Puppies!!

So, Kyler is indeed expecting puppies!! We did a quick ultrasound at work yesterday and saw several puppies!! We will know about how many when I take an x-ray after day 40 of her pregnancy.
You really cannot tell accurately with an ultrasound how many puppies there are, as you can sometimes double count and the puppies can hide behind things, such as stool. (which was Kyler's problem, she had to go..) The best way to know is by taking an x-ray after day 40 because then you can actually see the spines and skulls and count them for a fairly accurate count.
Kyler has been pickier than usual when it came to her food, so I had a suspicion that she was pregnant, but it was great to get the confirmation and actually see the little babies and their umbilical cords! Now we wait! She is due around August 4th, so we will be busy building our whelping box between now and then!

My glamorous job and other stuff...

Just thought I would post a small blurb about how glamorous my job is...Just kidding really...Last weekend was an interesting time for me at work...We had a hospital full of patients with all sorts of different illnesses.

The following list is just the ones I can remember: 2 dog in heart failure in oxygen, a cat who had been bitten on the butt by something, a dog who got into the trash and ate a combination of corn cobs and teriyaki sticks (for those who don't know, dogs can't digest corn cobs, please don't feed them unless you want to pay for surgery). We also had a couple of cats in kidney failure being diuresed, a dog hit by car with 2 broken back legs waiting for surgery. A dog with iatrogenic (meaning caused by treatment for something else) Addison's disease, a cat who had kittens and needed 2 blood transfusions, a weimeraner who ate 2 1/2 pounds of chocolate, and a dog who likes to eat socks and had horrific diarrhea.

I am sure there were more in the hospital, and that doesn't include the patients we saw that went home. Last weekend was much worse, however, we had 19 patients in 36 hours that were sick enough that the owners opted for euthanasia. I think that was the most I have had to deal with in that short period of time. That was a day that ended with a stiff drink.

The whole point of this rant was to show you this lovely picture I took of myself after getting home on Saturday night...We had a couple of dogs who had eaten rat poison and we had to give them activated charcoal to absorb the toxins. They didn't like it...

This doesn't show all the charcoal I had on my top and on my face...Luckily it washes off fairly easily.

Another thing you can't see in this picture is the splatter of diarrhea that I had on me as well. The dog who liked to eat socks was a very happy dog and liked to wag her tail when you went near her, whether she had diarrhea on her tail or not...YUCK!! She luckily seemed to pass the sock (which almost never happens) and didn't need surgery. ( I didn't mention that this same dog had a socked removed from her intestines 4 months before)

My new job as a surgical nurse hopefully will be starting July 1st, at least from what they tell me. I am looking forward to this greatly, as I am on overnights this week, and I won't have to do overnights anymore with the new job. I was supposed to start June 1st, but they didn't find someone to replace me in the ICU until now.

An update on a previous blog. A few blogs ago I spoke of 2 dogs that had gotten into something bad and one dog made it and the other dog didn't. We finally got the tox screen back this week. (we just found out that this test existed when this happend, previously there were no tests for animals that we knew of) As I had suspected, and was concerned about...

The 2 dogs had eaten euthanasia solution. It can last in tissue for a long time, so potentially they had eaten an animal that was euthanized a while ago. None of their neighbors knew anything about such a situation. It was either that or someone did something very very bad! (Euthanasia solution isn't easy to come by, you need a DEA license to purchase it) The police were involved in the case from the beginning, we aren't sure if there will be an investigation or not.

No new news about Kyler yet, it is going to be a couple more weeks until we can do an ultrasound to check for pregnancy. I am hopeful, as she is acting piggy when it comes to food (my food, at least). Her last pregnancy, I woke up in the morning to find that she had eaten an entire apple pie that I had made the night before! I was very sad about that, as I was really looking forward to eating it myself!

On another note...

Here is a recent picture of Lucie who lives in VT and is learning to hunt with falcons!

So, I am heading to a judging seminar this Saturday so I can learn about becoming a judge for hunt tests. Hopefully it will give me a new perspective on the whole thing. We'll see how it goes...Then Sunday I am heading to my parents, as it is my dad's 60th birthday! He doesn't look 60!

The picture on the left is of Skyla, Kyler's another one of Kyler's puppies from last year, in this picture she looks a bit like her dad, although up close you can tell that she is Kyler's baby! (at least I can, anyway!)

Then the weekend of the 28th we are probably heading down to Flaherty field in CT for a training day then a Vizsla hunting stake on Sunday. There is also a brew fest in Springfield on Saturday night, I think Mike will go with his friends and I will be the lovely DD. I would love to participate, but someone has to be the responsible one!

She's home!

Kyler is finally home! We got back about an hour ago from the airport. Other than being thirsty and needing a bath, she is great!
Now we wait...Hopefully within the next couple of weeks we will know for sure that she is expecting puppies!

Finally!

So, after days of trying...Kyler has finally been bred! Thanks to the determination of Carrie of Durite Vizslas, and Duke, the stud dog, we can finally hope to have puppies! Kyler is very difficult when it comes to the whole breeding thing. I feel kind of bad, she is a big tease and only wants so much of the whole deal. But, anyway, her first due date will be August 4th. I think I will be taking that week off.
With her litter last year, the girl who was going to be able to cover for me, wasn't able to, so I worked a 12 hour shift, then whelped 6 puppies until 6am, then left for work to work another 12 hour shift. They couldn't find anyone to cover for me. So I was awake for well over 36 hours by the time I got home. I will never do that again! Then I had to go to bed that night and do it all over again the next day. Zoinkers!

Fun Day!

So, the VCCNE had its annual fun day on Saturday. It was a huge success, despite the rain. Luckily it rained hard, then it would be clear for an hour, then it would rain for another 10 minutes, then be clear again. It wasn't great weather for the quail, but we dealt with it as we could! We now have a quail infirmiry here in Northfield for the birds that were caught by the dogs and taken away. So far we have a good number of birds that have survived a few days after, which gives me hope that they will be alright.

We got to see many, many Vizslas try their noses at bird finding. Many owners who were new to the whole bird deal got to see their pups do what they were bred for. Everyone seemed to have a very good time watching their pals sniff out the quail. Due to the rain the birds didn't fly very well at all, but most of the dogs were very beginners, so we just really wanted them to find birds and be excited about them anyway...

We also got to see one of Kyler's puppies from last year, Skyla, who is just the cutest thing on 4 legs! Above is a picture of her when she was younger. I have a couple other pictures that I haven't downloaded yet. She has always loved the water her parents said. She must get that from her mother...

Kyler is still out in Indiana to be bred. She is currently playing hard to get, but I think it has been a bit early for her, she is a late one when it comes to being ready for breeding...Most dogs ovulate somewhere around day 12, Kyler is day 18 or later. I just got off the phone with them, she is doing well despite being difficult to breed. They have said, don't worry, they will get it done, she will come back pregnant. I am keeping my fingers crossed!

I also got some recent pictures from another of Kyler's puppies. Lucie, from VT. Her face is the spitting image of her mother, except for the cowlick on her nose! She is learning to hunt with falcons on the VT/Canadian border. Falconers use falcons, instead of guns to catch their prey. It must be fun to watch, I have never seen it myself!

I am off to work tonight. I was hoping that a few weeks ago was going to be my last overnight, but they haven't found anyone to replace me in the ICU yet so I can move to my new position as a surgical nurse. Until they do I have to continue to work a rotating schedule of overnights, days, and weekends. Hopefully soon I will be a normal person!