Maggie had her ultrasound on Monday. Poor girl had to get her tummy shaved, so of course the weather has turned cooler. Peter Lawson of the Lacombe Vet Centre, who usually uses his ultrasound to confirm cattle pregnancies, had a chance to use it on something smaller. And there were puppies! I got to watch, but it was mostly just grey stuff to me. However, even I could see two little placentas with puppies inside right near where the uterus splits into its two horns (in dogs). Peter saw a couple of more. So the pregnancy was confirmed with multiple puppies, and he stopped looking for any more. That is all we needed right now, as if she was not pregnant, no need getting people excited, including us, about a litter. We know to go ahead and start feeding her more food and change her food over to puppy food. And we know that when her time comes to deliver, we don't have to worry about one large puppy that would require a c-section to keep her safe. Bustin' even got an extra milk bone out of the news, and Marcia says he was excited to learn he is going to father a Canadian litter (well maybe the tail wagging was for the milk bone)!
I will take five puppy deposits as this was not an ultrasound to count puppies. Different that when Dr. Hubbard at Cedarwood did the ultrasound with Kassey. Then he went through each arm of the uterus and counted. He thought eight and there were seven (but considering Big green came out twice as big as the other puupies, I think even early on he got counted twice). Bill and Marcia says that even down south at the University of Urbana they can miscount puppies with ultrasounds as their friend Cindy had one done that counted four and they ended up with 11! Those horns are kind of like the small intestine as they fold and refold. And we will do that x-ray at eight weeks just to firm up the number as it does make it safer all around. Everyone knows when to relax and settle down for a rest, or if a quick trip to the vet is needed. (We never did confirm with Kassey as the x-ray machine ent down for repair when her time was right and by the time we could reschedule she was having them. But because she developed a fever after whelping we had to take her in for an x-ray anyway, just confirm that there wasn't an eighth puppy stuck inside....Yes the Joys of whelping.....keep focussed on the puppies!)
So now we hope to find some families who want to continue or start a wonderful relationship with a labrador retriever.
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