My dear Friends,
I wanted to contact you long time ago, after the happy arrival of Wynonah’s babies but unfortunately circumstances changed drastically on my side. This letter will bring you sad news, about a fight, we all fought in the last few days and couldn’t win…….
Wynonah’s delivery was not especially different with the exception that the babies came to this Earth with a significant low birth weight. The littlest of the boys weight only 278 grams (9,8oz), the little girl less than 300 grams (10,5 oz) as well. Two puppies weight about 320 grams (11,3 oz) and another, stronger girl weight 420 grams (14,8 oz).
From the start, our biggest concern and sorrow was that Wynonah didn’t take care of her babies. An immediate check-up revealed that she barely produced any milk. The medical intervention was without success. Even though the two little ones were brought into an incubator right away, they didn’t have a chance due to their extremely low life energy. For the other three babies, we still had hope to stabilize their conditions with the incubator and hourly handfeeding. The biggest problem which confronted us was that all the puppies were not able to hold their body temperature. We were unable to change this situation. Two days after birth, the second boy left us too. It was tremendously painful and sad! But we had to look ahead, with the deepest hope that the two girls would accept the milk which was administered every two hours. At this point, Wynonah was extremely apathetic. She didn’t eat or drink. The vet check didn’t reveal anything …… I could just empathize with her. The next tragedy followed 4 days later, at the end of the first week. The stronger girl wasn’t able to take food anymore. An X-ray showed that she had a twisted gut right after the stomach. There was absolutely no chance to help her in any way! This was almost the end for me to see this little fighter in so much pain!
At this point, Wynonah was finally recovering. She started to eat again but only at her old place. New in this situation was that she wanted to go to the only girl who was left. She treated this girl (her name is “Blue Velvet”) with a lot of love and affection. I didn’t know where my dear Wynonah was in the last few days but I am incredibly grateful that she is taking care of “Blue Velvet” half of the time now. The little girl gets her milk now every 3 hours and her Mom helps with the digestion.
After what we went through the last week, I don’t want to predict anything but it seems that “Blue Velvet’s” stage of development is stable and normal.
I am completely aware that such incidents can happen to any breeder. I have learnt a tremendous amount and will hopefully be able to recognize that to a later date. At this moment in my life, the suffering, the endless nights and the fact that these little ones crossed over in my hands, is too overwhelming. At this point, I have to accept the boundaries of life with sadness, pain and helplessness as well as to be able to let go when faith takes its course.