I have been doing my best to find time to do this post. I started it around 5:00 AM this morning and have been putting out one fire after another working on getting new pups on the way to us and the ones in the ER taken care of.
Last week something happened that had never happened at Noah's Arks Rescue. One of our sweet girls had puppies that was not supposed to. I bet you will never guess which dog it was. It was dear Skittles. When we took in Skittles, she was skin and bones and had Lymphoma. Beaufort County begged me to let her live out her final months with us at the Rehab Center. I said yes and decided to get her to our wonderful Oncologists, Dr. Claudia McFadden and Dr. Kerry Risetto to see if we could give her a much longer Life.
They both agreed since she had Lymphoma that her chances would improve with Chemotherapy. They said not to spay her since she was already too sick and the surgery would make her Lymphoma worse by compromising her immune system. We did four rounds of chemotherapy and Skittles did amazingly well with the treatments.
Our very special girl looked like she had puppies prior to us getting her. Beaufort County had her for several weeks, and she was not around any other dogs. We had her for almost five weeks while she was doing her chemotherapy and testing. The average gestation period is eight weeks. Our sweet girl must have gotten pregnant the week before she was picked up. She had obviously had a recent litter based on how she looked.
When Skittles abdomen began to get hard, I just knew her cancer had spread and had her taken to the Vet to have her checked out. When I got the phone call, I almost fell out of my chair. Everyone was shocked to find four little heads with four beating hearts. I contacted her Oncologist to see what they wanted us to do since she had been given four rounds of chemo. They did some research and discovered the chemotherapy she had been given was the same chemo that was given to pregnant women.
We decided to allow her to have her pups, naturally. We thought she would have several weeks before she was due. Bright and early Monday Morning Skittles delivered her first puppy. Our Adoption Coordinator, Jeri Romer was working early that morning when suddenly she walked into the back room and could not believe her eyes when she saw the tiniest little puppy. She called me, and I rushed down to help Skittles with the rest of the pups.
For the next three hours, our little Mama delivered two boys and two girls. One boy and one girl were stillborn, and the other two appeared to be perfect. We have watched these little Angels for any signs they were not going to make it. Both pups are doing incredible and Skittles is thriving being their Mom. If anything, her swollen lymph nodes are smaller than they have been. The Oncologists have decided the ones that died were because Skittles was too emaciated to carry four puppies. They do not anticipate the otherpuppies having any problems from the chemo they received.
We have named the boy Rhythm and the girl Blues. Skittles loves her Rhythm and Blues pups. The babies look like large baby seals. They started out tiny and in less than a week have quadrupled in size. Our Little Mama looks like she had an affair with a St. Bernard. The puppies fur is much longer than Skittles, and they are HUGE with really BIG Feet. All they want to do is eat, eat, eat. If they ever learn how to walk their poor little legs are going to buckle from all the weight, they are carrying. Our Vet said they are healthy and happy and to not worry about the weight. We are using the small swimming pool the dogs love to play in for Mama and puppies, and that is placed in our shower to keep them contained.
We didn't expect this to happen but are happy Skittles, and her puppies are happy and healthy. Once she is done nursing, we will then restart her chemotherapy. If anyone would like to contribute toward this beautiful Family to make sure they get the medical care they need, we would greatly appreciate it. It is a Miracle Skittles was able to pull this off without causing any harm to herself.
