Posted on Aug 6, 2014 in Blog |

The love and support of community matters for the people and animals . . . http://www.womensvoicesmagazine.com/2014/07/01/the-love-support-of-community-matters-for-people-animals/ Last month, our Ruby Cavalier King Charles Spaniel gave birth to puppies. I like to tell people it was an unplanned pregnancy. She and our tri-color CKC “got it on” while my husband was having a heart attack in the hospital. Sixty-five (or so) days later, my sweet Lola girl screamed in pain as she pushed her first born out. No one told me a dog could scream during childbirth. In case you didn’t know, dogs can scream during childbirth. The second puppy arrived about 25 minutes later, smaller, and a faster process and I think therefore, less painful for her. I had never seen a live birth before. My own son’s birth was an emergency C-section with general anesthesia. I’ve never seen any animal give birth. So this was all something quite exciting and different. Even with the “gross” factor of afterbirth, etc., I will say it is a privilege to watch such a miracle evolve. As each puppy popped out, my husband and I teared up and held hands, soaking in the sacredness of the moment. Once Lola finished the clean up, we face-timed with our son, so he could see the little cutie-pies. Of course, everyone thinks we should keep them… except me. Mind you, in our house, we already have THREE Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dogs. We also have a friend living downstairs with her Bijon-Havanese. That’s four dogs. So I have named “Thing 1 and Thing 2,” so I don’t get attached to them because we are NOT keeping them. But each day I find them cuter and cuter. It’s hard not to get attached. And it’s a time and labor intensive job just making sure they thrive. A few days after the birth, Lola developed mastitis, an infected mammary gland. We had to take all three of them into the vet’s office. We spent two hours with an incredible vet whom educated us on how to take care of all three. I had no idea that I had no idea. I was grateful for her insights and education. We weren’t...

Read More