Puppy Progress?

I'm going to write some of this down just so I can remember for next time, although I hope next time is different than this time. About a week after diaper time arrived, we left Olive with the breeders for testing every two days. It took another week for her numbers to go up to puppy ready. Another weekend, and her surgery took place. The family kept her a day until the anesthesia wore off. Everyone here missed Olive during her absence and took turns saying so :) We decided it was safe to meet and pick her up the day after her procedure; there's no way to know for sure it was successful until the ultrasound next month. In the meantime, she's not feeling good, poor dog.

She spends the vast majority of her time laying on her bed. She no longer had need of the diaper after three days, but the cut on her belly is pretty big (like five inches). Although she slowly became more her cuddly self, she still just mostly lays still (with weird bursts of energy). It's good that she's still, because it should help her incisions heal more quickly.

To keep her from licking, and to protect the wound, I invented (I'm all about inventing lately :) a belly band from an old sheet. When I switched it out for a second one, I noticed a little blood and wetness on the cloth, so looked at the incision more closely. I think she popped a stitch, so I've been super stressed about infection, etc. I sent pics to the breeders and they think it still looks okay (I won't post them here, you're welcome :) The stitches do dissolve naturally, but dissolving a week out would be better than five days.

Now, we're trying the t-shirt method to protect her tummy. There is still a little mess today, but it's pretty slight? She doesn't act like it bothers her, and she's more energetic and exploratory than she's been since she got home (in fact she was maxin' and relaxin' on the upstairs couch when we walked in from church). Yeesh, who knew I'd be so worried about a mama dog to be (or not to be, but I hope *to be!*) I would love for this procedure to work, for there to be no complications, and for her commitment to be half over. Next time, I hope they choose a different method, because she is just miserable . . . although she loves all the extra attention and treats she gets from all those who missed her :) (The MC Hammer pants method did not work at all, fyi . . . LOL)!

One fun thing we've done is to brainstorm puppy names--when you're naming an entire litter, you have to come up with a lot of names! IDK that they would choose any of our suggestions, but I submitted some just in case . . .

I told the couple I didn't know how many had been used for past puppies, so the wife edited down the list--eight! That's all that are unused from my nice long list . . . that's a lot of previous puppies 😊

Well, and now I can update the unknowns of the original post--the delay is in part because of the extra time spent shuttling Olive back to her primary vet, because her wound looked open. She ended up with at least four staples, a miserable giant cone, antibiotics, and a reset on her healing time. I SUPER hope this puppy gig worked and that they NEVER go this route with her again. Poor Olive! (Her mama-to-be buddy had her ultrasound yesterday and is expecting eight puppies, three weeks ahead of when Olive should be having her puppies, if the surgery worked and if all the complications haven't upset the process).

She couldn't figure out how to eat or drink, but she had no trouble picking up her dinosaur! She looks like a satellite dish from the front and one of those old timey record players from the back. All things considered, she is more like her old self, not just laying on her bed except for meals and potty breaks. I think she's running the stairs way too much, but I haven't a clue how to stop her! I'm just hoping the staples hold (until I have to drive her three hours round trip to get them popped out by the vet in a week). Her ultrasound will be a couple weeks after that, but that will (hopefully) be a fun trip to the vet :)

And again before I could post . . . she slipped on the stairs, excited for food, and for sure popped a staple--UGHHHH!!! I've got all of her stuff upstairs now, with a barricade to the downstairs. No more stairs until she's 100% healed. IF we have to take her back again for more staples (she definitely was bleeding some), I will leave her with the stairless couple until she's done with all the sutures. This stinks big time. Poor Olive!

(Photo taken prior to her move upstairs and staple pop . . . that dino is pretty useful though, right?! :)