breathing, hold it upside down and swing it gently like a pendulum to let the lungs drain of any mucus that might be clogging the airway. And give it a massage’. All so much to worry about! But we have about another 2 days …

THURSDAY 25th FEBRUARY (Day 1)

All along I had picked this date in my mind as the Birth Day. When we got ready to take all our dogs out for an early morning walk, I was particularly mindful of Sookie. As we walked them through the gate, I noticed a purple lump appear through her vulva. On close examination, I could see it wasn’t a pup and when her tail slumped, it slipped back inside. When she squatted on the grass and tried to poo, it reappeared and when she finished it slipped in again. I guessed this was an afterbirth. It appeared as a dark purple plum shape but looked like it was made of liver. I rang the vet.

She confirmed that it was an afterbirth and if Sookie didn’t begin labour within the next hour or two – we should bring her in.

She didn’t, so we brought her in. An injection of Oxytocin to induce contractions didn’t work so I had to allow them to give her a Caesarian Section. That was sad. I’d looked forward to being a midwife, helping her through her labour in the middle of the night. I’d read that most births occur at night because of a release of serotonin during sleep and I was ready for it. Instead, I left her behind and went shopping.

An hour later I went back to the vet hospital. Nobody was around. I poked my head around the corner and through the window I saw them all gowned up and operating. They saw me and gave me a thumbs-up. Phew!

Happy me went home. Two hours later, Claire the Vet sent me photos of puppies. And there was a surprise – Four! We had four puppies, not three. The fourth had been hiding and not shown up on the ultrasound or the X-ray. The Caesarian had cost about $2,000 so at this point she has cost about $3,000 all up, including other vet visits and purchases.

At 3.30pm we collected them. I don’t think we did anything else for the rest of the day…. Watching the pups was wonderful. We had a bed made up in a quiet area of the meals area where Sookie could be with us and we could watch her easily. This is where the family congregates, so she was happy here.

At first, Sookie seemed confused. She’d gone to sleep. When she woke up, there were these squeaky, crawly little things everywhere. What had happened? I guided the pups onto her nipples and they knew what to do. Suddenly, the penny dropped for her and she began to lick them. I found that feeding Sookie while she was feeding the pups was beneficial. It seemed to prompt them into feeding more strongly.

That night, we took them into the prepared area in the laundry. I left the door open so that I could listen out for any sounds of trouble. The puppies squeaked and I was in and out of bed like a yo-yo. After about my fourth visit, I worked out that Sookie had it all under control: a puppy squeaked and she licked it back into position until it was feeding again. Then she looked up at me with a grin. ‘What are you so worried about?’ she seemed to say. I went back to bed, shut the door and had a good sleep.

FRIDAY 26th Feb (Day 2)

The first thing I noticed the next morning, was small clumps of afterbirth everywhere on the blanket. I was concerned at first, then I remembered that after giving birth, humans have about a week of heavy bleeding. This, I guessed, was the same thing for dogs. I decided to keep an eye on her and only call the vet if it became heavy or if Sookie began to suffer. Sookie ate lots of small doses of food. I was now feeding her about 5 – 6 feeds a day of small portions. I gave it to her in bed as she didn’t want to leave the pups. Same with water; although it was available, I offered it to her in bed and then removed it from the bed, just in case a pup should scramble into the dish and drown.

DIET: I was now giving Sookie Royal Canin puppy bikkies and puppy soft food, occasionally supplemented by grated cheese and bits of cooked chicken or more fishy cat food. The vet had said not to give any raw fish or meat. I was also offering her the puppy milk formula, but at first she wasn’t that keen. However, a spoonful of milkshake added to the mix soon changed that!

As far as I was aware, the puppies were all scrabbling for teats and I confess, I didn’t take a lot of notice at this point. They appeared to all be feeding well.

Sookie almost didn’t move all day. She didn’t want to go out and pee or poo. When I tried to insist, she became distressed, so I left her.

Midday – we weighed them. They ranged from 120 – 220 grams each.

We named them (A, B, C & D) Alice (130gms), Bobby (120 gms. Named for my stepfather, deceased) Claire (160gms. Named for our vet) and Davy (220gms. Named for my brother who had turned 60 on the day that they were born – so they share the same birthday).

SATURDAY 27th Feb (day 3)

Pretty much a repeat of day 2 except that this time Sookie wanted to go outside with our other dogs and went straight on the grass where she promptly did her business (1 & 2) then scampered back indoors as fast as her stumpy little legs would carry her.

