04/19/2025
It has been a trying 24 hours with Louisa and the puppies. Filled with triumph and tragedy, I think that we may have made it over our first hurdle.
Louisa has had a hard time adjusting from her paralysis, c-section and litter of 7 puppies. One of her puppies died while still at the ER. She never got the chance to meet him. Louisa’s milk did not come in and since Wednesday evening, her puppies have needed to be bottle fed every 2 hours. Louisa was not stressed out by their crying as much as that they soiled themselves. She is obsessed with cleaning them, even if it means getting a bit too rambunctious. I try to do an initial cleaning and then hold onto the puppies, and she can finish up. When she cannot reach under their corkscrew tails, it really frustrates her.
Thursday afternoon, one of her puppies yelled out after Louisa either stepped on him or handled him in her mouth with a little too much power. Afterwards, I found a small puncture wound on his belly that had dried blood around it. The puppy was still acting fine, but he looked a little swollen around his midsection. Sadly, when I came to check on him last night, I found him undeath Louisa and he was unresponsive. I am not sure if he passed from his wound or if she accidentally put too much of her weight on him. Both Louisa and I tried to resuscitate him, but it was too late. She was licking his face and trying to clean him. It was heartbreaking and I discreetly removed him once she realized that he had passed. What a helpless feeling. The positive side was that he did not suffer, and he knew that his mom loved him. His passing will also give his siblings a better fighting chance.
Louisa did not feel well yesterday evening and throughout the night. I thought that we might need to go to the ER. She was panting so hard that I thought that she was going to overheat. The temperature on her midsection was over 104 degrees. She had horrible gas and looked bloated. I turned off heating pad in her whelping box for the puppies and just used the heating discs so that they could gravitate to them if they were cold. I put ice packs on Louisa’s back to cool her down and help relieve the pain. Maybe it was her milk coming in, gas, her back or surgical site, I just had no idea. We stayed up all night and by mid-morning it seemed to work itself out. She had more milk than the night before, but some ni***es seemed clogged and needed to be worked on with massage to help release them.
At this point, I am still with Louisa every two hours to reposition her and try to stimulate the milk in her ni***es to feed the puppies. Once I see that the puppies have tried all her ni***es, I will bottle feed the puppies that are still hungry. Due to Louisa’s paralysis, she is unable to fully lie on her side without help. Because of this, the puppies usually cannot reach her ni***es to feed. Louisa has now learned that I will put her in position and prop her back leg up with a towel. This way the puppies don’t get squished and can safely nurse. I now have the Ring camera sound on so that I can hear the puppies 24 hours a day. If I am not by her and she accidentally sits on them, I can hear them cry and get to them in minutes. It is a lot but a way better scenario then taking Louisa’s puppies from her. Louisa’s core strength is already starting to improve, and she is learning to maneuver around the puppies much better.
(*I just had to run to reposition Louisa, give her a little vanilla ice cream and place the puppies on her ni**le. I now lost my train of thought… It is possible to be slurring your words when you type?)
In any case, we are on day 4 of this new journey and every day is a small victory… nothing but positive thoughts and prayers to guide us through.
After the dogs have received medical treatment, TAF pairs them up with our therapy dogs to focus on their emotional rehabilitation.
