Paisley's in a family way

CH Casselcreek Vintage Paisley, aka Paisley, is two-thirds of the way through her first pregnancy. Bred to CKC/AKC CH Blue Isle Field Of Dreams "Chipper", this is a litter I'm very excited about. Not only is Paisley my very special little baby girl but she's, well, you know, my very special little baby girl. Totally holds the record for being the most spoiled, pampered pooch at Casselcreek.

Bred in mid December, the first "trimester" was rather uneventful. Then came the 3-week mark when she decided that the "full" feeling in her tummy must actually mean she was full, therefore didn't need to eat, and so she didn't. A bit of morning sickness, combined with going off her food was a pretty good indicator of a successful breeding and a girl very likely in whelp. In addition to the loss of appetite, her mood was also somewhat depressed ... mopey, clingy, and needing lots of extra TLC. We visited our wonderful repro vets for an ultrasound on Day 30 and the good news from Dr. Wendy is, "Ohhhh, she's pregnant. Lots of puppies, so many I can't count them all". Paisley was the first puppy born in a litter of 12, so no doubt carries the fertility gene passed down from her Gramma to her mama and now to her. I might have to buy a bigger whelping pool :)

I've spent the last 3 weeks trying to convince her to eat. I've offered her absolutely everything ... raw, frozen, kibble, thawed, cooked, canned, sauteed in a delicate red wine demi-glace, standing on my head while I chewed bubble gum and sang O Canada ... anything to get her to eat. The only thing she seemed to enjoy were crappy milk bones and horse manure. Nice. I finally convinced her to play games with the kibble and spent a lot of time tossing her kibbles, one by one, until she had consumed her daily ration. Any idea how many individual kibbles are in a cup or two of kibble? A LOT. Nevertheless, we persevered and finally made it through that stage.

Paisley says, "morning sickness sucks"

Our weekly visits into the vet's office for a quick weigh-in have at least been reassuring as the numbers on the scale are starting to go up. Looks like our little "walnuts" are well on their way.

Happy Trails ... Theresa