A trying time + more than you ever wanted to know about dog reproduction

The last five days have been a whirlwind. I received a lot of questions about Minnie’s singleton puppy and c-section on Monday. I will try answering them to the best of my ability.

During the artificial insemination, if there is viable semen, we know the number of puppies is almost entirely the responsibility of the bitch. In other words, Minnie only had one viable egg. Because one puppy was produced, timing is not suspect. Frozen and fresh-extended semen has a limited viability once inseminated. 12 hours for frozen, 48 +/- for extended. Natural inseminations have about a 72 hour viability from a healthy stud. From these numbers, getting the science correct for ovulation and ripening is essential. With frozen semen, it is a little like shooting a gun from a moving train at a moving car.

There are a number of different reasons a female may fail to have a full litter. Foremost, it had been two years since we last bred Minnie. Bitches are hormonally stimulated by pregnancy. A fair demonstration would of this theory is Hazel. Her first litter, at age 3 ½ yielded 4 pups. Her second, one year later, yielded 6 puppies. Her third, another year later, yielded ten puppies. While it is imperative to rest your bitch between litters, you shouldn’t rest her too long. Their bodies don’t have to invest in parts that are not being used. Of course, this is a very individual thing. One bitch may happily have a litter of 8 at age 5 without ever having been bred. Heidi and Jane would be a good examples, both were 4-5 when they first conceived by artificial insemination. Jane had 10 puppies, Heidi had 8 puppies.

Minnie had one other litter of seven puppies in 2006. She delivered quickly, with no complications. It is a commonly known fact, when faced with a singleton, a female may not have enough hormones to properly dilate and deliver one puppy. Minnie had not started any kind of serious, labor-bearing contractions within a reasonable amount of time. There is a gray area of what is “reasonable”.

Having gone past her due date, we felt a c-section may be the best course of action to save the one viable puppy and to preserve Minnie’s health. My vet has always maintained it is better to get the puppies out via c-section than to try to induce the bitch to deliver with drugs. The longer the puppies are in the process, the more likely you are to lose them. While it seems dramatic, I can assure everyone it was likely the best solution we could provide for a delicate situation.

I wanted to be in the operating room for the surgery. My vet was very deliberate about everything he did during the procedure. I was also able to get a true canine reproduction anatomy lesson. It was not easy to see my dog knocked out and cut open. Before the surgery, I elected to have an epidural performed on Minnie for pain control. They shaved the base of her spine and gave Minnie three different injections.

The puppy popped out with standard c-section complications. She was blue, really blue. Puppies are affected by general anesthesia. She had a strong heartbeat so we had plenty to work with. Having the vet tech take the puppy and work on her ended up being the most difficult part for me. I’ve delivered many puppies who needed life-stimulating techniques, but it was out of my hands. They had a mini-oxygen mask set up along with hot towels, a needle and a bulb syringe, all which were put to good and proper use. There were no stillborn puppies, this puppy was the only one she carried. It is possible she had more at one point and reabsorbed them.

It is now Wednesday and the puppy is almost two days old. Her little feet are properly pink and she has gained 3 oz. Other than a slightly stuffy nose, she is healthy and nursing. Minnie is out of her normal mind but slowly recovering. The epidural has long worn off and pain medication has to be closely monitored so it doesn’t transfer into Minnie’s milk supply. I feel bad for my dog, she seems confused, frustrated and almost too possessive of the baby to be comfortable. She is a strong and resilient dog.

While waiting for our appointment, my mind had already raced down the road and around the corner with the worst-case-scenario. We felt a baby moving in there days before, but had not felt anything for several hours. The vet gave me the run down of possible scenarios if the litter had died. My mind rejected these possibilities, even though I’d already gone over the reality of the situation one-hundred times. I believe we were lucky we had a positive outcome.

The home stretch

It is the 4th of March and we are coming into the home stretch of Minnie’s pregnancy. After going through a litter of 9 and a litter of 8 with other girls in the recent past, I can firmly say she doesn’t have anywhere close to that many puppies. My high guess would be 5. I know I said I was through guessing but speculating about litter size is a pastime! It will be fun not to have a mega-litter. My only wish is everyone is healthy and Minnie makes it through whelp without complications.

My whelping box has been delayed a few days but it should be in my hands on Sunday at the latest, or we’ll be setting up the old one. The new one should be much nicer though.

We were able to feel one of the babies kick a tiny bit last night when Minnie relaxed enough. I will be gone for a few days to a dog show. I’ll be interested to see how big (or not big) she is when I return. Her whelp date is a week from this Friday!