Cavapoos-Three Weeks Old!

Well, the babies are now three weeks old and we're seeing changes! Of course their eyes are wide open now. Today I saw one of them stand up on all four legs and wobble around, so they're going from crawling to walking! Granted they still eat and sleep a lot, but they are making little barking and growling noises...too cute! And they have puppy breath! Ok, some people think it's disgusting, but I like it. Their little toenails are very sharp and long, so today they got their first toenail trimming. The toenails are so tiny still that I just used human fingernail trimmers to just snip the tips off. They also got their first dose of deworming medication. We use two different kinds to cover a broad spectrum of parasites. The one we used today will be given once a week for three weeks in a row. This week we should see more activity from the pups and who knows, by the next post they may have been moved into the puppy play pen!

Black & tan female

Chocolate, brown, dark sable (not sure what to call this color) female

Black and tan male

Cavapoos-Two Weeks Old

I thought it would be fun to do a weekly update on our newest litter of Cavapoos. To give everyone a chance to see what happens each week with the puppies and what goes on around here. I'm a bit behind as the pups have already turned two weeks, but will try to update each week on or around their birthday.

At about two weeks we see a little sparkle and their eyes start to open. Also their ears are now open and they're hearing sounds. They have more then tripled their birth weight! They all started out around 5 ounces and now are each over a pound! Fat, little butterballs.

Like any baby, they mostly just sleep and eat at this point. Mom is with them all the time except for potty breaks and a bit of time to stretch her legs. They still live in a large crate in the living room between the wood stove and the couch (right next to where I sit to write this).

For the first ten days or so they are weighed daily, but now that they're two weeks old, we'll go to weighing them just once a week. But when the bedding is changed or mom's food and water are filled up each morning or just when I feel like it, I reach in the crate and grab a warm little body to love on and talked too. Of course the process is repeated three times so everyone gets some lovin'.

Wipe your paws!

It was time for a new door mat and I found the perfect one (for us)!

Echo...can't get her to actually wipe her paws though!

Dog drama!

Friday, May 20^th……

I’ve been sick with the stomach flu for two full days. Today starts day three. I am feeling a bit better, but this morning when the dogs wanted out at 6:00a.m., all I wanted to do was let them out and go back to bed. I put Maggie and Buttercup out the back door in a little fenced in area to potty, then I’m off to let the other dogs out, feed and water the horses, chickens, blah, blah, you get the picture. I’m about half way done with my chores when Buttercup shows up. She goes over fences and that’s what gets her into trouble. Yes, even with her big fat pregnant belly. Granted this fence was only about thirty six inches tall, but she decided she’d been in there long enough. So I scooped her up and put her back in the house while I finished up. So, I’m out in the back yard filling up the bird water bath and I hear “Maggie” whining in the pen where I had put her and Buttercup earlier. I looked at her and thought, “Boy, you’ve got the wimpiest little whine I’ve ever heard!” I continue to listen to “her” whine for what was probably only a minute or so, and then it dawns on me. I raced over to the pen and there’s a puppy in the grass! Oh, Buttercup! By my calculations and her past record, I didn’t think she’d deliver until tomorrow. Of course she had to start this morning, when all I wanted to do was go back to bed!

So I’m thinking I should change my kennel name to Murphy Law Kennel. Guess that wouldn’t go over real well with the public though. Kind of gives a bad impression, doesn’t it? Ha Ha! I’ve got a friend that refers to her farm that way, because weird things always seem to happen. I mean she’s got a small herd of horses; old, blind, Cushions disease, etc, that she calls the “Nerd Herd”. Plus a conglomeration of other horses, cows, dogs, cats and whatever injured, or sick thing that ends up there. But she’s got a big heart and takes care of them all. Sorry, I’m getting a bit off track. (Must be the effects of the flu and lack of food-brain fade.)

So the first thing to do is get the puppy in and warmed up. I rub him down with a towel and stick him in the crate with mom. Plug in the heating pad, and then I’m off to chop kindling to start up the ol’ wood stove. (The dogs whelp there litters in the living room right next to the wood stove.) The fire is started and I rub down the puppy some more as I sit near the stove, its heat radiating towards the little one. When the heating pad is warmed up; I put him back in a smaller crate with mom and cover the whole thing with a towel. It’s a traumatic beginning for the poor guy, but hopefully he will pull through ok.

Ok, this may be a play by play of the day….so the drama continues.

Time has passed and I have done what I know of to help mom along and nothing has happened. So I start to contact the vet about a possible C-section. The first vet I call is closed and has on their message that they won’t even be taking any emergencies through the weekend, to call one of the other vets in town. The next vet that I’ve used quite frequently tells me they are absolutely booked and can’t help me. I call the last vet in our “local” (within an hour +) area. This is my main vet clinic that I’ve used over the years. I like the docs there and they do a wonderful job, but they are overall the most expensive! Now, I don’t mind paying for good vet care, but when you charge twice as much and more (for some things) I’m going to shop around.

I’m still not feeling great and so my son drove Buttercup into the vet while I stayed home to tube feed the one pup. And now, we wait for news…..

Later, the vet calls after she examines Buttercup and thinks we have a big, dead pup in there, but she also hears a heartbeat. I give the go ahead for the C-section, then sit back and wait for the next phone call.

A couple hours pass and I get the vet’s next phone call with happy news! She has delivered three live puppies. Thankfully, there was no dead pup after all.

