Day five - Rocky made it through the night

We have named the male "Rocky" in honor of Dr. Amsel's pooch he lost a few weeks ago to cancer...

Rocky was up and moving around this morning as Piper jumped out of her box as soon as she heard me approaching... Rocky's belly is plump like you'd expect a pup's to be, but I don't want to jinx anything, so I will leave it at that...

For the first time, this evening I took Piper out into the backyard... She wasn't that interested in exploring the area at all, and followed me around the backyard and patio... But she seemed a bit apprehensive as a matter of fact... Could be she was worrying about her pup, could be all the strange and new smells bombarding her - who knows?

I decided to make the backyard visit short and sweet...

How can you resist that gorgeous face and look?  She reminds me of an old soul, a bit weary of what life has dealt her but also not willing to give up without a hard fight either!

Little by little, we have been able to get that coat of hers somewhat cleaned up...

Underneath all of that dirt and grime, she has a soft and beautiful white coat...

The incision in her belly looks great and her bottom appears almost normal again...

Geezie, peezie - if I live to be a hundred, I will never ever forget that visual memory I have of her when I first saw her... I am totally amazed she was even alive when we got to the facility - the determination and maternal drive to survive is a powerful, powerful force to be reckoned with!

Again I am yet amazed at her gentleness and sweetness... Most females would have been snarfy along some part of this journey... That would be a natural behavior (and somewhat justified as well)... 

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But despite it all, Piper has surprised me and when you are older than dirt (as I am), it is great to realize that you can still be surprised --- that life will always give you something to learn and be grateful for... 

Oh, what an awesome and humbling experience this has been for me... Almost each and every foster teaches me something - or inspires me to continue to work in rescue...

Even in the worst circumstances, rescue dogs have an attitude for gratitude - they know just how bad things can be, and so appreciate any pat or loving up they receive from a foster mom...

Fostering has been one of the top five rewarding things to do in my life - right up there with being married to my husband and the birth of my daughter... If anyone has been considering this, I can assure you that for whatever you give as a foster mom (or dad), the rewards paid back to you in a dog's kiss or endearing eyes will exceed any efforts you yourself have rendered to the cause... 

Yes, it was not Piper's time to die and she proved it to us all!... What an amazing soul this little one has and she will make someone an awesome family member, companion and friend!

Day four...

I wake up each morning with a bit of dread, worried if another pup has passed on and this morning was no exception... The female pup who had been looking so poorly did not make it... 

I changed the bedding, cleaned up Piper's coat a bit and am keeping my fingers crossed here... She's eating great for me now and even POOPED!  I didn't think I'd ever be so glad to see that!  Unfortunately, she climbed out of the Xpen to do it, so I've decided to leave it open on one side so she doesn't do that again... 

I no longer have to hand feed Piper... When I come in with the tray and her meal, she now gets up and comes out of the box on her own... She even takes her meds without any fuss... And has a kiss for me afterwards, if you can imagine that!

Day three

We lost the two brown males during the night... I'm wondering if Piper's got bad milk and debating with myself about taking over and bottle feeding the remaining two... One seems to be getting plump but the other doesn't, so I am sorta/kinda thinking her milk is good... 

She's had a lot of meds, the litter was born in filthy conditions, she's got a LOT of nasty infection inside of her (when she was pooping during all of that, the uterus was apparently sucking in the poop that was pushed out around it) - there could be a hundred different reasons those pups aren't making it... I could drive myself crazy, trying to second guess decisions, options, etc.... 

Piper hasn't pooped for me since the surgery, so I'm worrying about that as well... She has started turning her nose up in regards to the commercial puppy food too... She's using the pitty pad and widdling, so at least the blocked uretha is functioning now... 

When I come in to feed her and love up on her, she readily gives me kisses and is glad to see me... This morning I took a leap of faith and switched her over to what my dogs and the fosters eat around here (Royal Canin kibble with home cooked chicken and rice, peas and carrots) - she did not turn her nose up about her breakfast this morning!  HURRAH... another hurdle overcome!

It seems though that we have gotten ahead of the fleas finally - when you pet her, they aren't jumping out all over you... We put garlic powder under the blanket and above the bedding - if they are jumpers, they won't find an agreeable environment there...  

I am emotionally shredded over all of this though... I can't stop worrying about her and the remaining two pups (1 male, 1 female)...I care about all of the dogs that I foster - other than not being allowed to sleep with me, I treat every foster like I would one of my own... I have bottle fed orphans before, and have never lost this many in a litter... But even after re-thinking all that I have done and the decisions made, I'm not so sure I would have done things any differently... 


It seems Piper is improving each day along with the male pup, but the female pup doesn't seem as active or fat... worried.

Day two - we made it through last night!

