It's been four days since honorary pittie, Petal, gave birth to six beautiful babies. Thank you Rhonda and Jason, with Helping Orphaned Hounds, for assisting. She had two girls (one apricot in color, the other tan) and four boys (one apricot in color, two all black, and one black with a little white stripe on his head and white on his chest). Petal is pretty young herself, about one, and this appears to be her first litter (and her last!). When the babies were born, Petal knew that it was her job to eat the afterbirth and sever the umbilical cords with her teeth. Unfortunately, she chewed down too far on one of the babies, and actually bit his belly, causing him to bleed out. Thankfully, we got the bleeding under control! Petal's last baby was born not breathing, but thankfully Rhonda was able to get him to breath. Non of the babies were latching on very well, so I spent the night with them, supplementing with goat's milk. By morning, four of the six had learned to nurse, so only two needed extra help. Sadly, by early afternoon, the little boy who had lost blood, began to quickly deteriorate. I rushed him to Power Rd. Animal Hospital, but he lost his life before I arrived. Since mama's name is Petal, we have decided to give all of her babies' flower names. We have named the little boy, who didn't survive, Peri, which is an Israeli name for flower. Peri means "fallen angel". The other babies are Saffron (tan girl), Linnea (apricot girl), Clover (apricot boy), Xeni (all black boy), and Poppy (boy that's black with white). All babies are nursing well and gaining weight. Clover, leads the charge, with a full 2 oz gain in four days! Stay tuned for more updates and pictures....
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