hey Tammy just checking on LIVI today.. how is she doing, hope she is better.
hugs,
Carmen in nj

Oh Tammy, I am so sorry! I am just reading all of this thread, and at the end to hear that she is back home with you is great!!! Sending BIG HUGS and well wishes for you and Livi and babies. Hope everything is going ok today :hug: :hug:

Back on YT tonight here, I no update from Tammy on how Livi it today, huh?

Checking to see if there are any updates on Livi - I hope she is better and on her way to recovery. I also hope the pups are doing good.

Still no update? :(

Thank you all for caring about my Livi!! It has been one of the longest days of my life...that or I am just so EXHAUSTED that it just feels this way. :rolleyes: Either way, I am BEYOND.....seriously BEYOND tired!!! I think I posted yesterday that they wanted Livi back at the clinic again this morning. My husband took her at 7am and we didn't get to pick her up until 4:30 tonight. We had to call to see why we hadn't heard from them....well, my husband spoke with a tech this morning and she said that they were doing another eval. at 1pm and she would call. So by 3:45 and no call, we called to see what was wrong. The tech wouldn't give Geoff any answers like she usually would, just that the vet wanted to specially speak with us. So you have to know where our thoughts went to. We waited for the vet to finish up a surgery to call us back. He explained to my husband that Livi has some problems going on with her uterus. This goes back to that retained placenta. :( It could still be okay, but at this point, it is not shrinking like it should be. If this continues and doesn't start to show signs of improvement (which I do not even know what those signs would be :confused: ), then she will have to be spayed immediately. Spaying is not the problem....we had already decided that we would do this....but we don't want to RIGHT not because she will lose her milk. I literally spent my whole entire day feeding the puppies. No joke....by the time I fed the last puppy, it was time to start all over with the first puppy. I have one that doens't like the bottle so he takes a long time. Even though two of them were doing well with the bottle, they were not gaining AT ALL. Soooo, I was getting nowhere really fast!! I can tell you the positive side to the day, though...Livi's milk came in and her puppies and fat and happy. :) The vet said that their nursing should help with her uterus...hopefully.

The most important thing at this point is getting Livi to eat. She has not been and wouldn't for them at the clinic either...they had to force her to. If she doesn't eat well for us tonight, then she has to go back to the vet in the morning. He told my husband that tonight and tomorrow are pivotal for Livi and that HAVE to get her to eat!!! I think they feel that her lack of eating is due to her uterus problems...I don't know. So, if things do not change in that area, I believe that they will quickly move forward with the spaying. Please keep Livi in your thoughts. She is home and hanging out with her babies. When they brought her out to us, she was sooooooo excited that she tried to jump from the tech's arms into mine. :) She went on and on about how cute and sweet Livi is and how she and the other tech were carrying her around in a pouch throughout the day. :D

Anyway, they told us that she HAD to eat...doesn't matter what it is...ANYTHING...SHE HAS TO EAT!! So when we got back into the van, I offered her a graham cracker, thinking that she would turn her head...nope, she ate it! Then, when we got home, she ate one fourth of a chicken breast for me and 2 and a half serving of whelping pupping. Then, and hour and a half later, she took another 2 servings of the pudding. I am going to stay up all night (again) to make sure that I am atleast offering her something to eat....she won't eat anything without us physically holding or handing it to her. I'm tired, but I don't mind...it has to be done. Livi didn't sign onf ro any of this, it't not her fault. When the tech told us how much we owed, Geoff smiled and kind of gulped (:eek:)...but all I could think to say as I was holding Livi was, "That's what you get for breeding me, Mommy and Daddy." :D

I have attached a picture of Livi after she came home yesterday and one from today. Too funny that the tech purposely matched the bandage to her hair clip today. ;) Hair clip to the side, tired, sick, nursing the babies and yet, she still looks like a doll...*sigh*....wish it worked that way for me. ;)

Tammy

Oh my gosh...I wrote a book!! :eek: Sorry about that! Also, please excuse the typos.

So sorry to hear about Livi and her pups. I know you are very busy taking care of the babies and your baby. Best wishes for her recovery and the well being of the pups. Wish someone here lived close to you so some of us could help you out.

Oh my, look at her sweet little face!

I'm glad to hear she's eating some for you. Between her eating and nursing her puppies hopefully her uterus will start to shrink. I know nursing should help her uterus contract to it's normal size, it does with humans.

Oh geeze what an ordeal! It can and will only get better for you, Livi, the puppies and everyone! I'm so glad you checked back in, I was wondering how things were. You are doing a great job and I admire your tremendous strength and courage during this whole mess. So glad that you are able to get Livi to eat . . sometimes they can be sooo darn stubborn! I bet she just wanted to be home . . .

Please take care and try to rest some yourself! :D

Keeping you all in our prayers and thoughts. I am so glad to hear from you, was really worried about you all!! Try and get some rest!!! Livi is such a beauty, even after all she has been through!

OMG just seeing this now. I am glad Livi is back home with you! That is so scary! I hope she feels better..will keep her in my prayers. Hugs to you!

Awww...poor honey! Great job getting her to eat. Hopefully the puppies will continue to feed during the night and help her uterus shrink down. Watching for an update tomorrow! Try to have a good night.

Oh thanks for updating and posting the pictures. She is such a doll baby. My heart is really going out to you. I know how much you love her and how hard this is on you. I hope you are able to get a little rest tonight.:)

Livi just ate my dinner! :) I was eating a little bit of roasted turkey...thought, hmmmmm wonder if Livi would like this. Well, she does! :D ;) It's so nice to see her eating!!!

