puppies2018 | Dangerous Common Sense

Day 6 — Metro Keeps Hanging In and MUNI Gets Cute

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 didn’t know we needed to run an opinion poll to find out what the orders are.

MUNI had her first moments of behavioral cuteness today. When I was leaning into the whelping box to pet and cuddle Zenith, MUNI crawled up between my arm and Zenith, snuggled up a bit to both of us, and then let loose a distinct satisfied sigh.

Awww!

Day 6 – Zenith and MUNI with Galen

She’s doing well on the statistical side, too. She’s up to 10.5 ounces, growing more than the 10% a day target.

Zenith is somewhat less fussy than she’s been other days, although she still isn’t eating dependably. Yesterday she ate two good meals of mostly cottage cheese and boiled chicken, and she a huge dinner (1/3 can of rich Science Diet Urgent Care food and some cottage cheese). She wasn’t really very hungry for breakfast, though. She only picked at the wet dog food. So, Zenith is hit or miss, but she seems to be liking the coddling and extra care.

Zenith has also interacted more today with the rest of the pack. She hung out with them while breakfast was readied, and she also did some happy jumping on SeQueL and Paris (Apex is too fast to be jumped on).

Now, I’ll post this report and go in to the WARM puppy room to do some work.

By Galen|2018-09-29T13:16:26-07:00September 29, 2018|dachshunds|0 Comments

Day 5 – The Tale of Two Puppies Continues

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 other parts are great. No cleft palate. They think he was simply born premature and needs time to catch up.

MUNI, on the other hand, is loving life. She’s up to 8.99 oz from 7.7oz yesterday morning.

Zenith is eating well, but I wish she’d drink a lot more and do some regular outputs. TMI?

Here is a photo of the stay-at-home’s this morning.

Day 5 – MUNI Next to Mom

By Galen|2018-09-28T09:16:28-07:00September 28, 2018|dachshunds|0 Comments

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

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 and tried to chew a stitch sticking out. Dr. Cain thinks the walk may be due to uterine contractions (don’t worry); and we are waiting for the authority to snip the offending stitch.

Geoffrey went to work today, and the rest of the pack is complaining of neglect because I have mostly stayed in the TV room. I might have divided my time more evenly, but the Judiciary Committee hearings were not to be missed.

By Galen|2018-09-28T09:44:22-07:00September 27, 2018|dachshunds|1 Comment

Day 4 — Struggling to Thrive

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 went down to 5.71 on Tuesday night. But, yesterday was his day to start showing gains, and he didn’t.

We didn’t know if he’d last until morning, so we went to the vet at 3:30.

The ER vet who checked us in said that his body temperature was low, probably in part from the drive over where he was wrapped in towels and had a heating stone… and still lost body heat!

At about 8 this morning the ER doctor called and said that Metro is holding his own. He’s being fed every 1 1/2 hours, being kept in the incubator, and maintaining both this weight and body temperature. They hope that he will start being more active and be ready to feed from a bottle again today.

In the first week, the doctor said, some puppies just don’t catch on and start eating. They fail to thrive.

The photo below shows Metro in his first hour of life. He was smaller than his sister then, and has continued to be thin. His failure to eat from his mother or the bottle is life threatening.

Caution! Fragile! Metro in his first hour.

We are rooting for Metro. Eat, boy!

By Galen|2018-10-01T18:56:32-07:00September 27, 2018|dachshunds|1 Comment

Day 3 — Intervention

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 puppy needing food is your two-day old, and the nipple won’t cooperate and accept a pin prick!