Morio Cardigans

Birth Announcement

2009-05-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

final tally

2009-05-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

#1 girl - 10.5 oz
#2 boy "Taxi" (born in car on way back from 1st vet visit) - 11.5 oz.
#3 boy - 9.5 oz.
#4 boy - 9 oz.
#5, 6, 7 (c-section) - girl - 9 oz., girl - 8 oz., boy (mismark) 9 oz.

There were 3 others in there that didn't make it.

All puppies are/were brindle except one black boy who couldn't be revived.

Kayla is a wonderful, attentive mother. We tube fed this morning anyway just to help. All are sleeping including my buddy Kim Kiefer who I couldn't have done without. I don't think I could do this without any of you. Thanks to everyone for the emails and being available for phone calls to get reassurance about the right thing to do next. Thank you, thank you.

#4

2009-05-27T19:15:00.001-07:00

9.5 oz. @ 7 pm

Another brindle boy. sigh. Sorry Carolyn. Everyone chant: girl, girl. one black. Kim wants a red.

Kayla is *such* a good momma!!!

1, 2, & 3

2009-05-27T18:30:00.001-07:00

#1: little girl, 10 oz., brindle: I didn't wanna come out! Vet pulled me out and gave Mama oxytocin and calcium. Thanks Dr. Rick!!

#2: boy, 12 oz. brindle: Taxi!! was born in car on way home.

# 3: boy, 10.5 oz., brindle, born 20 minutes after brother

first pushin!!!!

2009-05-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

every 5 minutes or less

argh

2009-05-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

first stage: diggin' to China, milk comin' in.

no contractions yet.

temp:99.32º

puppy alert

2009-05-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

Kayla's temp dropped to nearly 98º. She hasn't eaten hardly anything all day, not even ice cream...

All because Kim Kiefer packed her car today.

and just in the nick of time

2009-05-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

ok so it still needs pigrails...

Kayla checking it out...

"Are you sure about this?"

Thank you to Thomas for helping me get this done. It's designed to break down when not in use and is light enough to be carried by 2 people when assembled but sturdy enough for the whole brood to knock about a bit.

I welcome any questions, suggestions, criticisms of our whelping box prototype.

99º!

2009-05-24T09:25:00.001-07:00

:-)

tiny bubbles

2009-05-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

Kayla soaking up the extra belly rubs. There are puppers wrigglin' in there. I thinks she's gonna 'slode!

beast eyes and belly of the beast

2009-05-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Chloe for these photos.

Let's go CERF'ing now....

2009-05-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

Drove the 3 girls down to a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel club event for what was supposed to be super cheap CERF's. Oh well. At least it wasn't too expensive.

All 3 got "Normal" on their paperwork. Yay!! "Best eyes I've seen all day." Well, considering the only other breed there...

Poor Kayla. She's huge-normous. With 2 weeks to go give or take... I'll take pics and post later. She stands at the bottom of the stairs and looks at me as if to say: "I don't think I can do this much longer."

Elma BOB photo

2009-05-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

She makes me so happy I grow extra chins. sigh.

Kayla loves her Dr. Rick

2009-05-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

After the seminar I wrote about and learning about pyrometra I wanted to be sure there wasn't something I was unawares about. We love our vet, Dr. Rick of Orchards Veterinary. He is so-o-o nice and talks to me like I have a brain in my head. Love that.

He confirmed she is preggers and healthy. NO pyrometra. Yay!!!

35 lbs. so far.

have to share...

2009-05-11T15:57:00.001-07:00

My Lexie brought home Happy Mother's Day gifts today.
Included was a list of "My mom's favorites"

My mom's favorite food is "soybeans." (Ummm, no.)

My mom's favorite color is "greenish blue." (That's one of them, yes.)

My mom's favorite place to go is "the mall." (?!! No.)

My mom's favorite sport is "walking." (ok. It's involved.)

My mom's favorite animal is "a tiger."

My mom's favorite thing to do at home is "nape." (I think she means nap. That's in the top 10 for sure.)

I like it best when my mom and I "snuggle." (Awwww.)

My mom is super because "she is a great mom." (Awwww, again.)

(and drum roll please.)

The funniest thing my mom ever did "tooted and made the dogs bark." (I swear that wasn't me. And yes my fingers are crossed.)

Little doubt...

2009-05-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yep, Kayla. You'll be just like that. For weeks... Thanks in advance.

a very good day

2009-05-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

Today is double momma's day for me as it is also my youngest, Lexie's, birthday. We had a great day at Cannon Beach. Gorgeous weather and a sweet little town.

Out we go...

Remember when you were 7 years old and stripped down to your bathing suit no matter how cold the water was? brrrrrrrrr.

Not as noticeable in these pictures as I'd like but I was trying to show off another soon-to-be mother. I'll try again later.

Lexie has a special bond with the Pan...

...except Pan didn't quite believe the water was all that fine.

Happy Mother's Day.

Elma

2009-05-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

It was a great weekend. Wonderful to see good friends. Some I haven't seen in a while. Others are becoming family. I had my first experience handling more than one dog as I had both Pan and Celie entered.

My luck in the ring seemed to go with the weather. Saturday was a constant downpour. Nothing for us that day. Big congratulations for Megan and Greta and for Secret though. We still had fun in spite of the weather. And I got to go back to my "hotel," my home away from home, and take a nap.

Sunday was unexpectedly bright and beautiful. Mark handled Dash to WD (and later to BOW & BOS) and Kim Kiefer handled Mirage to WB. The mad rush to switch Pan for Celie (henceforth known as Squealie as she whined the whole time I was in the ring with Pan) and we went in for Best of Breed. All the competitors are excellent movers. Some judges don't like it when we "go plaid." (Sorry another Spaceballs reference.) We were kindly asked by Judge Patricia Trotter to slow down and go around the ring again. And Mrs. Trotter picked out Celie.

