Coco has Whelped her Litter!

Coco in labor early this morning.

Today Coco had 4 boy puppies.  That's right 4 little boys!  What a surprise!  I was a little disappointed we didn't have even one girl.  But then, I was very excited that we had as many as four puppies.  Since Coco is so little, and didn't look terribly large in pregnancy, I wasn't sure.  But four is a perfect number for her to handle. 

And I am very excited that we had some range of color too!  Two puppies are light colored and two are darker red/apricot.  It is hard to judge the color of a coat so early on.  The fur is so short and Coco hasn't cleaned them off completely.  But when the last little boy was born he looked glistening dark brown!  I know it will look different over the next few days.  Reds always look brown at birth.

The first puppy was born at 1 :30 pm. and the last puppy was born at 5:15 pm.  Coco was in labor most of the day and she had her puppies with hour intervals in between.  She took her time, resting a lot in between puppies and overall the labor went very well for her.

The puppies are the tiniest puppies I have ever seen.  The biggest boy of the litter (far left) was also the first to be born, weighing 5.4 oz. The other puppies were in the 4 oz range, the smallest weighing 4.4 oz.  (I didn't have a chance to weigh the last puppy yet. I will update the post when I do.) They seem to be skinny little puppies compared to all our other litters.  But that is not surprising as Coco is so little.  She needed to have little puppies so it would not be any trouble pushing them out.

Coco looked quite a mess after the birth and kept her puppies very close.  It was hard to get a look at them, and she was not going to leave them.  She kept them huddled under her like a mother hen.  She wouldn't get up to eat, so I fed her softened kibble by hand. (piece by piece)  She wouldn't get up for her water either, so I held the bowl under her nose for her to drink.   I am sure she will get up briefly tomorrow, and hopefully she will allow me to give her a quick rinse and blow dry before she rushes back to her puppies.  

I am keeping Coco and her puppies next to my bed tonight.  I am very protective of my Coco and her litter during the first few days.  I will watch them carefully to make sure they get everything they need over the first 48 hours as that is the most crucial time in a puppies life.  The puppies do look skinny....but they are at the same time quite vigorous.   They are eating well and keeping close to Coco.  All good signs.

As soon as I can get decent photos, I will post them.  They really are funny looking little puppies right now. But no worries.  The way Coco is nursing them around the clock, they will be chubby and cute in no time!