It always surprised me that she plopped herself carelessly down on the blanket, often sitting on a pup, which squealed then she’d help it wriggle out and lick it. No harm done.

We checked out Sookie’s scar, from the Caesar, and it was very neat, causing her no problems at all. The vet had given us some pain killers for her, but she doesn’t appear to be in any discomfort so tonight will be her last dose.

SLEEPING AND BEDDING: I had bought three soft velour blankets from op-shops and folded them into quarters for thickness and softness, while still firm enough to give traction and space. I placed rolled towels around the edges, to form a sort of barrier. It worked really well. At night, when we put them in the laundry, the blanket they’d been on all day got shaken and re-folded so that the stains were now folded inside, and the fresh sides were facing the pups.

In the morning, when it was completely soiled, it got shaken and washed and we used the second blanket. Having 3 blankets meant that a day of rain was not going to be a problem and the wee smell wasn’t an issue either. I had newspaper under the blankets, but I didn’t want the pups coming in contact with it. Under the blanket meant it absorbed the wee and could easily be thrown.

But that night we had our first problem.

After a trip to the bathroom, I checked the pups on my way back to bed. Also, I wanted to feed Sookie. I could see she had re-arranged the bedding and the pups were lying directly on the cardboard and newspaper. That’s no good. I placed the pups to one side and tugged the blanket back into place. Then I noticed how cold Alice was! The other pups were warmer than my hand but she was colder. Also, she was looking thin and wrinkly. I realized that she needed to be fed so I put her on a nipple. Alice refused to open her mouth to take it. I kept trying but it was no good. I knew that I would have to feed her some puppy formula.

In the kitchen I mixed it up, but the problem that presented was that if she wasn’t opening her mouth for a nipple then a feeding bottle wouldn’t work, either. What did I have that I could force milk into her?

Occasionally, I colour my hair. The developer crème comes in a white plastic bottle with a pointy end and is just perfect for what I needed. I poured the crème into a bowl and washed the bottle about 10 times with hot water before I added the milk formula.

Back in the laundry, Alice had rolled away from the others and was lying motionless on the blanket. Sookie was obviously worried but feeding the others. Alice was cold and still, but not dead yet. I gently forced her mouth open and allowed the pointy-tipped bottle to drip milk into her mouth. She swallowed! I did this for about 2 minutes, then stopped. Alice cried and Sookie came over – all concerned. I allowed them a few moments of bonding and then I fed Alice again. In between feeding her, I cradled her on my chest under my nightie and kept her warm. I hoped that my heartbeat would comfort her and it seemed to work. She snuggled down, relaxed. After 10 minutes, I fed her again. Just tiny amounts because she has such a tiny tummy. I did this for over an hour, not really sure how long but it was 4am when I felt confident enough to go back to bed.

SUNDAY 28th Feb (day 4)

Alice is still alive. I gave her some more formula and she took it, but she was not that keen. I tried again to introduce her to a nipple but she wasn’t interested at all. At least she’s not cold and wrinkly this morning and as I put her back to her mum, I had a discovery: There was puppy poo on my hand! Ask me if I ever thought I’d be delighted at finding I had a hand stained with puppy-poo? But I was. Poo meant that she was eating, digesting and it was all working properly. Yippee!

As I drank my morning coffee, I had an idea to do something that would get me thrown out of Vet School so fast that I’d bounce on my head all the way down the steps. I made Alice a very weak coffee with her formula and added half a teaspoon of sugar. She loved it. I have turned my 4-day-old puppy into a caffeine addict and saved her life.

What she didn’t finish, I poured into a bowl and offered to Sookie – and that was gulped down really fast. What have I started?

At 10am I introduced Alice to a nipple and she took it. Not well, she dropped it a few times but this time she sucked for a while and I hope she is over the worst of it. I’ll continue to keep a close eye on her and supplement the feeding.

MONDAY 1st March (Day 5)

Sookie has stopped dropping afterbirth. No more stains on the blankets. She has become more confident leaving the pups for a quick run around the garden. If Buster (the dad) comes near, she gives him a low-level growl. But I can see he’s only curious. He doesn’t come much closer than half a meter. Our other dog, a labradoodle, has kept even further away, and as for the cat… well, I said, ‘Keep an eye on the cat. She might think they are mice.’ The cat walked in. Took one look, went: ‘OMG – More smelly dogs!’ And stalked out again.

