due 2-14-05
| Date | Item | Cost |
| 8-04 | Thyroid test-shipped to MI | $94 |
| 12-04 | stud fee | $600 |
| 11-04 | Health Cert | $35 |
| 11-04 | Brucellosis test | $63 |
| 12-8-04 | Air Cargo to SF | $220 |
| 12-18-04 | Air Cargo to AK | $304 |
| 1-14-05 | sonogram -minimum 7 maybe 8 puppies seen | $65 |
| 1-05 | vitamins | $35 |
| 1-14-05 | Nutro Natural Puppy food | $42 |
| 1-18-05 | ABC Futurity bitch nomination 2006 | $11 |
| 2-5-05 | puppy count xray | $60 |
| 2-05-05 | puppy milk | $40 |
| 2-5-05 | new whelping box pad (JB Pet) | $55 |
| 2-8-05 | canned puppy food (Eagle holistic) | $18 |
| 2-8-05 | canned tripe (calories for milk) | $24 |
| 2-11-05 | puppies born | priceless |
| 2-16-05 | vet visit, hives and swollen face | $172 |
| 2-16-05 | more puppy milk to try and help Sophie gain weight | $80 |
| 2-16-05 | mushers meat mix | $30 |
| 2-18 | More can puppy food & new tripe | $67 |
| 2-18 | Some puppies have diarrhea- meds | $20 |
| 2-25 | AKC litter registration | $47 |
| end Feb | chicken backs | $26 |
| end Feb | more Nutro puppy | $42 |
| end Feb | piddle pads | $30 |
| 3-1 | beef liver | $20 |
| 3-12 | more piddle pads | $18 |
| 3-12 | more milk-still bottle feeding smallest | $60 |
| 3-12 | more canned puppy and canned tripe mix-cases | $89 |
| 3-15 | canned puppy food | $18 |
| 3-05 | sick puppy, xrays, labs | $500 |
| 3-05 | shots & worming | $200 |
| 4-05 | food | $76 |
| 4-05 | 5 ear crops | $1250 |
| 4-05 | puppy food- switch to LG breed | $43 |
| 4-05 | several bags of shavings | $120 |
| 4-05 | puppy collars | $50 |
| 5-1-05 | shots | $132 |
| 5-05 | various chew things for pups | $80 |
| 5-03-05 | Foam, tape and glue for ears | $50 |
| 5-05 | futurity nominations | $25 |
Health tests done when Sophie was old enough, before any breedings:
- Holter test: $125
- Hip Xrays: $125
- Thyroid Test (in house)$60
- Heart clearance by Cardiologist: $70
Costs above do not include regular feeding or increased regular food for PG and nursing. I will include costs of supplements.
1-18-05: we decided to make a new whelping box, so went to Lowes and bought all the supplies. Pretty expensive as I wanted a better quality plywood for it. We will use a left over piece of vinyl for the floor, so no solid floor, yet it will still be over $100 when we are done with it. I decided I wanted a higher one with a drop down door. New box and hardware: approximately $130
Mia, who just delivered 7 puppies on 2-7-05, ended up having an emergency c-section for a retained puppy. The last puppy was not coming out and after over 6 hours of trying at the vet's (and another xray) to get her to deliver, we took the safe route and had surgery. Mia's bill to remove one puppy was $1000. Emergencies of this sort are always a possibility, and a big reason we xray and count puppies the last week.
2-16: Sophie was very swollen this morning on her face and did not want to eat. Since she is thin from carry and nursing so many puppies, she can't afford to miss a meal. Call in to vet for an appointment and I hand feed her a can of puppy food after giving her a benedryl. While at the vet, I notice a hard swelling in her cheek. Examing her mouth, we find she has a puncture wound and torn gum at a tooth that are infected. Antibiotics, Rimadyl and a stop to the grocery store to buy more benedryl. Add to that a gainer in the icy parking lot and pulled shoulder/scraped elbow. Sophie looks better this evening. She also has red chapped lips from licking puppy bottoms. Using vit E on that. Finally got the new whelping pad, which was on back order. I *really* like it, may have to get a second one.
2-18: Sophie is hungry all the time nursing all the puppies. Picked up more can puppy food and a new tripe/meat product produced by Tripet that looks good and calorie loaded. She's gained a little weight, which she needed. Puppies have shown some diarrhea and gas, but not acting sick, so we are putting everyone on Albon. Mia's pups all have their eyes open, now, and Sophie's pups are just starting to open eyes. Personalities are starting to show more. Took out Mia's staples today. Clipped puppy nails.
3-3-05: I'm so tired I have fallen behind in updating. Sophie has a hard time producing enough milk for all her pups, so we are bottle feeding most of them part of the time. I am doing this 3 to 4 times a day and one of those is usually in the middle of the night when puppy protesting wakes me up. With all the bottle feeding, it looks like I will probably have to order more milk. Mia's pups have started on solid food- milk and canned mixed- and get it everywhere when I feed them (Mia is still nursing). Went to the butcher shop and bought a cow liver for the girls to boost blood iron. Started using bed disposable beds pads (from Walmart- like puppy pads but better) as the pups are putting out a ton of pee now. I seem to be running the washing machine all the time to wash puppy bedding. They now have beds but don't always make it off the bed to the pads to go potty and Sophie's pups still have fleece down over the pads for traction as they are just now walking.
3-14-05: Pups are growing fast. All are walking, barking and getting into tiffs with each other. All are on piddle pads with shredded paper on top to help everyone stay clean (changed every day). Most are eating their milk/canned food well except the 3 smallest ones. Those I still give a bottle to twice a day. The smallest puppy at birth has caught up a bit and now is the third smallest; she's also the biggest little pig aside from the big boy in the litter (who is almost as big as Mia's older pups). The new piddle pads I bought are awful. THey are too small and way thinner than the Walmart bed pads I was buying, so I will be going back to the original human pads. Even though the puppy pads were cheaper, the quality is so poor in comparison that I'd rather spend more money on the human bed pads. Roger was making noises at the pups this evening and they were all barking at him and getting all excited. They are still in the bedroom with us, but will be moving downstairs at the end of the week. Sophie is beginning to dry up already and not spending a lot of time nursing them. Mia, however, is still producing a lot of milk, so she has been doing a little nursing of Sophie's litter at times.
4-05: I have been so busy that I have been able to keep the diary updated. I will try to add some things I remember.
5-05: Cropped pups got their stitches out and after a day of letting ears rest, 4 got posted. One had a bad tape reaction when he had the cup on, so we are leaving him down a bit longer to give his ears more time to heal.
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