Poodle mix/puppies

[mruffruff]

A week ago last Friday I picked up a small dog at our local shelter to give it a bath. After I cut the mats off and gave it a bath, I found a darling little poodle mix--very pregnant. I kept her overnight to let her dry and give her a better haircut. When I learned that the shelter was going to abort her, I decided to keep her until they called me with her vet appointment.

They still haven't called. I think they forgot they had her come in. I took her to the vet on Tuesday to find out when she's due. She got all of her shots and was checked for worms. The vet said she should be a mom within 10 days, and probably has had puppies before.

I have a large carrier set up so she will have a quiet place to keep her family. What I don't know is how to know when she's ready to go into labor. She's eating well, fortunately, because she's very thin.

She's a pretty special little girl. I named her Chiquita because she's so small-17 lbs today. She gets along with all four of my other dogs and even the cat. She likes all of the people she's met, housetrained to a doggy door, not a yapper, listens to commands like come on, and in general fits in to routines easily.

Does anyone (Dixie Dancer?) know what I should watch for before the birth starts? At one time, I was fostering a large dog that had 3 puppies one night at 3AM and she did all the work. I didn't even know she was pregnant. Since we don't know what the dad is, I think I need to be prepared for this.

Help!!

Mary

:confused: :confused:

[quanzhan]

I am so happy she found you. And thank you so much for taking care her.
Best wishes.
Quanzhan+Zack

[jackiesdaisy1935]

Mary, I also want to thank you for taking in this sweet little girl and her family to be.
I wish I could tell you when she would be due, but I don't have any experience, and I hope someone else on here will help you, all I can do is wish you both the very best of luck and please let us know how you both make out.
Jackie

[petspoil]

Mary, I have some experience in delivering puppies. When the time is about to come the mother will not take food, become very restless and her temperature will drop. Also you have to watch if she has any difficulty in delivering, contact your vet if something is wrong.

[DoggiesAreTheBest]

Oh My! Wow! That little dog and her puppies to be be are very lucky you found them! You are a wonderful person for taking her in and giving those puppies a chance. I have never seen a dog deliver but I have heard that they will stop eating and become restless. Why don't you contact your vet and ask him/her for some tips? Also, have the vet's number at hand should something go wrong in the delivery. Please let us know how it goes!

[mruffruff]

Chiquita hasn't had her puppies yet. I'm not sure who is in a bigger hurry, Chiquita or I.

Thanks to all for the posts. I've been watching for signs of restlessness and a drop in appetite as well as nipple leaks. So far I haven't seen anything. She looks like a watermelon on legs.

She doesn't like dry dog food, but will pick out the canned if I mix it with dry. I try to give her "treats" of dry by hand to get more food into her. I have to sneak it to her because my diabetic dog thinks he should get some too!

I'll update when the situation changes. Soon I hope :D

Mary

[mruffruff]

It's a bunch!

4 boys, 3 girls!

All are black, some with a little white. All eating well. One is a squealer.

The eighth one didn't make it.

She started before I got home from work. The first one was the biggest. She was standing in the doorway to the bedroom, barking at me when I walked in, as if to say "come on, hurry up, I'm in here!"

By 8PM, she was finished. She was nice enough to leave the carrier bottom so she could pee away from the carpet. She proceeded to eat a whole can of puppy food in about 2 minutes. My daughter helped me replace her bedding and she was ready for a long nap.

Bear (Poodle/Shih Tsu) wants to help her take care of them, but she let him know he's not welcome. The other dogs are curious, mostly because there's ANOTHER animal in the house. There is also a new cat in the spare room. Just got neutered, waiting for the second feline leukemia shot before being released into the neighborhood.

The babies look like little black rats right now. I'll try to get pictures over the weekend.

Mary :D :D :D :D :D :D :eek:

[DoggiesAreTheBest]

Oh Mary, Congrats! These babies are alive thanks to you. You ar such a wonderful person. And what an experience!

What do you plan on doing with all these puppers? You have lots of puppy breath! I am sure many Pet Talker envy you for that! :D

I am sorry to hear about the 8th puppster. I can not wait to see pictures though.

[jennifert]

How wonderful and exciting! Pictures, Pictures!! Congrats and best wishes!

[mruffruff]

I guess I do have lots of puppy breath! :)
I haven't had much chance to smell it though. Momma keeps pretty close tabs on all of her kids.

Chiquita is eating like crazy. I'm glad to see it. I'm being very watchful of the pups, hoping they are getting enough to eat.

