Also, to go along with my story above is what I call "the rest of the story."
Exactly 2 weeks after the birth of Diva's puppies, I was also dealing with my 13 year old having her tonsils out. She woke up on a Friday night to go to the bathroom and found Diva on the floor having a seizure. She woke me up and the minute I saw her I knew it was eclampsia. Thankfully my vet agreed to meet me at his office immediately and was able to bring her back around with a calcium IV. Diva was on supplements while nursing and I had researched eclampsia and did everything that was suggested but nursing 3 little puppies was just too much for her.
So at 2 weeks old, I began bottle feeding 3 puppies. Let me tell you it was a nightmare. I set a clock to wake up every 2 hours at night to feed which took about and hour if I was doing it by myself. Then I had to go to work the next day.
I will not breed again. Diva is scheduled to be spayed and the male puppy that had the deformed legs is staying with us and will be neutered as soon as it is safe. (Thankfully his legs seem fine now, but I will not sell him due to the issues he had with them at birth.)
Please, please think about what you will be putting your little girl through. Is it really worth the risk of losing her just to get a puppy.
By the way, my vet bill for just this litter was $2,436.18. I could have bought 4 puppies for what this one litter cost me. |