A while later I head into town to pick up mom and the pups. Three beautiful, healthy babies; two girls, one boy (the little one at home is also a boy). We’ve got colors that we’ve never had available before. Three are black and tan and the last one is a beautiful chocolate brown with some black overlay on her face and back and also lighter tan contrasts on her legs. 

Oh, honey…. I think I have the Cavapoo I wanted to keep for myself! *wink*

Desmond

Well, we’ve added to the “family”.

Yesterday, Duane and I drove to the Seattle area to look at a Cavalier. I fell in love! So now we’re on our way home with Desmond. Ok, so it’s not my favorite name, but he knows it well, so Desmond it will be.

Desmond is a gorgeous Blenheim. For those who don’t know, Blenheim is one of the four accepted Cavalier colors. The background coat is a snowy white with patches of rich reddish-orange. His ever-wagging tail is like a “I surrender” flag. And he’s got big brown doe-like eyes that can melt any doggie person’s heart.

He’s been such a good boy with all the traveling. (We decided to stay the night and take the scenic drive home). We’ll see how he settles in once we get home and he meets the rest of the crew.

I feel very fortunate to have been able to get him; AKC registered, young, already proven and he’s OFA heart certified!  And I was able to meet one of his adorable puppies! 

 I’ve already got his first job lined up for him. Hmm…do I hear wedding bells? I’d like to invite you to the wedding of Miss Zoey and Mr. Desmond. May they live happily ever after and be blessed with beautiful, healthy babies. *smile* But that's down the road a ways. For now he just gets to settle in and become part of the family. Welcome Desmond!

CERFing!

Today I went CERFing! No, it wasn’t a sunny day at the beach surfing. This is a different kind. CERF is an abbreviation for Canine Eye Registration Foundation. In trying to produce healthy puppies we have our adults tested for inheritable eye diseases. And we’re very fortunate to have a wonderful eye clinic near-by with qualified veterinary ophthalmologists. Of course, “near-by” is relative. Everything is a bit of a drive from where we live, so having a specialist only two hours away is a good thing!

It was an interesting day.  Driving two hours one way with eight dogs in the car can be an experience. Yes, since it’s still cool weather and we have no shell on our truck, all the dogs rode up front with me. Of course most of them were doubled up in their crates, but they didn’t mind the company. And they were all so good; except one.  Pooh, my spoiled, rotten housedog that sleeps on my bed isn’t real good about being in a crate for any length of time.  So, needless to say, he lets me know when he’s not happy about it. Thankfully, he did settle down and sleep. 

 Since I have an interest in dog health and anything vet related, the exams were interesting for me. The doctor hooked up a monitor to his instrument so I was able to see a picture of the eye up close and personal as he was doing the exam. The dogs with brown eyes, (most all of them) were a beautiful orange color and the blue-eyed Aussie had red color to the eye….very interesting. The doctor pointed out the optic nerve also. The eye with the optic nerve and its branching veins reminded me of a fertilized chicken egg held up to the light. Oh, so interesting!

. And I’m happy to say that all eight dogs passed their exams with normal eyes!

China

Oh, that dog! There she goes again! I peered out my window just in time to see China barking at the horses. I raced from the window to the front door to call her in; but it was too late!

(I love Cavaliers! But the herding dogs will always have a special place in my heart. Our newest member of the pack, an eight month old toy Australian Shepherd; was at it again!)

In the time it took me to get from the window to the door, a mere second or two, the horse must have kicked and made contact with her head! I sprinted to the pasture as I saw her reeling around. My adrenalin raced as I quickly raced through the gate; but I slowed myself down and approached with caution. A dog in shock can be unpredictable. Her eyes were glazed as she stared straight ahead, body ridged, mouth clamped down on her bleeding tongue. I gently scooped her up and headed carefully back to the house where I placed her in a crate near the woodstove. Then off for a quick shower, knowing I’d probably be heading to town.

The vet for us is a good thirty five miles and a forty-five minutes drive from home. I have learned over the years not to rush to the doctor for every boo-boo that comes our way and with my background in veterinary assisting I have learned to do much doctoring myself. “But she was kicked in the head”, you say. Yes, and unfortunately, we’ve had to deal with that issue several times with our big dog, but I was a bit more concerned because of China’s size and age.

When I checked on her after my shower, she was banging on the crate door. “Let me out!” “Why am I in this crate?” she seemed to be asking. I let her out and watched her for a few minutes and besides an obvious mud smudge of her face and excessive drooling, she looked pretty good. I called the vet and talked with her, trying to refresh my memory on what to watch for with a head injury. And decided at that point to watch and wait. But after observing her restlessly lie down and get up several times, with her eyelids at “half-mast”, I opted for a vet exam and professional opinion. Thankfully, the vet found no major injuries, or fractures of any kind. But did prescribe an anti-inflammatory and pain medications for a few days. Whew!

 Like any good herding dog, China’s instinct is to herd moving objects; other dogs, children or in this case; horses. Unfortunately, for her the horse in question got annoyed with little yapping noises at his heels and decided to do something about it.  She was very fortunate not to suffer any ill effects from her accident. Thankfully she is not as fragile as her registered name “Grandview’s China Doll” implies. And hopefully, she has a bit more respect for the equines, though knowing herding dogs as I do, I doubt it.