dachshunds | Dangerous Common Sense

Day 6 — Metro Died

By Galen|2018-10-01T18:55:24-07:00September 30, 2018|dachshunds|

We received a call from the hospital about 11 last night. The doctor told us that Metro had died. We feel the loss. This is the first puppy we have had die in our three litters. We know that the rate of puppy mortality is fairly high, but Metro's is our first death. Metro struggled to find his way from his first moments. The photo below shows the care team at Bishop Ranch trying to help Metro latch on to his mother. He really never got the hang of finding a nipple and eating. Trying to Help Metro Eat [...]

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Day 6 — An Emergency Metro Update

By Galen|2018-09-29T19:27:33-07:00September 29, 2018|dachshunds|

Metro Being Bottle Fed at Home Earlier this Week Metro Has Aspirated Milk at the Hospital... They tube fed him and gave him the bottle which he sucked on some. They put him back in his cage and the next time they checked him, at about 4 pm, they saw milk coming from his nose and mouth. They x-rayed and confirmed that there is fluid in his lungs … they are giving him oxygen, and he's fighting still. The doctor said that there's nothing they can do beyond the oxygen, giving him a prophylactic antibiotic, and hoping. It [...]

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Day 6 — Metro Keeps Hanging In and MUNI Gets Cute

By Galen|2018-09-29T13:16:26-07:00September 29, 2018|dachshunds|

The morning hospital report on Metro was okay, but not great. He is up to "the high 140 grams" based on the doctor's memory; the chart was not available. That's up from 139g yesterday morning. But, he's still weak on sucking so they are feeding him both by tube and bottle. Every hour, apparently. Last night's and this morning's doctors advised against a family visit. Yesterday morning's doctor and our regular vet said we should see him and bring his mother or at least a towel with her smells on it. We are trying to follow doctor's orders, but we [...]

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Day 5 – The Tale of Two Puppies Continues

By Galen|2018-09-28T09:16:28-07:00September 28, 2018|dachshunds|

Our puppies continue their divergent paths. Metro did only okay overnight, the hospital said. He started losing weight, so they put him back on tube feeding for a while. He is also being bottle fed. His weight went from 139g yesterday night, down to some unspecified level overnight, and back to 136g this morning. The doctor said that they might want us to bring Zenith and MUNI over to Metro sometime today to see if chewing on Mom will help him. The doctor said that all Metro's vitals... except for eating and weight... are fine. Heart, lungs, and a few [...]

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Day 4 — There’s Something to Be Said for Stability

By Galen|2018-09-28T09:44:22-07:00September 27, 2018|dachshunds|

The ER vets just called. Metro has drunk his last two meals from a bottle! But, he is still having trouble staying warm. So, he's staying there tonight. Next scheduled update, tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, MUNI (remember her) has been snacking, smacking, and sleeping all day. She looks good. MUNI on Day 4 By Herself Zenith had an actual full meal at lunch for the first time since the C-Section. She also pooped and peed to make me happy. Zenith has gotten agitated at times, nesting/digging at the towels on the whelping box floor. She also has walked oddly [...]

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Day 4 — Struggling to Thrive

By Galen|2018-10-01T18:56:32-07:00September 27, 2018|dachshunds|

Metro is in the incubator at the emergency room where we brought him at in the middle of the night. When we fed him yesterday afternoon, we hoped he had turned the corner. He sucked from the bottle, and the amount of fluid our vet calculated that he drank sounded good. Unfortunately, the feedings at 6:30, 10, and 1 am had him eating very little. He kept losing weight, getting down to 4.97 ounces at 3 am from 5.39 ounces at 9 in the morning. He was born at 6.31 ounces... losing weight the first day is normal, and he [...]

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Day 3 — Intervention

By Galen|2018-10-01T18:57:43-07:00September 26, 2018|dachshunds|

Geoffrey Blowing on Metro to Keep Him Warm Prior to Feeding At the instructions of our regular vet, we went out and bought puppy nipples and bottles from Petco after her 10:30 visit. The formula Dr. Cain recommends was fine, but the delivery mechanisms we'd acquired were too large for dachshund puppies! Our SF vet, Dr. Jill Chase, returned to our house at 2:30 to help us give Metro his first bottle feeding. One part formula, two parts warm water, stir, mix, put in the bottle and feed. Pretty straight forward... unless you've never done it before, the [...]

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Day 3 — Eat! Please!!

By Galen|2018-10-01T18:58:27-07:00September 26, 2018|dachshunds|

MUNI, the girl seen here on the left, is gaining weight. The boy is losing weight and not staying well latched on. The Midday Report today has to focus on getting nourishment to the boy. The first week of their lives puppies aren't very interesting, anyway. They eat and sleep. They crawl over mother to find a dining spot, but they don't play, open their eyes, or generally act much more than consumers of milk. That's ideally. The girl, who we are tentatively calling MUNI, is doing okay. She is constantly on a nipple and sucking. She's gained [...]

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Trying to Get Comfortable – Day 2 at 1:45 pm

By Galen|2018-10-01T18:58:13-07:00September 25, 2018|dachshunds|

A day for vigilance, or how to act like nervous grandparents. Our major concern at the moment is that Zenith ate only a breakfast of boiled chicken breast at about 7 and has refused more, refused more with rice, refused more with rice and chicken broth. She also has moments of whining and nervousness, moving the puppies further back in the whelping box, especially if both Geoffrey and I are in the room at the same time. The puppies seem fine. The girl continues to nap on a nipple and wakes to nurishment. We worry that the boy stays on [...]

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Zenith’s Puppies — Day One

By Galen|2018-09-24T22:49:29-07:00September 24, 2018|dachshunds|

Zenith's C-Section at Bishop Ranch was on schedule and had happy results. At 2:02 this afternoon a girl was born, followed about a minute later by a smaller, darker boy. Dr. Janice Cain and her team were reassuring, warm, professional, and kept us all healthy and sane. Bringing the Puppy to her first Towelling It's now 10:15 at night and we are all home and settled down a bit. Zenith and the girls are in with Geoffrey in the television room. The heat is on to a cozy 75 degrees. Zenith is in the whelping box, and most [...]

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