I’m writing my blog at three minutes past midnight, after what has been an incredible day!
It’s been a very long three days in the Birth Room with Slinky, but today she blessed us with 3 perfect puppies.
I’d forgotten that Slinky likes to take her time and likes a lot of cuddles during her labour. Unlike many of the other Coots girls, she likes me to be very involved with her, holding her paw all the way! But actually, whilst she was slow to get started, once the first stage of her labour began this afternoon, it progressed quite quickly from her first contraction at 1.23pm to her first pup being born at 2.50pm. In fact all three pups were delivered and feeding by 4.30pm. Slinky remained calm throughout and has been incredibly relaxed.
What’s striking is how remarkably shiny these babies coats are. Her first born, a Black and Tan male is so shiny he looks wet. Second pup delivered was a beautiful little Silver Dapple and Tan girl who has a lot of very striking markings, far more impressive than her Daddy! Third pup is another little girl but Chocolate and Tan with a perfect pink (will be brown) nose. All a good healthy size and weight.
When we scanned Slinky, at 30 days, we saw 6 clear embryos. However it later became clear, when scanning again, that Slinky had actually absorbed 3, leaving 3 healthy pups. Whilst this has never happened to us before at Coots, I am assured that it is quite common. In fact it happens in up to 44% of dog pregnancies according to the website petkeen.com. A lot of the time it goes unnoticed as the bitches body absorbs very early before an ultrasound scan has even been performed. It’s crazy to think that the bitches body breaks down the embryo completely, even soft bones and reabsorbs it into its bloodstream. The sophistication and wonder of the dogs body to reject a less than perfect embryo is astounding when you think about it.
But right now, we are grateful for three stunning smooth shiny sausages. All three have loving homes to go to and we were able to share videos and photos throughout the birth with all of them.
We will post tons of pics and videos on social for everyone to enjoy and watch the babies grow.
I’m signing off to catch 40 winks before the next feed monitoring but something tells me Mom has it well in hand!