Since I don't have a scanner or a computer at home, I'll have to rely on my sister to get some pics posted over the weekend.

Thanks for the kind words. I probably will hear some not-so-nice comments when I tell the shelter I let her have her pups. They have double their capacity in dogs right now. But the crew down there are very careful about who adopts, so when the pups are 8 weeks, they will all go back so they can find good homes.

Mary

[jackiesdaisy1935]

Oh Mary, she sounds like such a caring Momma and you are such a kind person to watch over her so she could have her pups. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking in this poor little girl in her time of need. I'm sure she knows how good you have been to her and her pups. She was so lucky to have you with her.
Jackie

[mruffruff]

Well. I have to admit it. I'm completely computer illiterate. I have managed to get pictures of Chiquita and her babies into a file on my e-mail but I can't figure out where to go from there. I set up a place on Webshots without any pictures, and put one of the pictures on my Desktop. I'll keep trying.

Mary :o

[Golden Smiles]

:eek: Oh Mary!! Congrat's, your a grandma!! You did a great job, and it sounds like momma did too!! I can't blame you for letting her have her babies, with her that far along. I'm sure you'll find forever homes for them! I WANT PIX!!! If you can't get them on here(believe me, it took me FOREVER)then maybe you could post your webshots address!!

[mruffruff]

I finally have the pictures in Webshots as well as on my desktop.
The address is http://community.webshots.com/album/27299361fFStWLIodY

I tried to right click on the picture and click on "Copy Image Location" but I couldn't find that listed. Am I missing something?

[purrley]

mruffruff- the babies are so very cute - you're so wonderful to have rescued that pretty Mama - Congrats and I hope you will find wonderful, loving homes for all. God Bless ;)

[SadiesDad]

Hey there!
The babies and mommy are so cute! Congrats, and I hope all find wonderful homes.

For pictures, I found this explaination page here (http://petoftheday.com/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=21&t=000384) that may help. If you're using Internet Explorer, you need to right click, go to properties, and the address will be there.

Congratulations again, and good luck!

[mruffruff]

http://f2.webshots.com/icache/co/86/64/27368664oBisgCzqtTthumb.jpg---http://wsphotofews.excite.com/025/d9/rN/6k/hj29947.jpg

Trying again from the help above.

[mruffruff]

:D
Thank you, Sadie's Dad. I had tried it before but couldn't get it to work. Guess I just needed that extra little 'Help"!

http://f2.webshots.com/icache/co/86/64/27368664oBisgCzqtTthumb.jpg---http://wsphotofews.excite.com/025/d9/rN/6k/hj29947.jpg

http://f2.webshots.com/icache/co/86/64/27368664oBisgCzqtTthumb.jpg---http://wsphotofews.excite.com/025/d9/rN/6k/hj29947.jpg

http://f2.webshots.com/icache/co/86/64/27368664oBisgCzqtTthumb.jpg---http://wsphotofews.excite.com/025/d9/rN/6k/hj29947.jpg

And one of the rest of my kids--- http://f2.webshots.com/icache/co/86/64/27368664oBisgCzqtTthumb.jpg---http://wsphotofews.excite.com/025/d9/rN/6k/hj29947.jpg

[mruffruff]

OOPS! that didn't work out the way I wanted.
http://f2.webshots.com/icache/co/86/64/27368664oBisgCzqtTthumb.jpg---http://wsphotofews.excite.com/025/d9/rN/6k/hj29947.jpg
http://f2.webshots.com/icache/co/86/64/27368664oBisgCzqtTthumb.jpg---http://wsphotofews.excite.com/025/d9/rN/6k/hj29947.jpg

[mruffruff]

Well, that was a bust, too. I even closed the webshots and went back in to pick a different picture and the same one came up.

What did I do wrong? :confused:

[Roofus]

Hope this works! I have done this before but may have forgotten.

Baby 1
http://wsphotofews.excite.com/040/eo/ub/D2/h744042.jpg

Chiquita
http://wsphotofews.excite.com/003/uk/V7/Gw/h814990.jpg

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/003/uk/V7/Gw/h992458.jpg


thekids1
http://wsphotofews.excite.com/041/XG/E5/H2/hg33098.jpg

thekids2
http://wsphotofews.excite.com/011/2x/j2/KO/hj81565.jpg

puppy2
http://wsphotofews.excite.com/016/wa/Zb/2F/hj54404.jpg

[Roofus]

Mary, You have done a wonderful thing saving these precious pups!

