Friday, April 25, 2008

Amazing Mum

No, I'm not talking about my mum now...(Although she IS indeed very amazing). I'm talking about Luna..my beloved golden retriever..

It all began from our carelessness..For several years now, my family has decided to make Luna, the only female dog in our house, become sterile, by giving her the injection every 6 month period. But...for this period, we'd totally forgotten. So the mating season for dogs has come and gone...And suddenly, Luna has become very big..especially her belly...Then we realized, we had made a mistake..

Luna is a seven year old dog, and has given labor four times before (each one not less than seven puppies!!). So according to the vet, she has to get some rest now..The mummy season has already passed..Now she has become a grandma for several grandpuppies...=)

So..we are very panicked when we knew she has become pregnant..-again!!- in her old age..The risk is, she can even get killed when giving labor to the puppies. But what can we do? Getting her an abortion?? Hah. So we just waited and counted the days..until finally one day, she became very restless and cranky...and started to find a spot for her to dig a hole..Ups! We recognized the symptoms too well...It's the time!!

So last night, me and my sister took turn to watch her, preparing milk and bread..And sometime around midnight, the first puppy came out to the world. Followed by another, and another, and another, until they became seven tiny puppies.

If you haven't seen a dog giving a labor before..well, maybe you can't understand why this is becoming very dramatic for us..The thing is, a dog (especially the big one) needs great amount of energy to push one little puppy out, then clean the puppy from the placenta (and eat the placenta!!! can you believe it???), and also cut the cord (and eat it too!!!!).. So..can you imagine the process being repeated for seven times?? For old dog like Luna, it's not going very easy, especially because she did everything by herself.. (Nope, no epidural, no obgyn doctors, and no husband to punch!)

So we watched Luna breathing heavily, getting weaker and weaker each time..And I just wanted to cry. We will never forget again to get the injection..This is the last time!! I can't imagine to lose my dog because of our recklessness...

And thank God, all the puppies were born healthy, and Luna also still survived..Although looked very weak and tired, she just couldn't neglect her mummy instinct..She cleaned everybody, and feed them milk..Gosh...do I have just one third of her mummy instinct??? =p

So..the next task is: for dog lovers out there...anybody for golden retriever puppies???? =)