As tired as I was and as much as my back was hurting, it was an honor to take Celie into group. I am especially grateful Kim and Mark hung around to support us. There was no time to go back home and get back in time but waiting for 3 hours is a long time. They are the bestest friends a girl can hope for.

Celie is an awesome girl. I hardly have to groom her at all and she loves the show ring and me so much she just simply can't contain herself. I'll get to test her out in her first rally this Saturday but it's not much of a test for her as it is for me. She will do anything I ask of her.
Except maybe to be quiet. Oh well, nobody's perfect and I guess that's why we have them debarked. Hmmmm.

measuring hope

2009-05-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

On Monday, April 26th Kayla's waistline was 18 1/2 inches.
Today it is 19 inches.
Nipples more pronounced.
And she is telling everyone she is happy and loves them. Definitely more affectionate.

Fingers crossed.
Stay tuned.

out of hiding

2009-04-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

So anybody can read what's going on here again...

Not that I really have that much to say. ;-)

But while I'm on the subject of not going public... :-D
I've heard some people question why someone would opt not to make the records public on the DM results. It may be that they co-own their dogs and they choose to respect the co-owner's privacy. It may be they wish to contribute to the scientific data and make their breeding decisions without a lot of less informed people starting slanderous rumors.

Enough said.

another hurdle

2009-04-21T15:30:00.000-07:00

Kayla's DM clear. And just heard Huxley is too. Woohoo!!!

So far the mantra belly rubbing is working *fine*!!!

"Healthy puppies, free whelp...

I want to drive...

2009-04-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

this to the 2011 Nationals in TX. I just have to stop for a charge every 300 miles. Let's see I can have dinner at the Cannons, lunch at ?, breakfast with Traci or Penni... hmmm. I'm sure there are enough Cardi folks between here and TX and back again.

So True

2009-04-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

Click here for things we can learn from dogs.

X-Puppies

2009-04-01T03:41:00.000-07:00

Well, Penni asked about any planned theme. Funny I had just the other day thought of one I've never heard anyone use but I suppose it's still possible they have.

I was thinking X-Men.

I've put the call name first and thoughts and ideas for registered names in ( ).

Girls: Storm ("real" name Ororo Munroe - sounds like a dog is saying it), Rogue (Raven's Child - or better yet Destiny's Child - so now we know your name*), Phoenix (I know there's another one out there), Sage, Sway (also a cool song), Karma,...

Boys: Have to have a Logan (Wolverine - loved the character before Hugh Jackman and now, well enough said), Charles or more likely Charlie (Professor X), Remy (Gambit), Warren (Archangel), Khan, Azazel, Magnus, Ruckus (kind of obscure but a cute name for a puppy),....

ok, I'm up way past my bedtime...

More names and bios here.

* The R&B and pop girl group Destiny's Child had a song called "Say My Name." A comedian remarked once that "We can't say your name. We don't know your name... We only know your mother's name."

sigh. I guess you had to be there... good night.

Pyometra update

2009-03-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

It's early yet to hear back from the doc and I'm sure she's getting bombarded with questions after the seminar.

But I did find a study online.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2409915/INCIDENCE-OF-PYOMETRA-IN-BITCHES--A-RETROSPECTIVE-STUDY-OF-249-CASES

And another case study of a colony of beagles: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11515096?dopt=Abstract

My understanding is that even if progesterone levels are kept minimal (through the use of steroids I imagine) there still is a 15% risk of pyometra in bitches less than 3 years old, the risk gradually increases to 25% by age 6 and more than doubles the following year.

It seems to me that use of mibolerone might do very little as preventative.

Since the risk is there for less than 3 years of age I don't know if there's that significant an increase of risk by waiting another year or two to breed. And when I say I don't know I mean I don't know. By age 2 a bitch can have a few cycles (not counting the very first which is often "silent" as there are no visible signs). I imagine Sedona had at least 3? Celie did and she has the standard 6 month cycle. That is already quite a bit of built up gunk to cause a problem.

As far as the breeding often part? Hmmm. Does it work like this? Once there's a cleaned out uterus from whelping is the bitch basically starting with a clean slate percentage-wise? The numbers going back down and gradually increasing as they age without being bred?

These are questions that may not be answered while I'm involved in dog reproduction. But I think I am going to rely on building and maintaining a good, strong immune system.

A healthy immune system is always a factor in fighting any disease, any infection. There's no blame. It's just life as we know it. Pyometra may result from an ideal breeding ground resulting from the bitch's inability to clean itself out without whelping but the immune system that is kept in peak condition has a reasonably good chance of fighting it off. This take no doubt hasn't been studied at all and I would hazard to guess that the dogs in the studies had conventional and hence poor nutrition.

What I do:
- I am continuing to provide the best diet I can for my dogs. Variety. They are omnivores.
- I avoid antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. They kill the good bacteria in the gut which helps digestion of all those good nutriants. When I use an antibiotic I provide probiotics to re-establish the good guys.
- Exercise. Get them out of their crates and into the fresh air. Let them RUN!!
- Let them get dirty. Okay. They also get cleaned up. But sometimes we stay too clean. A healthy immune system is like a muscle. It needs a stimulus to stay strong and not atrophy. Just staying balanced about the cleaners we use and how often.

Now given enough space, time, and MONEY I might opt to breed "often." I make no judgements about what others do with their resources. But I'm not going to push the envelope for fear-based reasons that may never be realized.