X-Men: Puppy Origins and a Special Birthday Surprise

A little over a year ago, we pulled a border collie mix that CCAS had listed as "Carly".   When we picked her up from the shelter, her skin was in very bad shape, and she needed to have a few weeks of treatments before she could be spayed and put into our adoption program.  Her foster mom said she re-named her Rosy because she "was so stinky"!

Bless her heart

After a few weeks, the foster called Dr. Shults and asked if it was possible that Rosy could be pregnant.  When asked why she thought that, she said that Rosy had gained weight, was hungry all of the time and that her nipples seemed swollen.  Uh-oh.  Dr. Shults had her bring Rosy in for an x-ray and sure enough, puppies were on the way!  The x-ray seemed to indicate that there would be approximately seven of them.  The foster was willing to give dog-motherhood a shot, but she lived by herself and was concerned that she might not be able to provide the around-the-clock care they would need at first.  She and I arranged to trade my foster for hers.

Exactly one year ago today, Rosy turned briefly into a puppy vending machine.  I was at home by myself when she went into labor, so she and I were in it to win it together.

I followed her inside after a potty break (I'd heard that they can sometimes have them in the yard--which Erin later made fun of me for) and as she was walking through the laundry room, I heard a sloppy "splat!".  She and I both looked at each other like, "Did you do that?  Because it wasn't me!"   Beside her, wriggling in it's sac, was the first puppy.  I promptly screamed like an idiot scooped it up, opened the sac and gave it to her to start cleaning up.  I started writing down the time/sex/color when one was born, but things were happening so quickly that soon I couldn't keep up!  She was having one every 10-15 minutes, which was barely enough time for her to cut the cord and clean one up before the next one was on the way.   When magic number 7 was born, I was ready to close up shop!  The birthing suite (as I fondly called our spare bedroom) was equipped with heating blankets, clean towels, a thermometer, dental floss (don't ask) paper towels, a separate box for while she had contractions....  We were EQUIPPED in the medical supplies department.

What we were not equipped for was for her to continue to pop out puppies.  Number 8 came, and I thought, "well, 7 was just an estimate, so no big deal."  Then, number 9 showed up.  And number 10.  And number 11.  And number 12.  By the time the twelfth puppy was born, I was unsure for a while if there were 12 or 13 because of the switching back and forth between mama and heating pads.


They were all beautiful and healthy and perfect.  I thought I might overdose on puppy breath.  Seven boys and five girls.

Mimic

Bishop

Since there were
a few more than anticipated, which made them seem quite mutant-like, I decided to give them all X-Men names.

As you would expect, they did the most adorable things that puppies do.  There was a LOT of sleeping in food bowls

Sprite

Also Sprite

 Once mealtime was over, it was too much effort to get away from the food bowl.


Falling asleep in between the bars was also easy to do, apparently.   For the first couple of weeks, I slept downstairs on the couch next to them.  Not because I was afraid that one of them might get stuck somewhere underneath Rosy and stop breathing...ok, that is exactly why I did it.  For a brief time, we even had a guest puppy from ART (Animal Rescue of Texas), but we'll tell her story in a separate post.

Rogue

  

Storm

Banshee and Nightcrawler

 If you've never seen a tiny puppy stampede, you need to watch these :12 seconds of video.

Unfortunately, when they were about 12 weeks old and had just had their second set of shots, they started getting sick.  The day that Anthony and I were dropping some of them off with new fosters, Havok became lethargic.  I took him to see Erin, and since he had thrown up a little, but really didn't seem to have anything else wrong, she gave him some medication and I took him home.  The next day, he was worse.  I took him back up to see her and she tested him for Parvo, which came back negative.  She kept him up at the clinic and put him on fluids.  No matter what she did, he wasn't getting better.  A couple of days later, he went to the Rainbow Bridge.  I was devastated.  I had never lost a foster.  One by one, the other puppies were getting sick.  They had to be hospitalized in Denton at an animal hospital equipped to deal with such severe illness.  Every time one started showing symptoms, one of us had to drive to Denton with a heavy heart.

In loving memory of Havok

Thankfully, all of the other puppies made it.  The day that I got to bring several of them home was an emotional rollercoaster of joy, relief, and sadness for Havok.  Sprite and Jubilee were the only two that did not get sick.

Headed home from the hospital

Since they weren't allowed around other dogs or people for a month, they missed a crucial socialization period and some of them became timid around people.

But puppies are resilient little things!  Most of them bounced back quickly, and finally they were ready to enter the adoption program.

Gambit

Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler (my little escape artist) and Jubilee were adopted at the first event they went to.  One by one, the others found their forever homes as well.  We'll post their "happy tails" in a later story as well. 

Rogue, Wolverine, Pixie, Gambit, Banshee, Sprite

The only one who hadn't found her people yet was our precious little Rogue.  Her foster parents took her to dog parks, trained her, worked with her...but she just didn't "show well" at adoption events.  People couldn't see the real funny, sweet Rogue.

Look how big she's gotten!

Finally, she has found a family of her own.  Today, on her birthday, she went to her forever home.  She was a brother named Chandler, who is also a border collie mix.

Rogue and her new brother Chandler.  So happy!!!!

These puppies have brought so much joy to so many people.  The families that fostered them will always treasure the memories, and we wish them lifetimes of happiness with their forever homes.  Happy Birthday, loves.


(If you have adopted one of the X-men puppies and have updated pictures, please send them to jaime@maziesmission.org or I can just continue to stalk you.)  :)

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