The little parson baby passed to the Rainbow Bridge last Friday. I took her to the vets to see what Stuart thought and he immediately noticed her exagerated head shape, after chatting about her behaviour and symptoms it seemed most likely that she was suffering with hydrocephalus and that the resultant lack of co-ordination was the reason she was struggling to feed properly, even when bottle or hand fed she was taking on very little. This had already left her tiny and thin and permanently hungry so we had to make the difficult decision to save her from any further suffering; she passed peacefully away but it was a very sad moment, having watched her fight to survive and start to develop her own little personality over the last four weeks...sleep well little girl x
What I hadn't expected was Squirrels reaction, she spent the next couple of days searching round the house trying to find her and was very quiet, almost depressed, for the next few days. I brought her and the rest of the puppies downstairs as a distraction and thankfully she seems to be ok now. The rest of the babies are doing really well, new photos to follow...
Thursday 28 January 2010
Thursday 21 January 2010
The heartache of breeding
I’ve done it again, fallen way behind in my blogging, I was sure I’d have much more time for blogging over winter but I just don’t know where it goes??!!
I’m going to do a couple of separate postings to catch up re. different things rather than another mammoth one ;o)
On a general note, the parson puppies are all doing great guns (4 weeks old tomorrow and I really must get some new pics) apart from our little ‘squidge’…at this very moment I am struggling to make a decision on her future, she is gaining weight but so incredibly slowly, she hardly seems able to take on enough food to sustain herself let alone grow and yet she is relatively bright, she sits up and is on her feet and toddling around with the others but she just looks so pitiful. She is painfully thin, a real tiny scrawny little thing and her coat is rough and disheveled despite being kept immaculately clean by Squirrel. She makes attempts to feed with the others but my feeling is that there is something wrong with her gullet or epiglottis that makes it virtually impossible for her to swallow correctly so while she is hungry, she can only feed for a very short period at a time and seems unable to take on enough before she starts to struggle. Poor Squirrel knows there is something wrong and is trying her best to care for her, she even picks her up and carries her to me like she’s asking for my help and as the other puppies grow bigger and stronger and more boisterous I worry that she won’t cope amongst them all for much longer. Early on I had decided to let nature take it’s course, if she lived she was meant to and if she didn’t then she wasn’t but now I am really concerned that she is surviving and suffering, hungry and weak and struggling to breathe. I’ve obviously grown very fond of this baby and don’t want to let her go and despite her best efforts to stay alive I wonder if the kindest thing I can do is make the decision for her. It’s a really tough call and one that is testing every emotion I have.
I’m going to do a couple of separate postings to catch up re. different things rather than another mammoth one ;o)
On a general note, the parson puppies are all doing great guns (4 weeks old tomorrow and I really must get some new pics) apart from our little ‘squidge’…at this very moment I am struggling to make a decision on her future, she is gaining weight but so incredibly slowly, she hardly seems able to take on enough food to sustain herself let alone grow and yet she is relatively bright, she sits up and is on her feet and toddling around with the others but she just looks so pitiful. She is painfully thin, a real tiny scrawny little thing and her coat is rough and disheveled despite being kept immaculately clean by Squirrel. She makes attempts to feed with the others but my feeling is that there is something wrong with her gullet or epiglottis that makes it virtually impossible for her to swallow correctly so while she is hungry, she can only feed for a very short period at a time and seems unable to take on enough before she starts to struggle. Poor Squirrel knows there is something wrong and is trying her best to care for her, she even picks her up and carries her to me like she’s asking for my help and as the other puppies grow bigger and stronger and more boisterous I worry that she won’t cope amongst them all for much longer. Early on I had decided to let nature take it’s course, if she lived she was meant to and if she didn’t then she wasn’t but now I am really concerned that she is surviving and suffering, hungry and weak and struggling to breathe. I’ve obviously grown very fond of this baby and don’t want to let her go and despite her best efforts to stay alive I wonder if the kindest thing I can do is make the decision for her. It’s a really tough call and one that is testing every emotion I have.
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