Is that blood on the bandage? Poor Livi...but I'm so happy to hear that she's eating, even tho you have to hand feed her. That's what I did for Mimi.:p I hope Livi's uterus heals & shrinks so she can continue to nurse her precious babies. Sending continued prayers & get well wishes.

Awww...I know you are exhausted Tammy, but thanks for taking the time to update anyway. As you can see, you and Livi have been in a lot of people's thoughts today. Glad you are getting her to eat some. Hope she is feeling even better tomorrow and I hope you get some rest at some point.

Looking at those pics you couldn't tell she has been through so much.
She is such a little cutie.
Glad to hear she is eating and nursing.
My moms also expect breakfast, lunch and dinner served to them in bed for about the first 3 days.

Hopefully the nursing will cause her uterus to shrink back to normal and you
can hold off on the spaying until after the pups are weaned.
I hope you can get some rest tonight.
Keeping you and Livi and the babies in my thoughts.

In the first picture?? Yes, that's blood. :( She was a little messy when she came home yesterday...meds, blood. The blood on the bandage I can only assume that is right where the needle is for the IV....in fact, you CAN feel it in that spot...my poor baby. She actually limps with that leg because I'm sure it feels weird, but I bet it's sore. I asked before we left today why she still had it...it's because the vet is leaning towards her having to come back in the morning :( It all depends on tonight and how well she does here. I was just hoping that once we paid yesterday and today's bill this afternoon, we would be told thanks, see ya next year for shots. ;)

Hang in there Tammy, we are all praying for her!

Tammy, I'm glad to hear that Livi is eating some for you and hope that she will be able to hold off on needing the spay done right away. She looks adorable in the picture with the matching bandage & hair clip.............even after all she's been through.:) You are a wonderful mom to her and grand-mom to her puppies............you're doing an awesome job.:thumbup: Thanks for keeping us updated. Hugs.............

Tammy, I am glad to hear that Livi is back home and is eating for you! I hope she continues on her road to recovery, if the spay is necessary you'll figure it out... I will keep you in my prayers that her uterus will heal on its own. Hugs to Livi, pups, and you!

Question for breeders (or anyone that might know). I had someone say that she won't nessicarily lose her milk if she does end up needing to be spayed. I can ask my vet tomorrow why he feels that she would, but thought you guys might have some answers for me.

Thanks!

I have read that they keep their milk, but I am NOT a expert just letting you know what I have read. I will research and see if I can find more information on it,:animal-pa

Re: spaying after c-section
When I had the bulldogs I had a bitch that I wanted spayed after delivery. I opted to do it at the time of the C-section for the obvious reasons. Sabra had an unusually large litter (5 pups) and she was under a goodly while. We went ahead with the spay and she had a little bit of difficulty with recovery (common for a bulldog) but other than that, she was fine. I was glad I did when I did so she didn't have to go through another surgical procedure (and I didn't have to bust out the wallet again!)

I think if I had a normal section I'd do the spay again at the same time since I didn't have a any negative outcome whatsoever. I saw no changes in Sabra with respect to hormonal changes, except maybe a wee bit of additional shedding.

She's the only bulldog I spayed at the time of delivery and I don't breed Rottweilers.
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I found this on another site, it was a long one to paste the whole thing and a differnt breed, but it might help, they talk about the no hormonal changes

Glad to hear that Livi's eating. She's like all of us, prefers Mom's home cooking to hospsital food. Kiss those babies for me.

I found a couple of articles that specifically refer to spaying a lactating dog, answers below. And found several on cats as well. The articles did say that it takes weeks for the hormones that cause lactation to work their way out of the female's system. They don't instantly disappear when the uterus is removed. Vets are more concerned with getting milk into the incision area and also with excess bleeding because the blood vessels in the mammary area are larger. One article mentioned doing a side incision spay to avoid this.

Q.Is it okay to have my pet spayed if she is still lactating?
A.Spaying a lactating (producing milk) female is generally not recommended. Even if the puppies or kittens are weaned, the mother may still be producing a small amount of milk. In most circumstances, veterinarians will wait to spay the mother until she has stopped milk production (usually about 2 weeks after the young are weaned). If a female is spayed while still lactating, the incision in the abdomen may cut into some of the mammary tissue, resulting in milk flowing into the incision site. This can interfere with visualizing the internal organs and may complicate the healing process. In addition, there may be additional bleeding because of the larger blood vessels in the area of a milk producing gland.
8j. FAQ 5 - My pregnant dog needs a caesarean (C-section) - can she be spayed at the same time?
It is possible to desex a female dog after the puppies have been removed by caesarean section, however, a lot of veterinarians don't like to do this if it can be avoided. Most vets prefer to close the uterine incisions and close the dog's abdomen as soon as possible and have the female dog return to the vet clinic in a month or two for dog spaying surgery. The reason for this is that the extra dog spaying surgery does add greatly to the caesarean section anaesthetic time, which might be risky in an animal whose health has already been somewhat compromised by placental blood loss and by a period spent trying to give birth prior to the C-section being started. The longer surgery will also increase the dog's post-operative recovery time and may potentially affect her ability to mother her puppies. Additionally, performing a dog spaying procedure on an opened uterus does increase the risk of fetal fluids and uterine contents entering the animal's abdominal cavity, which could increase the risk of the animal developing peritonitis.

i am so glad to hear that she is back home with you...i will keep her in my thoughts and prayers that she will overcome this!

Kalani had a c section, so we had her spayed right then, it was her first and only litter and she did wonderful. She had lots of milk and two very healthy babies. The spay did not affect hormones at all.

Tammy, I had a Shih-Tzu that had an emergency c-section and was spayed. She didn't loose her milk at all. The vet explained since it was already coming in, as long as the puppies continued to suckle, then the milk would stay. It was true and she did fine.