Thursday 11 July 2013

Dogs Trust Loughborough: First Caesarean



Iris arrived at the centre in April 2013, she was a stray dog brought in by the local dog warden. It was immediately evident that Iris was heavily pregnant and needed a quiet comfortable area in which to give birth.

Iris was checked daily by the vet team on her progress, we thought that approximately 7 days after her arrival the puppies would soon be born; however Iris had other ideas, the next day it was clear that Iris was struggling so would require a caesarean!

This needed to be done quickly, so Gemma, the vet, swung into action. This is the first caesarean we have had to do in the year we have been open, it’s really nerve wracking for everyone involved, it’s a big team effort…would we all remember what to do? All the pressure is on the vet to get the puppies out alive and then it’s down to the nurses to revive the puppies!! Well it all went smoothly and every puppy survived, mum is doing well and we now have 6 delightful little ones!

Despite Iris having a surgical wound from her caesarean she was an excellent mother, caring for and feeding her puppies very well.



When the puppies were 2 weeks old they needed their first dose of wormer, this is given as a paste from a syringe, each puppy has an individual dose depending on their weight so the puppy rearers are given instructions on who needs what. They get worm larvae from the mother’s milk so they are treated every 2 weeks until they are 12 weeks old to keep on top of the worm burden.




At 6 weeks old all puppies are ready to have their very first vaccination, until this age they get maternal antibodies passed through the milk from the mother but this needs replacing with a vaccination. All the puppies are monitored daily by the vet and at this point are a very thorough health check.






Mother and puppies continue to do well, the puppies are now old enough to join us in our 1st birthday celebrations…here they are enjoying socialising with staff, party members and other dogs!



 

Iris was an excellent mum; all her puppies were successfully weaned. Iris was soon re-homed and all puppies have now gone off to join their families to start a new life.

We look forward to seeing how much they have grown when they return to us for neutering at the end of August!!

3 comments:

Bryan Johnson said...

I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post. pet microchip scanner

Bryan Johnson said...

Thanks for updating us with this nice and relevant information as we are also working with dog microchip reader. So this info. will be very helpful for me. Also congratulations on your achievements.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Loughborough team on a successful caesarean and great to hear that mum and puppies are doing so well - but please, toy bitch owners, think of the danger when bigger dogs make them pregnant and have them spayed! It is better for all bitches not kept for breeding - and the same applies to neutering male dogs.