You will generally only see the happy stuff here and I’m glad you’ve become accustomed to that. But for the sake of healthy balance let me share with you a little of the behind the scenes that went on here yesterday. In the house, our “granddog” Bodhi , who is now living with us and had received a chemo treatment on Monday, was not feeling like himself. As in he would not eat a thing and obviously wasn’t feeling well. Trying to pay attention to that and wondering if I should call his vet, I noticed Angelica was most likely in early labor. A trip to the vet with the dog is now out of the question. Angelica heads into the barn, a strange place to deliver, but that is exactly where her sister Ava delivered Skywalker last year. Ava and Angelica were both maidens (first time moms) and I hoped not to repeat the scenario. Ava wasn’t interested in her baby at the beginning, and we never could get the little guy to gain weight. Colostrum, bottles, day and night feedings, but after weeks of intervention, we lost him. So all that was flooding back into my mind, and I was still worried about the dog in the house that won’t eat. Labor progresses slowly as it does in most maidens. Up and down, lots of moaning and every once in a while a little pushing. She did move out of the barn and into the sunshine. Angelica is overweight, and I worried about complications that might cause. She pushed for what seemed like hours (it was actually 15 minutes) to get the head to appear. Two toes thankfully appeared shortly thereafter. I knew the rest would be hard on her and require a lot of work. So I took a few minutes to go back into the house to check on the sick dog. No matter what I tried, he would not eat. Make a note to call the vet after the cria was safely delivered. Back out to laboring mama, I see some progress, and know she can do it, but with greater effort that she has ever imagined. I promise myself not to meddle. Grab the towels, get the camera, walk slowly and give her the time she needs. Breathe. Angelica has been pushing for almost an hour now and is making progress. I briefly wonder if the sick dog might like to eat a placenta? (later decided against it)
Cria is almost out. One more big push and we have a perfect beige female cria on the ground. Best of all, her mom is interested in her, and let me express all 4 quadrants of her udder, each one producing milk! Am I dreaming? Did it really go this well? Yes it did.
A phone call to the Bodhi’s vet helped me understand that lack of appetite was to be expected and before we called it a day, I did convince him to eat some green tripe.
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