Tuesday and Tommy's puppies: a new litter of wirehaired dachshund trackers

We bred our FC Tuesday von Moosbach-Zuzelek, Sfk, V, to FC Tom vom Linteler-Forst, SchwhK (Prize I/100), Deer Search cert., V, twice, on February 6 and 8. Her pregnancy went smoothly; she had a good appetite and was active. She looked actually full of puppies as this below picture shows. We chose not to X-ray her as we knew she was pregnant, and a question "how many pups" would have its answer soon enough.

A whelping box for Tuesday was set up few days in advance and she stayed in it almost constantly. She really liked it. This was a relief as with first time mothers you never know how things are going to go.

I started to take her temperature twice a day, and on April 9 it went below 99 F and stayed there. Around midnight of April 10, Tuesday started to nest and scratch the bedding in the whelping box. We knew that the whelping was coming closer. But things were not progressing, and at 4 PM I called our vet for advice. We decided to give her more time since her water still did not break.

The water bag finally appeared at 8:15 PM (April 11), and first puppy arrived 45 minutes later.

This little (7.8 oz) boy was born without any difficulties and appeared very dark.

We named him Volt (he latched to a nipple right away), and we are still not sure whether he is a very dark wild boar or black and tan. We will just wait and see.

Puppies arrived in this order:
9:05 PM Volt (lime collar), 7.8 oz
11:50 PM Viola (pink) 7.4 oz
12:04 AM Vonnie (yellow) 7.6 oz
2:45 AM Vincent (blue) 8.2 oz
3:10 AM Vivica (red) 8.8 oz

We gave Tuesday a shot of oxytocin, and as it turned out she carried only 5 puppies. At this number they should not be difficult to raise.

Tuesday is taking a great care of the pups, but she suffers from excessive milk production, a painful condition called galactostasis. According to the Merck Manual: "The affected glands are warm, swollen, and painful to the touch, but the animal is alert and healthy. Warm compresses should be applied to the affected glands 4–6 times daily, and the young should be encouraged to nurse from these glands." So for the last 24 hours I have been doing warm compresses and expressing some of the milk excess. Tuesday had a slightly elevated temperature, and to avoid mastitis, I put her on Clavamox. She is doing very well, and has a good appetite. Puppies have already put some weight.

By the way, all the puppies are spoken for. 

We do not want to monopolize this blog with reports on Tuesday's litter, so from now on we will be posting them on our puppy journal at http://borntotrackpuppies.blogspot.com/