[Karen]

So happy for Chiquita and the puppies and you! You have done a wonderful thing, and the puppies are so sweet - and she watches over them in the pictures so nicely! I'm sure you have given them all a new life - and who knows how many lives will be touched by the ripple effect ....


Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away

Love is something if you give it away, you end up having more! :)

[mruffruff]

Thank you, Roofus. I still don't know what I did wrong to get the same picture over again. I DID click right on a different one each time. Did I miss a step?

I talked to the manager at the shelter yesterday. She knew I had Chiquita but she didn't want her aborted either. We agreed to keep it from the owners of the shelter.

And thanks for the vote of confidence. Chiquita did all the work, I did all the worrying. She had it all under control. Silly human!

Now that I can post pictures, I'll update as they grow. Soon they will look like puppies and not little rodents. ;)

Mary

[mruffruff]

The big dogs are my other four regular 'kids'.

[jackiesdaisy1935]

Mary the four regular kids are adorable, Chiquita is such a sweet Mommie and the little babies are so cute. I envy you all those cuties with you right now, what a nice Christmas. You are a very kind and generous person, hope you have a very Merry Christmas.
Jackie

[Golden Smiles]

:D :eek: OMG THEY ARE PRECIOUS!!! I am so jealous......all those babies!! Thanks for sharing!

[daisyjeanne]

Hi Mary--Wow! The story of Chiquita and her pups is heartwarming. Let me add that I think you did a really great thing keeping her and nuturing her and her pups. The pictures of all the dogs are precious. Have a wonderful Holiday Season!!

[AdoreMyDogs]

Oh what beautiful tiny puplets...they are SO small!!! And momma Chiquita is really, really cute herself. Thanks for saving her and preventing the abortion to happen...it's one thing for a newly pregnent mom, but she was so far along that it would have been really sad. Your other kids are adorable, too. That big, shaggy one that looks like a bearded collie is ADORABLE!

Have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy those babies that would not be alive had it not been for your kindness.

P.S. we'd all love to see the developemnt of those little puplets, so whenever you are able to get pics, we would all appreciate them being posted :)

[Pam]

Wow that was a big bundle for that little sweetie to be carrying around! :D How precious they are! I'm sure there will be no problem finding forever homes for these sweet ones! Oh, and Leslie I love the picture of Graham in your signature with his holiday ribbons wrapped around his boo-boo. What a gentle, long-suffering little soul he is, having to put up with that contraption! Kisses to you Graham!

[mruffruff]

Thanks for the kind words.

I'm off work this week so I'm posting from my daughter's. I'll try to get some new pics of the babies so everyone can watch their progress. They are visibly bigger now.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas.

Mary

PS. Does anyone know where I went wrong to get all of my pictures to be the same? :confused:

[KYS]

Ditto from me,
You have given such a special gift to Chiquita and her pups.
THe pictures turned out wonderful.

[mruffruff]

Sorry I've been away so long. We've been snowed in --honest-- in South Carolina!
I thought I moved far enough south to never see the stuff again, but I was sure wrong.

The pups have their eyes open and are eating mushed up puppy food and milk replacement mixed with water. Chiquita isn't sure about this, but is getting used to it. They sure do make a mess, wading right into the pie plate!

I managed to weigh them yesterday. All weigh between 1-1/8 and 1-1/4 lbs. They are starting to have personalities. A couple of them are trying to bark.

I'm going to corral my sister this week end to get some updated pictures. She has the good camera. :D

Mary

[mruffruff]

New pictures. http://community.webshots.com/storage/1/v0/5/84/68/28758468udcKkxqixv_th.jpg :D

[mruffruff]

http://community.webshots.com/storage/1/v0/5/78/1/28757801CgjMMwrWcj_th.jpg :D

[Logan]

So precious!!!! I'm so glad you got us some new pictures!!! More More!!!! :D

[mruffruff]

The puppies are eating much diluted canned puppy food. They come running when I put the pie plate down. They make a circle around the whole rim.

Adore My Dogs, the shaggy white dog is Scruffy. He only weighs about 23 lbs, so I'm not sure he's a bearded collie. He had one rear leg removed last March, but it sure hasn't slowed him down. He has a bearded's sense of humor and playfulness. He's not interested in the puppies--I think he's afraid he'll hurt them.

The big black chow mix is Bella. She's been venturing close enough to the pups to smell them. Chiquita lets her, but watches carefully. Bella had pups herself at one time, so I think she wants to mother them.

Chiquita isn't gaining much weight--still skinny as can be. Eats all the time though. Maybe when the kids are weaned, she'll put on a pound or two.

Mary