3am
Bijou died in the night, Wolfe was with her when she passed. We did our very best for her. We knew even with the puppy formula, antibiotics, treating the colic, with what the vet had said, it was a big gamble trying to keep her alive. It’s not unusual for a large litter of puppies to have a runt that just does not make it. Something wrong in her development, some unseen birth trauma. Hard to know. I think we knew just a few hours after we had taken her to the vet and started treating her and when she should have started picking up if the antibiotics were going to help, instead, she was worsening, and rapidly. Her health deteriorated very quickly. Luna, her mother, started rejecting her, before she would look concerned when she cried, clean her, etc. Now she was ignoring her, I would present her the puppy to wash and she would turn her head away.
She will hold a special place in our hearts. Our first litter of puppies, our first loss. This is one of the many ‘costs’ of breeding dogs. It’s not the material costs that are hard, the vet bills, the supplies for whelping and caring for puppies, it’s the other costs, emotionally, losing a puppy, being involved and caring for the puppies to ensure they develop properly. I’m sure it will be hard to let them go when it comes time to find them good homes. There are also going to be a lot of physical costs for me, in the weeks to come, helping to raise these puppies, especially when Wolfe is at work. We’ll see how my fibromyalgia copes with active puppy duty.
So far, even with the death of this little one. I find the benefits far out weight the costs. There is nothing like sitting in the whelping room with Luna and her little piggies, making sure everyone gets their turn on a nipple. Luna stretched out with a big happy panting smile, and the chubby little wrigglers all lined up on her belly.
You know I’ve noticed… very rarely does anything good happen at 3am.