This morning, Piper was willing to drink and eat a bit for me - all 5 pups had made it through the night... Dr. Amsel called me with more instructions after finding out how things had gone... 

The game plan was to attempt to clean her up a little bit at least, but this was going to be a bit of a challenge if nothing else... 

Now that the first and second hurdles had been overcome (the decisions and surgery), heavy on our minds was the squalor and filth Piper had been in, along with the birth of her puppies... She and the puppies were crawling with fleas... Tons of fleas with no exaggeration... Big adult fleas and their offspring...  They were crawling all over her - even across her eye lids, forcing her to blink numerous times!

If you double click on the photo above, it will appear that Piper is tan and somewhat speckled - that is fleas and flea dirt... She has bubble gum (?) smeared on her head, dried blood and dirt all over her hindquarters and we can't get either of the two incisions wet... My daughter and I went through her coat with flea combs and manually went after those that we could find and kill...

Wiping her down with damp washcloths as instructed, they were tan with dirt and grime... Finally, we did the best we could and then bundled everyone up to get them to my vets for an examination and meds...

Piper is such a sweet, sweet girl... Not once through any of this has she growled or grimaced... She has been poked and prodded, transported and shifted around - and she's remained sweet and endearing throughout... sigh...

Back from the vets, we found one pup had passed away during the trip home from the vets - she originally had 4 males and 1 female... 

She is anemic on top of everything else - maybe from the fleas, who knows?... 

We can't locate whether Frontline or any of those products will be harmful to the pups, so we're afraid to use it on Piper... We're trying to contain the environment, making it difficult for the fleas to survive... She's already had one dose of CapStar, but I'm not so sure that doesn't transmit through the milk either...

She's nursing the pups however, and taking care of them... Adorable little farts, aren't they?

The journey begins....

Early this morning I received a call from one of the local shelters... A litter of five Chihuahua puppies needed to be bottle fed and fostered for the mom was going to be humanely euthanized... 

When I asked why, they told me that her uterus had inverted, but agreed to hold off until I could get to the shelter... Enroute to the shelter, I had already called my vet and they were unable to give me solid information to make an educated decision without seeing momma in person... It was an intense drive to the shelter, trying to put my thoughts in order and remove emotion from any decision...

I have been doing rescue for at least thirty years now and been a 'dog person' since I was but a child... Raised on a farm, I have probably been exposed to a lot more of things than most people have... But none of my experiences prepared me for the absolute emotional and visual shock I experienced once I got to the shelter and first saw Piper...

Trying to avoid being graphic here, just allow me to say the uterus had inverted itself during her delivery and the swollen tissue was outside of her bottom and about the size of a large navel orange... This momma is about 6 pounds, so use your imagination here... It had already become necrotic and full of pus and infection... Green as a matter of fact... 

And then she turned and looked at me... I can't explain with words adequately enough, but the look caused me to think to myself "This is not her day to die... she wants to live... " so we decided to pull Piper and her 5 pups, then head off to the first available vet...

We had no sooner gotten inside the truck when the Simi Valley Spay & Neuter Clinic had called me back and said to bring her in - that they'd do the best they could...  Direction... A plan... And in those 35 minutes driving, my mind was racing about as fast as my heart had sped up, trying to think through it all and second-guessing myself about the decisions I'd made in a very short period of time...

We arrived at the clinic around 2PM (about the time they normally are closing down for the day) and after looking at her, I was cautioned that she was already in shock and there was a very good chance she'd not make it through the surgery...  We got her pups home and bundled up, nice and warm while I doubled back to the clinic as instructed... 

Standing outside of the operating room, I was humbled and in awe of the magic Dr. Amsel was creating in front of my very eyes... Someone told me that she wanted to live and was fighting to do so - it was VERY reassuring to me, but I remember 'hearing it from afar' and filing it, ya know?

Dr. Amsel motioned me into the operating room and although I had filed the emotional side of me, I kept hearing inside my head all the times people had told me God did not exist... And here I stood, watching as the power and majesty of a power greater than ourselves unfolded... I discovered Dr. Amsel was a highly experienced vet who also specialized in zoological veterinary work... At each and every turn in this journey, amazing things continued to unfold in front of me!

Three hours later, Piper had survived the surgery and was ready to go home with me... Given detailed instructions by Dr. Amsel, I left with Piper almost in a state of numb... On the way home, my daughter had called to let me know none of the pups were willing to bottle feed... Would Piper, despite all of the pain and agony, be willing to accept her pups back?

Keeping my fingers crossed (and just about everything else), we had prepared a comfy and warm bed for Piper, then added her puppies in with her... Groggy beyond reason, she nudged them a bit and saying a few prayers, I begin my vigil throughout the night...