Sunday, January 10, 2010

Kaya's first day of spotting was January 4. I picked her up from her home in Fairfield today and took her to Bishop Ranch Veterinary Clinic in San Ramon for her first progesterone blood test. She is a tad pudgy because Alex and Darla D'Ambrosio, Kaya's custodial parents, have two toddlers who regularly get robbed of their snacks by Kaya. She will be on a modest diet for the week she is at Camelot for progesterone testing.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Kaya is spending most of her time with 8-month old Mocha (Camelot's Cup of Java), who is here for a week of bonding. Mocha's normal home is in Palo Alto, with Helen and Carlos Sandoval. Kaya and I went to Bishop Ranch today for her second progesterone sample and a pre-breeding exam by Dr. Janice Cain. Everything looks good. Her Sunday progesterone level was 0.3 ng/mL. This is called the "baseline" and we will be looking for the level to climb in coming days. When it gets over 2.0, we will give Stacey Ford the green light to have Lennox collected.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Dr. Cain's office called this morning with Tuesday's progesterone level (day 9), which was 0.5 ng/mL, so we are still at baseline. Based on Kaya's past history, I expect the Thursday sample (day 11) to be starting to head up. Stacey has a tentative appointment for Lennox to be collected for 4:30 pm Monday the 18th. That would be nice as it is difficult to ship fresh-chilled semen on Sunday.

Friday, January 15, 2010

I took Kaya to Bishop Ranch yesterday for her day 11 progesterone test. I then took her back home to Fairfield, where she was reunited with her human house mates. She is getting her scheduled rabies and DHPP vaccinations at her normal vet today and tomorrow Alex of Darla will take her back to their regular vet for the day 13 progesterone test.

While Kaya is here we have to keep the dogs in split camps because we don't want her and Hadley getting together. That means that either Kaya or Hadley is in the kennel all the time and since I don't like leaving a dog in the kennel all alone, one or two other dogs are with her or him. With Kaya gone today, all six RRs are hanging out in the house. The following photo was snapped this morning when I emerged from the dressing room after my shower.

Starting with Elvira (who has her head under a pillow) and going clockwise, this is Monroe, Napa, Mocha and Hadley. [13-year old Dawn was not on the bed, but curled up in a recliner chair in the family room.]

Dr. Cain called about 4 pm to tell me that yesterday's PG test came in at 1.4 ng/mL, so we are climbing, but still relatively low. This is developing well for a Tuesday breeding.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Kaya had a blood draw on Saturday and the results came in yesterday at 2.8 ng/mL. So she isn't going up real fast. I picked her up in Fairfield about noon today and took her to Bishop Ranch for another blood draw. Lennox was collected this afternoon and we are going to do the first AI tomorrow at noon. By then we will have the results of the Monday blood test and will decide if a second collection and AI on Wednesday or Thursday will be necessary.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Kaya's Monday progesterone level was 9.2 ng/mL, so we are in good shape. I took Kaya to Bishop Ranch at noon for her first AI. The semen quality survived it's ovenight plane trip in good order and was of excellent quality. The AI was done by the transcervical method. Kaya's cervical opening was tilted a bit to the side and Dr. Cain had to work at it for about 15-20 minutes before she was able to gain entry. Kaya was a real trooper and stood solid as a rock until the job was done. The following photo shows Dr. Cain with her instrument getting ready to insert the semen.

She monitors what she is doing by watching with a tv monitor; the camera is in the tip of the syringe.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Lennox was collected again yesterday afternoon and according to Stacey, the quality was again excellent and the quantitity was even greater than from the Monday collection. The goods are on the way here by UPS and probably already at Bishop Ranch. However, because of today's huge rainstorm, I made Kaya's appointment at 1:30 instead of noon, in case there are any weather-related delays. Kaya will probably be glad to go home after today's AI as the heavy rainstorm has caused what we call "Lake Camelot" in our backyard and kennel (see following photos).

This happens when we have several days of heavy rain, which causes the ground to become saturated, followed by a very fast and heavy rain. The buildup is rapid and when the rain stops, as it has now, the lake subsides throught our drainage system very rapidly.

At 1 pm Kaya and I went over to Bishop Ranch for the 2nd AI. This time it went very quickly. The photo below shows Kaya sitting on the exam table waiting for Dr. Cain. When Jan got set up this time, she found and passed the cervical opening on the first try and we were done and on the way home in under 20 minutes total. I took Kaya back to Fairfield where she was happy to see her two-legged buddies.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

It has been five weeks since the second AI and Kaya is showing obvious signs of being way knocked up. Nevertheless, I took her today to visit Dr. Cain for a general checkup and ultrasound. Kaya has been through this before and she was a real trooper, lying in the wedge-shaped pillow for the ultrasound exam:

The ultrasound showed that we have a lot of buns in the oven. The pups are sufficiently well developed that we could see individual features--limbs, tail, head, ribs. We even saw one vigorous kick. There is no evidence of any resorbed puppies. It is hard to tell how many there are when they are big like this because they are sort of crowded--Jan thinks 8 or 9.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Darla dropped Kaya off today on her way to work for day care and so Cheri and I could do her nails. She looks very big. She is always happy to be here with our other dogs--she considers our house her home away from home. She'll be back for the pre-whelp period starting next Wednesday.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

I picked Kaya up in Fairfield yesterday. Her family has two toddlers and little Giacomo had decorated the front sidewalk for her departure, with big red, blue and yellow KAKA on front step. She is very comfortable at our house because she is here so much and she settled right in. Her temperature last night was 100.2 degrees and this morning it was 98.4 degrees. This is the sort of drop we normally look for about 24 hours before whelp, but this is way to early and she doesn't show any of the other signs. Kaya is pretty chunky and last night she slept on our bed, rather than in a crate (which she hates even when she isn't 8 1/2 weeks pregnant).

Thursday, March 18, 2010 6:36 PM

The dogs had to spend the day in the kennels because the place was swarming with workmen who are installing another 3.75 kw of solar panels (to heat the granite floor in our soon-to-be remodelled master bath). In very uncharacteristic fashion, she only ate half of her dinner, and promptly went into the house and barfed it all up. Given the drop in temp this morning and her unusual lack of appetite, I am predicting puppies sometime Saturday.