Miracle's Page

The littlest puppy—Miracle!

Vision’s early pregnancy ultrasound showed that she was carrying a small litter--only three pups appeared on the screen; but her third pregnancy proceeded normally and she continued to be an active, healthy expectant Mom. I booked her for a routine x-ray on day 59—counting from the first of the three breeding dates. An hour prior to the visit to the Vet, her temperature reading was still in the normal range. Vision happily hopped out of the car and entered the Vet’s office with her usual bright eyed and bushy tailed attitude.

I mentioned to the Vet that I had concerns about not feeling or seeing movement, but had put it down to the small size of the litter and the fact that the bitch was in excellent shape and could be carrying the puppies quite high. When the Vet did a thorough palpation and also couldn’t feel the pups, we both began to worry. We decided we would do another ultrasound, a progesterone test and then the x-ray. As I assisted with the ultrasound, we discovered one of the pups had no heartbeat and another one had a heartbeat that was in the 40 range instead of the expected 200 range. This was an indication that Vision required emergency surgery to save that puppy. The progesterone test came back with a reading of three indicating impending labour. The x-ray determined the dead puppy and one partly formed mass was in one side. The other puppy had to be taken immediately in order to give it a chance at survival. Internal infection also put Vision and the puppy at risk.

Tearfully I hugged my girl and prayed that she would make it through the c-section and spay procedure. I hoped that the one puppy could be saved though I understood the chances were not good at this stage.

The call came an hour later. Vision was in recovery and a little puppy was in the incubator after having been revived on delivery. I was told that I come and pick them both up if I wanted them at home right away. No one mentioned of the size of this puppy! My first view of her was a heart stopping. She weighed less than three ounces. All her bones and ribs were showing--perhaps a good way to look at her structure, but what would I be able to do to keep her alive? I was given a crash course in tube feeding, handed the tube equipment, bottles, nipples and milk supplements and sent on my way. Vision was barely conscious and unaware of her miracle baby going home in a box warmed with heated water-filled surgical gloves. During the hour it took to get home, the puppy started going into what I thought was respiratory distress—each breath sounding like it would be the last. A call to the Vet suggested I try elevating the puppy on a board with her head down to help drain her nasal passages and be sure to feed her every two hours day and night until she could suckle on her own.

The puppy was put in a whelping box in the family room under a heat lamp on an angled and towel wrapped heating pad and the room temperature was cranked up to uncomfortably hot. To give her the best chance, the whole family would have to suffer in this household incubator. Vision was carried into her kennel, still sleeping and unaware of her puppy. Then we watched as another of nature’s miracles took place. My nine year old spayed female Standard Poodle-Pink-- who had never had a litter, moved into the whelping box and carefully positioned herself by the baby where she stayed for most of the next two days stimulating the puppy and keeping her warm and worrying through my awkward attempts at feeding the pup. I was concerned that Vision’s milk supply might dry up, so I expressed first the colostrum and then milk from her nipples—freezing the left over until I finally managed to figure out how much this pup needed. I had the greatest success dropping the milk into the puppy’s mouth from a tiny syringe while I held her to feel the stomach fill. Each feeding at two hour intervals brought worry that the pup would not have survived.

With mixed emotions, we watched Vision’s introduction to her puppy on the third day when she was well enough to show interest in her baby. Mom glared and growled at her older relative to leave the whelping box. As Pink gave up her first and only mothering duties, Vision gently claimed a puppy who still did not have the strength to suckle.

It continued to be a day-to-day and hour-to-hour concern for this puppy’s life until she was two weeks old and finally able to suckle enough from her Mom to stop the supplements. Friends and associates phoned offering varying advice and assistance, but the one constant came in the form of choosing a name for the baby—everyone agreed that after her ordeal and long fight to survive she should be called Miracle.

Weight gain seemed negligible and then a slow process. Normal developmental guidelines went by the board as everything happened late. We wondered if she would ever see when her eyelid remained closed. On the seventeenth day both eyes suddenly popped open rather than the gradual first corner peeking. Baby teeth were late in erupting and then seemed to appear all at once.

Now his feisty puppy is making up for lost time. She crawls out of the whelping box to harass the older Poodles who jump on the nearest furniture to avoid her sharp little teeth chomping on their back legs. She jumps the stairs, one at a time, to reach the upstairs bedroom level of the house. She had to be rescued at six weeks as she tried to follow her mother into the cold lake water, and then after shivering on shore for a moment she raced into the water again. Car rides are an everyday occurrence and now to her delight boating has been added as well. She loves playing with her human infant and toddler companions and shows great restraint in that playtime. She gave up paper-training to howl or scratch at the door to go outdoors and we have had no accidents in the house since she learned we would race to accommodate her. Her pen is usually kept open so she can roam about and then go back in it for free feeding and sleep. She has an assortment of pens and crates at home, at the beach cabin, and in the cars and happily adapts to any. She loves her bright red tunnel and races through it at every opportunity. She has always lived literally in the bosom of her family so all household noises are old hat, and new noisy toys purchased for the grandbaby are always worth investigating. The “come” command is instant and brings her flying to us; while following, fetching and retrieving are part of the games she plays. She still nurses from Mom at least twice a day. We watch in wonderment as Mom plays with her, teaches her, and softly disciplines her. We learn new dog behavior when we watch Vision take her precious once-a-day bedtime cookie and leap into the pen to share it with her baby as she teaches the puppy to wait her turn and then Vision forces her to give it back if Miracle tries to take the treat too quickly or too aggressively.

Miracle is nearing eight weeks old and shows great potential for Conformation, Obedience, Agility, Hunt and taking the world by storm, but she is still very tiny and we all wonder if she will ever achieve the size of a Standard Poodle. She has stolen the hearts of everyone she meets with her delightful Poodle personality and remains our own little Miracle.

Little Miracle

 On Tuesday, May 17, 2005,
You gave me the option to survive.

 You worked so hard in order to give
me a turn at life, my chance to live.

 Some questioned was it right,
Was it worth the effort, worth the fight?

 But I was happy and I was here,
And I had one spectacular year!

Though I developed small in form
And didn’t take the show ring by storm,

I possessed the most important thing,
Any living creature can bring:

A love for all and they for me—
And that is the greatest legacy!

 On my first birthday, it was time to go
Though tortured hearts were crying no

 I know I was lucky to end it here
Looked after by those so kind and dear.

 If you are wondering or in doubt,
What it was for or all about.

 We shared a need in time and space,
And it was right I took my place

 For I brought happiness to young and old
And I remain a story forever told.

 Because in photos and memories, there am I
Long after this -- my last good-bye.

 Miracle Booth
Standard Poodle

May 17, 2005 – May 17, 2006