Diet-wise: very much like day 4 except I’ve now substituted the sugar with honey. Alice and Bobby are both underweight with Claire and Davy much bigger and stronger. Davy (the Big Boppa) pushes everyone out of the way in search of a nipple. At the end of this diary I have included a chart showing their weight gains.

TUESDAY 2nd March (Day 6)

We had to go out for a few hours and leave them on their own. Panic! Then I remembered they spent each night on their own, so they’d be okay. This is one good reason why I won’t allow the dogs on our beds – much less allow them to sleep with us. They get lots of cuddles in the day and we have a ‘cuddle couch’ so they don’t get on the good furniture. But the separation at night means they have confidence to not worry about us being away.

I left the air conditioner on in the kitchen/dining and set them up comfortably, then left the laundry door open for the adult dogs to visit the back garden. From what I could tell when we got back, the babies had stayed put and all was well.

Feeding continued as before with me giving supplementary milk feeds to Alice and Bobby, but I’ve noticed they are also suckling. While they are smaller, I shall keep up the extra feeds.

All the puppies are looking well, and I’ve noticed that Alice is beginning to get the slightest wave in her coat. Not surprising, as both her parents are curly.

WEDNESDAY 3rd March (Day 7)

Everything’s good. Alice and Bobby are suckling better, so I’ve discarded the Hair Colour bottle and started using a newborn (human) baby bottle that I bought from Chemist Warehouse. Now that Claire is opening her mouth, she prefers this (not surprisingly!) and is learning how to suck strongly. Previously, the hair colour bottle had the advantage of being able to penetrate a closed mouth and it dripped – so she was taking milk without sucking. She'd just had to swallow.

Sookie is more relaxed. She is now prepared to leave them for more than a few minutes and sit near enough to keep an eye on them. She’s more inclined to watch them as they roll over and struggle to right themselves, without rushing to pick them up. This means the pups are getting stronger by exerting themselves and learning more about their environment even though their eyes are still shut.

THURSDAY 4th March (Day 8)

Everybody’s pooing except Alice and this might be one of the reasons she’s not suckling well again. Her belly is swollen and she can’t stand up. She rolls over and then commando-crawls to her destination.

Vet check for everyone at 10am. Claire the vet examined them all and they are fine except Alice who, I’m told, might not make it. Claire showed me how to rub her tummy near the vulva to promote a wee and under the tail to promote a poo.

At home, I fed her again and then rubbed her. I got a wee but no poo and I guessed she’s constipated so then I did something terrible! I crushed half a laxative into her milk drink. Alice drinks 10mls at a time so I was not worried about overdosing her. I’d mixed up 120mls of milk and over the next 10 hours she drank about 30mls and I threw the rest away.

FRIDAY 5th March (Day 9)

I rubbed Alice’s tummy as shown and was rewarded with a 3-paper towel sized poo that finished with me showering her under the bathroom tap. Alice went to sleep and then suckled normally. More importantly, when she woke, she fought for her position on the teats!

I moved their bed outside onto the Alfresco for an hour, just for a change. Sookie has got her figure back and is enjoying eating everything she’s given. Because she is feeding the pups, I have increased her diet by nearly 100%. Sometimes I mix meat juices into her water – which ensures that she drinks everything up straight away. She needs to drink lots to produce the milk for the pups. This is the only piece of advice I actively pass on: Nourish your girl well so she can feed her pups.

MONDAY 9th March (Day 12)

We took Sookie for her first walk since the pups were born. She loved it! Since Friday Alice has thrived. She fights for a teat and is weeing and pooing normally. She has worked out that if she burrows under the other pups and comes up from beneath them, she can knock one off and take its place. It’s funny to see Davy, around twice her size, being rolled off the ‘Milk Bar’.

THURSDAY 11th March 2021 (Day 14)

Three pups have their eyes open. We visited to the vet to collect puppy worming solution. Alice is now officially pronounced 'Thriving'. Claire the vet posed for a picture with Claire the puppy.

By the time they reached three weeks old, they had all started walking and we noticed them having wonderful dreams, complete with little barks and waggy tails. We wondered what tiny pups could dream about? Past lives, perhaps? Future lives? Possibly. Nice warm cuddles and a full tummy? Probably. But so long as they are happy and healthy, it's all good.