Adventures with Kassity

 We didn't get Kassity to the vet to have her spayed. She went into heat and two of the male dogs in the "community" dogs got her. We figured pups would help settle her down and make it easier to train her. She's got a bad case of ADHD. She's got the attention span of a gnat (about 3 seconds even when eating). She just feels that she has to be in the middle of anything going on. We figured being her first litter it would be small. They usually are with most dogs. Boy, were we ever wrong!

About dinner time last Sunday, I was playing with Kass on the sofa. Not as rough as I usually do because of her condition. It's what we usually do. Suddenly, she stopped. We saw the contraction ripple across her flank and belly. She was on her back at the time. Mel put our sandwiches down and ran to her bathroom for a handful of towels. We managed to get her off the sofa and onto the several layers of towel before the first came out with a soft plop. Mel encouraged her to lie down and clean the puppy. Kassity was unsure what to do. 

We always said Kassity lived up to her name meaning (full of love), but she was stupid as a bag of rocks. This dog had to be standing behind the door when God passed out instincts because she had none. Mel had to coach her while she grabbed a towel and help clear the pup's airway. I think the whole birthing process was new to her so we cut her some slack as she ate the placenta. The second pup was born, and then a third. All three were born within fifteen minutes.

She was so busy cleaning the first two that she didn't even notice the third one was born. Mel rescued the pup and cleaned it up. It wasn't breathing. Mel tried to clear his airway, and even went so far as to do a puppy style CPR to no avail. Upon closer inspection, we noticed deformities in this puppy. His legs were backwards and one side of his head was crushed. He probably wouldn't have survived long anyhow.

Just then, Nnyus (our other pit/ridgedback mix dog) started barking at the back of the property.  She'd found something threatening near or on our property. We've learned the sounds/meanings of her types of barking over the years. Kassity was up and out the door before we could stop her. Did I say she was stupid? Yes, I thought so.  She made it out the front door, off the porch before puppy number 4 made her stop in the monkey grass lined front walkway. Followed quickly by puppy number 5. Before Mel got outside, she was gone. She left the puppies in the monkey grass before she tore down the sloped ravine towards Nnyus.

Mel rescued the puppies and cleaned them off. I was tasked with keeping the puppies warm. All four were girls. The ones that were born outside were cold to the touch. These two I placed inside my flannel shirt to warm them up, and thinking skin to skin contact would help them get over being dumped by their mother. It soothed my babies, why not these too? The fact that I'd just pulled my extra large towel from the dryer before they arrived would help too. It was still warm inside the folds.

It was about an hour before the next batch of four were born. Kassity must have thought that monkey grass was the perfect spot in 40 degree weather to whelp her pups because we couldn't coax her inside where it was warm. Every thirty minutes, Mel would grab the flashlight and search for puppies in the monkey grass. At least Kass had learned how to clean them properly before the fifth one was born. We finally managed to bring her inside for some food. She hadn't eaten all day. She's a 120 lb dog and if she didn't want to go somewhere, she'd dig in her heels and there'd be no budging her unless we bodily picked her up. We tried this a few times with her fighting us with every step. We pick our battles with this dog.

We taught her how to lay so the puppies could nurse. At least her puppies had that instinct. It looked like they dislocated their jaws to fit their tiny mouths on her huge teats, but they managed well. At first, she wanted nothing to do with the pups suckling on her nipples. Finally, she got the idea and laid down exhausted. Mel pulled her teats forward and left the pups to do what came natural to them. At this time, with eight pups (counting the one that died) we thought she was done. It had been two hours since the birth of the last pup. We were wrong again.

Nnyus started barking again and I heard coyotes yipping in the distance. Kassity was up and heading for the door. She might be a coward at heart, but she wasn't opposed to yelling at them at a distance to stay away. I walked over to where Mel was to help with the babies after Kassity unceremoniously dumped them again. I noticed a bloody blob on the floor by the door. Sure enough it was a pup still in its sack. She must have had it as she went through the dog door. I ripped the sack by its nose and mouth. I inverted it to allow fluids to clear the nose and mouth of the puppy. It was alive! I yelled for Mel, her computer was set up behind the room divider. "She had another one!"

Mel quickly grabbed a towel from the pile, and snatched the pup. She separated the umbilical cord from the afterbirth. The pup dripped blood from the cord, and I told her to squeeze it until it sealed. It was only a few seconds. I picked up the afterbirth and tossed it in the garbage. I wasn't going out to the compost pile after midnight in the dark.

Kassity was back within ten minutes and she plopped herself by her puppies. Mel positioned her so the puppies had free access to her nipples and her warmth. She put the newest member within easy reach of her momma. But Kassity wasn't interested. She was sound asleep and snoring within a couple of minutes. She didn't budge when her tenth puppy was born. We picked him up and tried to get him to breathe, but he did not. After we placed both dead babies in a sack to be buried on the property in the morning.

We were both exhausted. In total, Kassity's labor and birthing pups took eight hours. Of the eight living pups, there's only one male and all the rest are females. I finally remembered to take a picture of them when the pups were 4 days old. After her rough start, she is a very good mother to all her babies. Happy 1 week birthday little pups. Many adventures are still to come.

Her seventh and eighth pups are under her hind leg in the foreground left.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo