Village Litter Diary
- Kayley Paylor
- 14 hours ago
- 38 min read
I speak often about the experiences of breeders. I think there are many aspects about breeding that are simply not discussed. I've touched on a lot of those subjects in various posts but last night, I was idly scrolling through my photos looking for a couple specific pictures and I was stopped as I hit the second week of November 2025.
Our Koraidon x Czerny puppies were born November 8th via emergency c-section. We shared daily as we fought to keep the puppies alive and I suspect some that followed the litter have a better or at least clearer memory than we do. I tend to retain a very clear memory of most of my life but those first five weeks are foggy.
What I remember most vividly was the end of their first week of life. I'd been up with the puppies by myself every two hours Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night. I was reaching my fifth solo sleepless night. My husband helped weigh the puppies and take care of the other dogs thankfully but he couldn't help with supplemental feeding. I had people I could call. What I didn't have was the capacity to explain the routine and what all needed to happen. I had a wet nurse for the puppies who had never actually raised her own litter and, suffice it to say, Birdie was edgy someone would take these puppies that had been gifted to her away. The puppies were fussing. Sometimes screaming. Birdie was sick - the supplements we'd used to help bring in more milk had also caused horrible GI distress. And what's worse, it had passed through milk to the puppies.
I had the baby monitor turned up sitting in the corner of the shower. My phone was on speaker and Theresa tried to console me as I sat and sobbed and sobbed the inconsolable tears of deep exhaustion. I don't remember what I said. I was mostly incoherent. I don't remember what Theresa said but she helped. And I remember the horrible unhappiness that her job kept her in Oregon another night.
And then, I went and got myself, a very tired, very uncomfortable wet nurse, and 8 tiny six day old puppies, only two of whom weighed over a pound, though another night.
Looking through the videos and pictures, memories began coming back to me and I decided for my own sake I would like to try to reconstruct the time. Beyond that, I want to share what we as breeders go through when things are truly looking the worst. Throughout this account, are scattered details not strictly related to Czerny's litter, but intended to help you understand the variety of events breeders juggle. We had two bitches we needed to get bred on a tight timeline, we had a couple visiting dogs (one planned, one not), we had a puppy returned and then go to his new home, we had a baby puppy pass of CHV, and had to let go a two year old because of old injuries. Reviewing all the events of last fall is mind boggling.
June 27- Amalu's litter of 9 was born via planned c-section.
July 2- Czerny flew out to us and we started her on fertility/reproductive supplements and food.
July 15- Charlotte the Phu Quoc Ridgeback arrived. Hers was a tricky situation, where her placement hadn't worked out but it was difficult to get her back to her person in Hawaii. So she stayed with us for a few months until she could find her new home.
July 28- Amalu's puppies were diagnosed with coccidia and treated.
August 4- Ljosta from the E Litter arrived to stay for a couple months. Our goal was to introduce him to running sports.
August 7- Our Koraidon x Amalu puppies (almost 6 weeks old) caught CHV and we lost Umbreon due to it.
August 22- Amalu was spayed.
August 24- Czerny came in season.
August 25- Amalu's puppies started going home.
September 3- Czerny's initial progesterone appointment plus health certificates for three of the F Litter puppies so they could fly home.
September 5- Poetry had her first rabies vaccine and Czerny got follow up progesterone done. Naturally, her numbers showed she was likely to ovulate over the weekend, so we ran LH surge as well, which confirmed ovulation within the next 48 hours. My vet suggested since Czerny previously didn't want to stand, to try breeding on the day of ovulation to maximize breeding attempts (usually the recommendation is to wait to breed 2 or so days post ovulation for the eggs to be fertile).
September 7- Czerny ovulated. We got one tie with Czerny. All further attempts were unsuccessful.
September 28- We had to let Ducky go at only two years old. She had been hit by a car the previous year, which had broken her back. She came back to us in April. We and her co-owner managed her pain as best we could, but she had a bone spur growing rapidly toward her spinal column and eventually her pain was to much to manage. We chose to let her go before the cold weather, which caused her pain, set in.
September 29- After many successful running endeavors, Ljosta flew home to his human.
October 10- Czerny's ultrasound showed approximately eight puppies! Despite all odds, we had success! From her ultrasound, we drove directly to Spokane to pick up Viggo, who hadn't been working out in his home. The plan had been to go back to Oregon, but two hours into our drive back, we got contacted by Nina's co-owner. She had ovulated (first progesterone test on day 10), so we swapped our plans and instead headed back to Seattle. We gave Viggo's new home the heads up that we wouldn't be able to meet them the next day as planned, we'd have to meet Sunday instead. We got back to Seattle around 8pm and bred Nina to Korai that night.
October 11- We bred Nina to Korai that morning and then headed down to Oregon.
October 12- Viggo headed to his new home. Unrelated to breeding, but in our copious free time, we also stopped by and practiced Bayek and Drama with weight pull, which was really the practice they needed to confidently pull.
October 25- Charlotte the PQR flew to her new home! She was a cool little dog. Extremely unfortunately, she got out shortly after arriving in her new home and was at large for a few days and was hit by a car and passed. We will remember what a cool dog she was for our entire lives.
October 30- Epiphany came in season while I was in Oregon away from my reproductive vet. We'd called around and managed to get her in for progesterone. Epi only cycles every 14 months thus far, so this was the only chance we'd get to breed her for over a year potentially. Before I left the house, I noticed that Czerny has really notable edema in her feet. A slight amount of swelling can be normal, but this was pronounced for a bitch that still had slightly over a week before she was due. I went into the vet and she was gracious enough to talk to me about Czerny too. She suggested a gentle walk to keep her joints in motion and to push the swelling out of her feet. She also suggested a checkup for progesterone and ultrasound. We, of course, had a dog show that weekend out of town. Normally our bitches at seven weeks are content to lounge around, but Czerny was a higher risk pregnancy to begin with. We messaged Czerny's owner and emailed our vet to update them on the situation.
October 31- walks helped Czerny's edema a great deal. So every 3-4 hours one of us took her on a 10 minute walk. Any less frequent and the edema returns. This seems to help Czerny's energy and lethargy. Unfortunately, beyond this, there wasn't much to be done. We showed Firefly for the first time in Novice Puppy. Poetry picked up her first competition win. Both Bayek and Drama were pulling weight really well on a difficult rails setup. Amidi took her second Best in Show Altered.
November 1- thankfully for us, there's a health clinic that offered progesterone testing and pregnancy ultrasounds and the vet was willing to work with us on Czerny's condition as well. We did o a second progesterone test for Epiphany (who came back as ovulating) and then ran Czerny's progesterone, which came back at a 6 (usually during most of pregnancy you want above 20 and below 2 will trigger labor). The vet also did an ultrasound and was generous enough to really take her time, let the puppies wake up and be active. She checked both horns thoroughly, and consistently the left horn fetal herat rates were around 150bpm, which is the bare minimum to expect without fetal distress (more ideally we'd be wanting 180-220) but if the puppies had been resting and calm, lower was acceptable. We updated Czerny's owner. We reached out to our vet who said to monitor progesterone but not to supplement unless it got below 2. This was the only time in most of a decade I ever texted my vet on his cell. The low fetal heartbeats there was really nothing that could be done. We also emailed the repro vet in Oregon to see if they had any follow up advice. Poetry picked up her second competition win. Two of Firefly's brothers, Bakari and Viggo and their people, came for the day and each boy ended up taking Reserve Best Puppy in Show. Anubi tried his hand at weight pull and did so well and picked up his first UWP legs.
November 2- last day of the show. The repro clinic who had done Epiphany's progesterone responded saying that they discounted everything the vet the previous day had seen (the vet was not a repro specialist, but did do some repro work) and that we should come in and do all of the diagnostics all over again with them. We had a puppy count x-ray with my vet scheduled where we could do follow-up ultrasound and progesterone. Ultimately there was little we could do even if things did start to go awry, so we opted not to stress Czerny further by rerunning diagnostics. In the ring, Epiphany finished her Grand Championship. We went home that night and bred her to Moss. Poetry finished her UKC Championship and Anubi earned his United Weight Pull title while Drama and Bayek set themselves up to finish their weight pull championships at the next show weekend.
November 3-5- walks continued for Czerny. I no longer had the kids to help since it was a week day, so the walks were added to my fully booked work schedule, since it was my last week in Oregon. Czerny's edema was starting to abate slightly though it would return if we went too long without walks. She was eating ravenously (which was very unlike her). We had contacted Czerny's original repro vet in the Midwest and she suggested some of the edema could be protein deficiency in late term pregnancy, so we upped her protein intake substantially, which did seem to make a notable difference. We also bred Epiphany to Moss in the evening on Monday and Tuesday.
November 6- I drove up to my repro vet and met Nina's owner there. We got to juggle Nina's pregnancy ultrasound in addition to a puppy count x-ray for Czerny as well as follow-up progesterone and ultrasound. Nina's ultrasound showed six puppies. Czerny's X-ray showed eight puppies crammed in her little body. Progesterone came back at around 4, which wasn't concerning because the start of her whelping window was the next day. All the puppies my vet could check in both horns had heart beats above 180bbm. The puppies were active and my vet felt she was cleared to try to free whelp.
November 7- I had a litter evaluation in the afternoon. I took Czerny's temperature before I left and she was sitting at above 99.2* F. I did the eval and then headed back home at 1:30 and took her temperature and she was 98.4*. Perhaps that wasn't the lowest temperature drop (all the way down to 97* isn't uncommon), but it was a clear departure from her baseline and when I checked her again at 8:30 that night when Theresa arrived, she'd climbed back up to 100*. Slowly, signs of pre-labor started. She was restless with heavy breathing and periodic bouts of staring into space. Overnight, she curled up on our feet and alternated trying to nest on our feet with nesting in the whelping box.
Saturday, November 8- the day the puppies were born! We were keeping her owner updated throughout stage one labor. Czerny's mucus plug was clearly dissolving midday. Things were progressing smoothly and normally. We intermittently checked fetal heart beats and they were strong and active. At 6pm, Czerny started having contractions - the hard long ones indicating she was clearly pushing hard and after about fifteen minutes of contractions, she stopped. We walked her around and kept her moving, which would cause them to resume, but then she would stall again. Upon examination there was a puppy in the birth canal, but they would slip up out of reach when contractions stalled. An hour in, we called our local emergency vet - it was just before 7pm on a Saturday, so an e-vet was our only option. They told us to come in immediately so we grabbed supplies, hopped in the car, and updated her owner.
We arrived at the emergency vet and they immediately got us in a room. A vet came in and did an exam and asked us history. She did an ultrasound and noted that the puppies were still alive. We discussed the pros and cons of letting her continue with labor versus proceeding to c-section. The vet stated that while we could give oxytocin, since she still had eight puppies to whelp, the odds that we were able to get her through labor using calcium and oxytocin alone with eight puppies coming through it alive were next to zero. It was far more likely that the oxytocin would cause the placentas to separate and the puppies would die. The vet then told us she would be spaying during the c-section. In unison, Theresa and I exclaimed: "No!" The vet looked shocked at our vehemence and then gestured toward Czerny explaining that she shouldn't go through pregnancy again. Again, in unison and emphatically Theresa and I agreed. The vet subtly relaxed. We explained that Czerny's initial repro workup had been done by Dr. Marty Greer, who is a renowned reproductive specialist who adamantly and persuasively argued against c-section at time of spay. A third of a bitch's blood supply is in her uterus at time of whelping and removing that much blood at once can lead to bitches crashing and even dying. The vet asked if we promised not to breed Czerny again and we agreed eagerly and further explained that she was almost six years old and had only had a total of three heat cycles, the most recent one induced, and she would be borderline to old to breed on her next cycle anyway. The vet, again, relaxed and left us to be prepping.
We moved to a section and let her owner know it was the only way to get everyone through this and alive. They moved to prepping her immediately and we helped scrub her while they administered pre-meds. They took her back while the entire emergency vet prepared to receive eight puppies. One of the vet assistants had never revived puppies before and she was talked through the process. Theresa and I pulled out our deelee mucus trap, the veterinary staff grabbed bulb syringes, cloths, rescue meds, and we waited.
When puppies started coming out, they sent them out in the sac with placenta. Immediately, we began tearing sacs off and cutting the umbilicals. The puppies came out limp, across the board. They weren't squirming, fighting their way to life. My first puppy was almost normal. She fussed limply, responded to rubbing. I had to suction her more than normal, had to move her rear legs up toward her diagram to help push the liquid out of her lungs. She was the first puppy in the incubator and unlike many of the later puppies who we had to pull back out to work on, she stayed in the incubator. Inactive, but a night and day difference to all the rest of her siblings. That was Pages (eventually Ofelia)
As I came back to the table, one of the techs handed me another puppy who eventually became Tango (later Neko). He was bigger than the others, but limp. I got the sac off of him and immediately started rubbing hard with a cloth, hoping to make him scream. He didn't. I used the deelee mucus trap and got a lot of fluid out. He still didn't breathe. We were minutes into trying to revive him. I used a needle to stimulate the GV26 acupuncture point, which causes them to take an involuntary breath (this is a known trick to breeders and the vet clinic recommended it as well). He gasped. Coughed. I went back to rubbing and he went limp again.
All around me veterinary professionals and Theresa worked on puppies. Theresa took over a tiny puppy from the overwhelmed, brand new veterinary assistant. A vet walked around offering rescue meds to those of us with unresponsive puppies. I asked for help and whatever they recommended. They administered two drugs, I can't even remember what and slowly, Tango began to stir. It was twenty more minutes before I put him in the incubator and I ended up pulling him back out later to suction him more.
The other two puppies at my table, two of the other girls, revived, just slightly more quickly than Tango. Only one, I think Castle (later Tess) needed meds. One of the girls from the other table was almost stable enough to be put with her siblings and I checked the other table where Theresa and the veterinary staff, including a vet, worked on the last three puppies. These puppies are some of the smallest. Unsurprisingly, Theresa and the vet hovered over the tiny puppy - Sleeves (now Persist). While they worked, I offered to suction the two boys Panther (now Walter) and Slate (now Grasshopper). The two techs gratefully handed one to me and then the other because the deelee mucus trap did a much better job than the bulb syringe. Both boys went from intermittent breaths to coughing and ragged breathing. One of the techs took Panther back while I rubbed Slate and watched Theresa and the vet work on Sleeves. All three puppies had received two rounds of medication. And while Sleeves had a heart beat, she wasn't taking breaths on her own. They suction her again and then the vet, throwing up her hands, gave Naloxone. They shouldn't have had any drugs in their system to reverse, yet incredibly Sleeves began to take breaths, at first ragged and then becoming more sure. Having seen success with the smallest puppy, the vet administered it to the two boys as well and their breathing almost immediately steadied. Slowly, the three smallest puppies began to come around and eventually all went into the incubator.
The techs and assistants who hadn't been called off to the next emergency checked on the puppies in the incubator, periodically pulling one out to suction them further. By this time, Czerny's surgery had wrapped up. I looked at the clock. Czerny had gone into surgery just before 9pm and they got puppies out to us shortly after. The puppies were finally stable and revived at 10pm. It took a full sixty minutes of work, constant care, and supportive rescue medication for the puppies to stabilize.
They wheeled the incubator into a room and brought Czerny in. We let her start to recover and as she came to, we started to put the puppies, who needed colostrum both for immunity and calories, on to nurse. She allowed them and laid there unmoving, her head in my lap. All of the puppies latched and took in colostrum and we gathered up everything and everyone to go home. We put the puppies in the warming box and Czerny curled up on the seat and we headed home. It was 1:00am by the time we go on the road, 1:30 by the time everyone was inside and settled.
We put the puppies on Czerny again and they nursed some. She laid their quietly and shook. The puppies screamed and screamed. They were small overall and had such a rough start. They were looking for comfort. We let Czerny curl up in a crate, because she wouldn't settle in the whelping box. We had to let our other dogs out to the yard and after they came back in and we put everyone up, we pulled Amalu and Birdie out. Alu was the best mother I've ever heard of and we did bring her into the whelping box - Czerny watched from an open crate. She immediately started to groom the puppies and slowly, the screaming subsided.
Birdie had gone into season only a few days after Czerny and she had milk from the end of false pregnancy. She stood, whining, watching Alu clean the puppies. Czerny lifted her head watching, but didn't intervene. We encouraged Birdie to get in the box and lay down with the puppies. She didn't quite understand grooming them until watching Alu for a bit. The first time a puppy latched, she jumped up, which scattered the puppies. She shifted anxiously, unhappy she'd upset the babies. We encouraged her to lay back down and then she allowed the puppies to latch. She didn't have much milk. Certainly not enough for eight puppies, but it took the edge off and the puppies finally stopped fussing and screaming and slept.
With everyone fed and quiet, we put the unrelated two Azawakh away and took Czerny to bed. We put the puppies in our incubator because even with the heat cranked up, they weren't staying warm enough and Czerny wouldn't stay in the box with them to help keep them warm. Every two hours, we woke up, coaxed a very sore, very tired Czerny to the box, got her to lay down, and let the puppies nurse. We would potty them and then put the puppies back in the incubator and repeated the cycle. The puppies wouldn't settle in the incubator. They cried endlessly.
Sunday, November 9- In the morning, we let Alu and Birdie in with the puppies again and the cleaned the puppies. Birdie readily laid down with them again and again, for the first time, the puppies settled. We had already made up formula, which we heated. Czerny only had colostrum (normal) and not very much at that (not abnormal after anesthesia) and while Birdie had milk, it wasn't enough. So we started supplementing them - since they were nursing, we gave about half their maximum dosage. We wanted to supplement as little as possible, but over night they'd all lost between .5 and 1 ounce and that was more that they could afford to lose.
Unfortunately, Czerny stayed very flat and seemed extremely painful - more so than typical post c-section. She would lay there and let the puppies nurse, but she would shiver and shake and jump. She never snapped or growled, but she was so uncomfortable, we felt so badly for her. We set her up on thick bedding under a blanket when she wasn't with the puppies and she was able to relax some.
Thankfully, Birdie was more than happy to lay down with the puppies and it was one of the few times that they settled. Gradually, she learned how to clean them and we gave supplements like Fenugreek and Brewer's Yest and carbohydrate rich food, to bring her into more milk. Some of the puppies gained, some maintained, some lost. When it came to overnight, we let Birdie in with the puppies. We couldn't physically do another night in and out of the incubator and the puppies hated being separate in the incubator. Birdie did a good job laying down with them, nursing them, cleaning them, and we supplemented feedings every two hours. We slept next to the box close enough we could touch her and the puppies.
Monday, November 10- This was a mild turning point. Puppies were losing less in between feedings and by midday they even all gained. Czerny was still so painful. Far more so than I'd ever seen before post-section. We even talked to both the emergency vet and our vet about how we could potentially help her. In particular, the puppies nursing was painful for Czerny, which naturally made it harder for her to bond with them. We set her up in a space near the whelping box and Birdie spent most of her time with the puppies. Czerny would stand and watch the puppies, sometimes for hours. She would even go into the box though she wouldn't lay down. Amalu and even Amidi would check in on the puppies and clean them, and since both of them had raised Birdie, she let them.
Birdie's milk really started to come in with the supplements. And we got a prescription for medication for Czerny to hopefully increase her supply. It was the first positive bit of new we'd had. We supplemented every three hours as the puppies nursed more and they were more settled, quieter. We entertained hopes that perhaps we cut cut back the supplemental feeding.
Tuesday, November 11- Birdie's milk came more each day. Czerny continued to be in lingering pain and even supplementation was doing absolutely nothing for her milk supply - she had substantially less than Birdie. We tried to cut back on supplemental feeding and the puppies maintained or gained on nursing alone with supplemental feeding every six hours.
Wednesday, November 12- That was the last bit of good news for awhile. My power went out - a planned outage apparently - for two hours. It was November, it was cold. These puppies, far more than most were extremely susceptible to the cold. And without heating pads and space heaters in the room, while I and the adult dogs remained comfortable, the puppies did end up a bit cold.
It also seemed the supplements to help with milk supply caused Birdie severe GI upset. That in turn led Birdie to stop eating, which of course naturally caused her milk supply to decrease. We added in a Complex B Vitamin, which is an appetite stimulant, which helped some. Beyond that, the diarrhea seemed to pass to the puppies - the already deeply fragile puppies.
Thursday, November 13- I slept eight hours. Not intentionally, but the puppies and Birdie hadn't woken me up. Half the litter had gains. One maintained, and the three smallest consistently trended downward at weigh-ins. Every time I noticed the smaller puppies weren't nursing, I rotated them onto a nipple.
The mild diarrhea from the night before escalated and ran right through the puppies. Little Sleeves, who had been gaining, began to consistently lose at every weigh in. We increased supplemental feedings for the two smallest and weakest - Slate and Sleeves. The others were supplemented every four hours. They seemed endlessly cold, so we cranked up the heat, because a puppy whose body temperature is below 97* can't digest their food, but temperatures were checking out to be 100* or so. Naturally, that much heat can increase dehydration so I kept the humidifier running on high day and night.
I called my vet and made an appointment to bring the (very fragile) puppies in the next morning so we could add sub-q fluids into our rotation of care to keep the puppies hydrated, which between the heat and the diarrhea, was becoming a serious problem.
This was one of the hardest days – making sure the puppies had enough calories and were warm enough. As we started to head toward bed and another sleepless night, Panther began shaking and wobbling for a few seconds and then went completely limp. I checked he was alive – his breathing, his heart rate. I put Karo Syrup on his gums and immediately he lifted his head. Clearly Hypoglycemia. I called Theresa in tears. I supplemented more formula including electrolytes and gave him more Karo Syrup when he started to flag.
This was where the post opened - me sobbing to Theresa as I took my first shower in days, knowing that I faced a long, largely sleepless night with the dam of the litter who still had no milk who was in extreme pain besides, a wet nurse who felt awful and wasn't eating, and puppies that still needed supplemental feedings. I confessed, I wasn't sure that I could make it to the vet appointment - I would need to be up at 6am and in the car by 6:45 to make it there by the time my vet opened. I wasn't sure I could manage and my husband had to be at work early that day.
It was as bad a night as I'd feared. I was up every two hours checking weights, feeding the two smallest every time and the rest every other feeding. My very generous husband got up with me. He'd heat formula while I weighed. He'd refill the humidifier and then head back to bed while I supplemented the puppies. Eventually we settled on the hot water heater and a gallon of water living in the whelping room with me so all I had to do was push the button when my alarm went off.
Friday, November 14- through one of the worst downpours I can remember in some time (I'm certain my exhausted brain made it worse), I made it to my vet at 8am sharp. He looked over the puppies and repeatedly told me "You're doing everything you can, and that's more than most." Subq was exactly what the puppies needed and the bolus given to Sleeves dispersed almost immediately. I spoke with my vet about the amount we were supplementing and what formula we were using and he approved of our choices and noted how small the entire litter was – this was the seventh Azawakh litter of ours he’d seen. He had no answers about the diarrhea and since we were already adding in probiotics and electrolytes into the formula he didn't have any further suggestions. He was baffled by how painful Czerny had been and was surprised to hear that the combination of Gabapentin and Rimadyl didn't fully eliminate her pain. He encouraged us to look at trends in the puppies' condition as opposed to individual weigh-ins and he most sincerely wished us luck. I mentioned Panther’s hypoglycemic episode and my vet was unsurprised and recommended checking in with Toy dog breeders who are used to having to fight issues like hypoglycemia to see if they had any tricks neither of us knew.
With regular supplemental feedings and fluids the puppies stabilized though they still fought the cold because Birdie was grooming them incessantly because of how bad their diarrhea was, so now I spent my time rubbing them down and drying them whenever I could. Genuinely, I have never done so much laundry in my life - 6 to 8 loads a day. We had a lot of towels for when we have puppies and there weren't clean towels on multiple occasions.
Saturday, November 15- The night was rough. Almost every puppy needed supplementation every two hours. Theresa took the bulk of the shifts and let me sleep. The diarrhea was persistent. In the morning, after more fluids, the babies perked up more. Slate and Sleeves had been particularly flat and they were more normal following fluids. The puppies struggled with dehydration, which caused their temperature to plumet. The good news? Somehow, some way, all eight tiny puppies made it to a week old.
Birdie was completely off her food and unfortunately without eating she both felt worse and had less milk. We made up balls of canned food and got her to eat enough where she perked up and started eating again without prompting. Birdie's mom, Amidi even helped with the clean up some.
Finally, Czerny was pain free. She checked on the puppies throughout the day, but had essentially no milk. There was little point in getting her to lay down with her babies.
Overnight, Slate cried nonstop. We tried every trick in the book - putting him on Birdie, supplemental feeding, fluids, putting him on the heating pad. Birdie cried too, unsure of how to help the baby. Finally, in our exhaustion addled brains, we tried infant gas drops and he settled in minutes. He needed a couple more doses afterward, but he settled and stopped screaming. He continued to struggle with gas for the next week.
Sleeves was increasingly despondent and losing despite supplemental feeding - now every hour. Fluids helped more than formula, but she stopped nursing entirely. In despair, I stopped weighing her. We continued to support her, but I couldn’t bear to look at her downward trend back toward her birthweight of only 8.7oz. She was so thin and so weak.
Tango, always the biggest and most vigorous of the puppies, who needed the least supplementation almost looked like his eyes were starting to open. Unusual at seven days old, but we'd had puppies with eyes open at eight and nine days, so it wasn't completely out of the usual. For one of the first times, he had some slight losses. We largely weren't supplementing him anymore so we monitored closely and went back to supplementing him more.
Sunday, November 16- Over the course of Sunday Tango, always the biggest puppy and never one to have a loss, lost multiple weigh-ins in a row. He was still vigorous, particularly compared to the other puppies. But it was a surprising trend. Finally, shortly before Theresa headed back down to Oregon, we noted that Tango’s eye were increasingly swollen and what we’d thought had been his eyes starting to open, was in fact an infection forming behind his eyes.
It was Sunday night. My vet wasn’t open and the litter was too fragile to brave an overnight emergency trip. We started warm compresses on Tango’s eyes, which help draw out the infection. I called my vet and left a message saying I’d be in first thing the next day and hoped he could work me in. I send an email confirming those details in case they checked email before phones.
Nina, who was five weeks pregnant, got dropped off that evening. Thankfully she settled in quickly and it was largely a straightforward adjustment period. Her co-owner had been kind enough to hang onto her longer that intended, but we needed to get her into our home and completely comfortable well before she whelped.
Through the night, Sleeves was just flat. She didn't nurse, she didn't root, she barely moved. Her breathing was jagged. In the deep hours of the night, I cried and wrote her eulogy. Theresa, having needed to return to Oregon, sat on the phone with me while we both dozed. Neither of us slept much. In the depths of the night all of the questions as to why we breed and why we voluntarily put ourselves through these tribulations plagued me. Again, I sobbed knowing we had done absolutely everything for Sleeves, and the other puppies, and she still was not destined to make it.
Monday, November 17- I woke up early enough to supplement everyone. We were finally reaching the point where not every puppy needed supplemental feeding and fluids at every two hour check-in and as long as the puppies were on Birdie overnight, I could space out the feedings slightly longer except Sleeves, who was still on an hourly schedule. The diarrhea, even Sleeves’ had cleared up.
I supplemented the smallest and weakest puppies. I did Sleeves last and I tried and tried and she refused the formula - I could feed the puppies in my sleep, but this time it was clear, I wouldn't be successful. She screamed a heart rending scream. I was sure that I’d somehow caused her to aspirate and I’d killed her. I flung down the supplies in disgust. And again. Sobbed. And then promised her, I was done supplementing her. It was up to her. If she wanted to live, she would need to nurse. We’d support her with fluids still, but that was it.
I packed everyone up – Birdie and eight still fragile puppies – and once again drove to my vet. When we arrived, I checked the puppies nursing on Birdie, whose milk had come in beautifully after the bout of GI distress. Sleeves was…nursing? I messaged Czerny’s owner excited though confused. She hadn’t nursed since Friday night. Well, I shrugged, I’d told her if she wanted to live, she needed to nurse. And she made her decision.
I took Tango inside to my vet. He got his eyes open, flushed them, applied eye drops, and sent us on our way with said eye drops. Sleeves was still nursing when I got back to the car. They mostly all were. I drove home in our little hatchback and I checked the rearview mirror and again saw Panther go stiff and then roll out of the bed and into the back of the hatchback. While I vastly prefer transport in crates, I really needed to be able to check the puppies periodically throughout the hour drive. I pulled over and fetched Panther and put him back on Birdie. I made sure he latched. I didn’t have Karo Syrup with me. But we made it the rest of the way home. Panther was still flat but perked up immediately with electrolytes, nutrical, and glucose and stayed bright and active.
Despite Panther, during our four hour vet journey, all but Slate had gained just from nursing with no supplemental formula. I still couldn’t bring myself to weigh Sleeves.
I kept up on the drops in Tango’s eyes. The puppies finally seemed to be stabilizing. Sleeves nursed and nursed, nonstop. I kept my word – no supplemental formula. She liked the nutrical though and it gave her a bit of a boost to nurse more effectively for awhile.
At the end of the day, all had gained and I slept the sleep of the deeply exhausted.
Tuesday, November 18 – I woke up ten hours later. I had slept through absolutely every alarm I’d set to check on the puppies overnight. All the puppies were nursing and active all but Panther and Tango had gained. Tango hadn’t been eating well because of his eyes but in the morning he was his regular self again. Panther and at times Slate and Castle, continued to need supplemental formula and fluids. But, finally, we were down to minimal supplemental feeding. I steeled myself and weighed Sleeves, who was back to over 10oz. She had been 9.2oz when I’d stopped weighing her and had likely dipped below her birthweight of 8.7oz at times when I hadn’t been able to bring myself to track.
Now that their GI distress had resolved, it became evident how truly horrific the diarrhea had been for the puppies. Despite Birdie, Theresa, and I cleaning the puppies constantly, the diarrhea had scalded the puppies’ rear legs and tails and they had wounds from that were starting to heal. The smallest puppies – Panther, Slate, Castle, and Sleeves had the worst scald. Undoubtedly, there was a correlation between the smallest puppies having the worst diarrhea scald.
Wednesday, November 19 – It was another quiet night, this time with more planned (and executed check-ins). The puppies were content and gaining, except for Panther, who continued to need the most supplementation. The smallest and weakest also continued to be bolstered by fluids.
Birdie was off her food again, which correlated to a drop in milk supply. I wasn’t sure exactly why. Her temperature was normal – her breasts seemed full but mostly normal. Best guess that was her stomach would get empty and then she would clean up the puppy poop, which would upset her stomach.
In my inbox, I noticed a message from a very knowledgeable Azawakh breeder vet in Germany. She explained that she’d had a very similar puppy to Sleeves decades before. Starting at ten days, she’d soaked three kibbles and given them to the puppy to eat and that sustained her in addition to limited nursing, until she could eat increasingly more solids. Sleeves was weak midday and I shrugged. There was very little to lose and much to gain. Theresa and my instincts had been telling us to introduce very limited solids and it was encouraging to see someone with a similar experience say the same. Typically the youngest you introduce solids is at 2.5 weeks, but in this case, we were willing to try thinking out of the box.
I took some of the Purina Pro Plan Puppy Mousse and put it on my finger and put it in front of Sleeves (whose eyes weren’t remotely open yet) and she immediately started to gum the food eagerly. I got two more dabs of mousse before Sleeves was satisfied and I put her on Birdie, where she energetically started to nurse again. It was the brightest I’d ever seen the tiny puppy. Later, I offered a small amount of mousse (1/4-1/2 teaspoon) to the other puppies, who were uninterested, but considering all but Sleeves were finally over a pound I was pleased all the same.
Thursday, November 20 – With a normal litter, we would have settled into a comfortable, predictable routine within days. These puppies took almost two weeks. They continued to have Birdie, Amalu, Amidi, and Czerny checking on them - it was the most communally raised litter I'd ever had.
I continued to give Sleeves a small amount of the mousse and she was starting to put on all the weight she lost while she’d been sick. Tango’s eyes cleared up completely. For a day things almost seemed normal. Only Panther was not gaining consistently, and acting on the idea that he was dehydrated, after fluids, he began nursing much more effectively.
Panther chomping Birdie The litter The wounds to Sleeves' legs The wounds to Sleeves' and tail.
Friday, November 21 – I woke up in the morning and for the first time not one of the eight puppies needs supplementation. Almost two weeks old and it was the first time I truly slept through the night without alarms set. Sleeves still needed nutrical and fluids occasionally and hit her heaviest weight she’d ever been. All in all, the puppies were finally stable.
I tried introducing mousse to the rest of the litter again, because while they were stable, they weren’t pulling in big gains. This time, all the puppies ate readily – oddly the biggest sucking the mousse off my fingers and the smallest chowing down out of my palm. Sleeves was well practiced by this point and would eat out of my hand or a teaspoon (not having their eyes open yet definitely made coordination trickier).
Saturday, November 22 – The next morning wasn’t great. Birdie was hot to the touch and had a temperature. She hadn’t had a great appetite and wouldn’t eat food with any supplements in it (calcium and lecithin to thin the milk). We gave her calcium immediately and her temperature normalized within thirty minutes.
Upon checking her nipples, one was completely scabbed over and blocked and she was well on the way to nasty mastitis. Of course it was a weekend, but we sent my vet an email with everything that was happening and the steps we were taking. If we’d needed to, we would have headed to the emergency vet. But we started hot compresses alternating with frozen cabbage compresses. We removed the scab and got the biggest puppies on her to help pull down the milk and we massaged the knots. The combination of low calcium symptoms plus mastitis wasn’t ideal, but all the supportive care seemed to settle Birdie.
All eight puppies had made it to two whole weeks of life. Lady and Pages eyes were open (Tango’s had of course been opened earlier) and the rest of their eyes were starting to peak open at the corners.
Sunday, November 23 – With their eyes open, puppies were taking more readily to the mousse and even starting to eat it out of shallow dishes. Birdie was feeling better though we continued to do compresses and massage and the puppies we still nursing readily.
Monday, November 24 – While most of the puppies’ scabs had largely healed, Sleeve’s tail remained highly scored and scabbed. We did bathe her tail in a dilute chlorhexidine bath, which loosened much of the scabbing. We noticed though, that the end of her tail seemed to be thin and not growing in proportion with the rest of her body.
We checked in with my vet, who agreed we had done everything needed to treat the mastitis. I asked him about Sleeves’ tail as well and he told us to monitor it, but there wasn’t much to be done if there wasn’t inflammation or signs of infection (of which there were none).
Tuesday, November 25 – Apparently uneventful? Looking at conversation logs, I have nothing on record for this day other than work. It’s slightly hard to believe after how much support to puppies had needed until this point.
Wednesday, November 26 – We set up temperament and structure evaluations for the puppies and cleared that timing with Czerny’s owner.
The end of Sleeves’ tail was thin and almost limp, though still had no signs of infection. Birdie groomed it incessantly. Other than that though, she was continuing to gain and finally broke a pound at two weeks and five days old. She was certainly behind her siblings, but Slate and Panther had only doubled their birth weight the day before. Having talked to some fellow breeder friends, they recommended screening her for a liver shunt because of how small she was. The vet had told us at the time of c-section that she’d had poor placenta quality and attachment, but failure to grow is the most common sign of liver shunts, so we decided to hold onto her until she was big enough to do bloodwork.
Thursday, November 27 – Thanksgiving day. For the first time, I felt confident leaving the puppies for a longer (five hours) stretch of time – with camera monitoring of course. Up until then I’d left for an hour at a time for work sessions, but that was it. The puppies were eating voraciously. Birdie was completely recovered from mastitis. Another uneventful day all in all. Unbelievably.
Friday, November 28 – Sleeves’ tail continued to deteriorate. It still had no signs of infection, but the end looked like it had almost wasted away. Birdie was starting to obsess over it and we didn’t want to separate her and Sleeves after all they’d been through. We slipped a syringe case over her tail to protect it, which seemed to work well.
Saturday, November 29 – When we woke up in the morning, the end of Sleeves’ tail had fallen off. The end appeared to be healthy, though scarred tissue. There continued to be no signs of infection and Sleeves seemed more energized than we’d seen her. As Theresa says, instead of dying, she just lost a third of her tail. A small price to pay, really.
The puppies did it. They all made it to three weeks (minus Sleeves’ tail). From here, matters got easier, the puppies were more stable, so I am going to move to a weekly format with individual relevant dates highlighted here and there.
Three Weeks Old
November 30-December 6
The puppies began playing – especially Lady and Ofelia. We started moving away from mousse (which is amazing, but expensive) and toward kibble mush. They took to lapping water very quickly. For as behind as these babies were in so many ways, when it came to solids and liquids they were extremely ahead of the curve.
They explored the basement as their first outing because in December and as small as they were, outside was not remotely an option, even for a moment. Again, because they were so small, I made them coats that fit their litter collar colors and they were beyond adorable.
They were extremely clean puppies who took to early litter box training quickly, though we stayed on potty pads versus substrate like our usual mulch longer because they were smaller and less coordinated than usual. By the end of the week they were completely on mulch.
They went on a ride in the new puppy stroller, but it was bitterly cold and windy, so that lasted only a short time.
As Sleeves was so much smaller than the other puppies and prone to getting bowled over, she got her own separate feeding sessions, which means she learned about a crate very early on.
Epiphany had her follow-up ultrasound, which showed her pregnancy did not take, unfortunately, though we were grateful we weren't going to have to whelp two more litters immediately after the struggles of Czerny's.
On Saturday evening, one of our Pharaoh Hound puppies from April came back to us for a couple months of training, to give his human who has having a bit of a rough time a break from a teenage male Pharaoh. It wasn’t particularly great timing, but the puppies were stable and we were happy to see him again.
Four Weeks Old
December 7-December 13
Since Birdie had not been the dog that we intended to nurse the puppies, she was scheduled for her Rabies appointment. After dealing with the horrible diarrhea in the puppies potentially passed through Birdie’s milk because of the supplements, we weren’t about to risk any issues with vaccines transferring through milk. That means the puppies were full weaned at four weeks and two days old. In most litters this would have been hard on the puppies, but with these babies started so early on solids, it was no problem and Birdie still laid with them in a surgical suit.
The same day Birdie got her Rabies vaccination, Nina got her puppy count Xray, which clearly showed seven puppies, one tucked way up high near her stomach.
The puppies were finally looking like they should at four weeks old. They played with each other and the toys. They did a great job with their litter box for their age and learned about crating going in and out of the open crates in their pen.
Sake, the Pharaoh Hound boy, was initially timid and then almost immediately overjoyed and over-enthusiastic about all his new playmates. By the end of the week, he was respecting the other dogs, even seven pound Truman. When I wasn’t working or with the puppies in the first part of the week, I was working on helping Saki learn appropriate play. It was a lot to juggle, but thankfully he and the rest of the dogs were extremely good sports.
On December 11, I messaged Theresa that Nina seemed to be in stage labor and thankfully she was able to make it up to be there for the whelping that night. I let Nina’s co-owner know as well. Nina wasn’t due until the 12th, but was well within her whelping window so there were no concerns. She stayed in Stage 1 labor until 8:30p when she had her first puppy and then immediately her second, sharing a placenta with the first. She proceeded to have all seven puppies in two and a half hours. The last puppy, the one up by her stomach, took ninety minutes, but we could easily track her progress with contractions as she moved him down. It was a textbook whelping. The puppies were healthy and active and loud. Nina was an excellent mom, though a bit overly obsessed with their umbilical cords. But we couldn’t have asked for an easier experience after Czerny’s puppies.
Since Sleeves had to stay with us until at least 16 weeks to have bloodwork checked over and such – we gave her a real name and that call name is: Persist. Persi for short. Life didn’t exactly hand her an easy hand. Nevertheless, she persisted.
Five Weeks Old
December 14-December 20
We had mild weather, which was perfect because it meant the puppies got to go on their first outing into the yard – in their colorful coats naturally. For all the struggles they had, the puppies were largely normal puppies. They were perhaps slightly timid, but only slightly. They were fascinated by Truman the Podengo Pequeno and Truman was so patient with them. We were fortunate to have the weather to be able to take them out several times that week.
The puppies had been cared for by a team of bitches in the start between Birdie, Amalu, Amidi, and Czerny. But now they were at the age where they could be introduced to some of our calm older dogs and they were fascinated by them. They had their first puppy party in the basement at the end of the week and they loved the tunnel and were so much more courageous than previously.
Sake’s education continued. He had phenomenal foundations – his owner had done a wonderful job. He just hadn’t had the chance to play with many dogs and that was an education we could easily provide.
Nina’s puppies remained easy. Nina showed a slight edge of being uncomfortable at times, we do wish circumstances had worked out so she’d had longer to adjust to our home. But Nina was a phenomenal mother and the puppies were vigorous and healthy and gaining rapidly.
Czerny had largely completely recovered by this point. She would still sniff the puppies and check on them throughout the day.
Six Weeks Old
December 21-27
The puppies had their evaluations this week. We usually do them at the end of six weeks or early at seven weeks. In this case, we noted that the puppies were less developed than typical, but both evaluators had excellent feedback. In general, the puppies were far more confident in their temperament assessments than you might expect from puppies that had such a rough start.
Much later than usual, we started leash training. Czerny showed her babies the ropes through that. We typically take an older dog on leash and put each baby on leash (one at a time) and let them follow the older dog. They did pretty well, all things considered. On the crating front, since they had been weaned early, they practiced eating in individual crates from a very early age and were the easy puppies to crate train we’ve ever had.
Nina’s puppies continued to be textbook in their development and Nina got an expanded space.
Christmas came and went and Czerny’s puppies got to come to Christmas morning with us where they charmed absolutely everyone, got to meet another older small dog, and lots of new people. Nina’s puppies stayed safely tucked at home for that visit. Though we all ventured down to Theresa’s afterwards for Czerny’s puppies temperament evaluations.
We did make it to the local, last show of the year over the weekend. It was a wild and busy show where Bakari and Firefly (Koraidon x Amalu) puppies who turned six months that Saturday did a phenomenal job in the classes.
Seven Weeks Old
December 28-December 3
It was a phenomenal show weekend. Perhaps the best results we’ve ever had.
Bakari went Best of Breed three out of six shows to finish his Championship. Koraidon, Birdie, and Quixote all also took a Best of Breed. Quixote finished his Grand Championship. Drama and Bayek both finished their United Weight Pull Championships, both breed first titles. Truman the Podengo Pequeno took two Reserve Best in Show Veteran awards along with a Best in Show Veteran. Amidi took a Best in Show Veteran along with a Reserve Best in Show Brood Bitch (with Birdie, Quixote, and Drama) and a Reserve Best in Show Brace. Anubi took two Reserve Best in Show Veteran awards, a Reserve Best in Show Brace (with Ami), a Reserve Best in Show Stud Dog (with Birdie and Epiphany), and two Best in Show Stud Dog Awards. Koraidon took a Reserve Best in Show Stud Dog (with Firefly and Bakari). Bakey took both a Reserve and a Best in Show Stud Dog in addition to his Weight Pull title. Saki and Firefly picked up their first competition wins. There was lovely competition across the board.
The puppies, both litters were very patient throughout the weekend. They got checked on frequently. Czerny’s puppies learned about crating and leash walking increasingly. Nina’s puppies started getting very limited outside time (at 3.5 weeks old).
Czerny’s puppies had their go-home vet check on January 2nd. It was an interesting conversation with my vet who has seen a great many 8 week old Azawakh. He repeatedly noted how small they were, but also stated they seemed health and happy, just small for their age. He marveled over Persi’s tail, the stump of which had largely healed by that point and agreed we’d want to do bloodwork at 16 weeks.
Lady (now Dream), Pages (now Ofelia), and Slate (now Grasshopper) were the first to leave and I shed more than one tear.
Where Are They Now?
Six vets, dozens upon dozens of supplemental feedings and fluid sessions, hundreds of hours, thousands of dollars, and countless tears later, all Czerny’s puppies are continuing to do great. They are lovely, balanced puppies who are joyful to watch at nine months old. We went with the theme: It Takes a Village, because certainly it did. Their litter name themes were Classical Music themed in honor of Czerny, who is named after a composer.
Red Line Tango is now Neko (In Stride Denebus This Is Me Reimagined)- Always the biggest, Neko was also always kind and never a bully, which is true to this day. He lives on a horse farm and is the favorite of everyone at the barn, according to his owner.
Telephone Book Yellow Pages is now Ofelia (Denebus In Stride Enter the Labyrinth)- was always bright and happy and explorative. She went back with Czerny’s owner for adventures in the Midwest. She earned her first AKC point over her mother.
Ladies in Lavender is now Dream (Denebus In Stride Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork)- was also the spunkiest and who better to live with than a Dachshund breeder who sure appreciates sass.
Rhapsody in Blue is now Chani (Denebus In Stride Grains of Sand)- stayed with us until she was five months old because she was on a grand adventure to Hawaii and that takes a lot of vet and paperwork. She is an opinionated, loving girl who loves her some toys.
Bluebeard’s Castle is now Tess (In Stride Denebus Tissalatine)- is in a lovely, local pet home who absolutely loves to hike. She gets to go to work and is active on the trails multiple times a week. She also has her first AKC major and is just a lovely, well rounded girl.
Pink Panther now Walter (Denebus In Stride Flamekeeper)- stayed with us until almost five months where he got to show and get some basic training. He is now living a fantastic life with his Silken and Lab mix housemates and his beloved human.
Slate now Grasshopper or just Hopper (Denebus In Stride’s Grasshopper Hawk)- went with Czerny’s owner until he was about 4.5 months when he could go home to his human who has gone through a lot of hard times. Hopper is the best companion anyone could ask for and gets to play in the show ring too.
Sleeves now Persist or mostly just Persi (In Stride Denebus Small But Fierce)- Persi’s bloodwork checked out at 16 weeks. She has been a bright, happy puppy who is very typical of her age now, though still small. She does seem to have some lasting soreness in her rear legs and she is of course missing the last third of her tail, but that’s a small price to pay for being alive. She stayed with us until she was 9.5 months old when she moved in with Theresa’s mother. We had long known that she was the human Persi picked, after she lost her previous dog, and it is lovely to see her enjoying life and we still get to see her all the time.
Neko (In Stride Denebus This Is Me Reimagined) - Credit Megan Churry Ofelia (Denebus In Stride Enter the Labyrinth) - Credit Erica Flynn Dream (Denebus In Stride Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork) - Credit: Tiffany Parry Chani (Denebus In Stride Grains of Sand) Tess (In Stride Denebus Tissalatine) - Credit Megan Churry Walter (Denebus In Stride Flamekeeper) - Credit Kristin Vietti Hopper (Denebus In Stride Grasshopper Hawk) - Credit Ryan Heilig Persi (In Stride Denebus Small But Fierce)
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