Watch the 17 (YES - 17) baby flemish giants grow up....(2 litters)

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Whoa Peg! 17?! And on Christmas Eve/Day??? Will you name them all after Christmas things? You might even have all of Santa's reindeer. Hehe. I really hope things work out with Sophia. Hang in there :rose:
 
All seventeen babies are still alive although Sophia's didn't eat nearly enough.

I'm going to Tractor Supply this morning to get some things as backup for nursing if I can't get Sophia to nurse them today. More later...
 
This has to be very stressful for you. Your in my thoughts. :hug:



edit: I'm glad all the babies are still doing well :):bunnydance::bunnydance:
 
:hug: Sorry it's not going too well with Sophia right now. I know you're worried, and doing your best...hang in there! I'm praying and am sure several others are too.

Just a thought, for the benefit of others even if you can't use this suggestion: Sweetie didn't like for us to put her over the babies to help with nursing, so 3 times a day we would get her in a comfortable trance on her back. We'd let her relax a few minutes (as she alwaysenjoyedbeing on her back),and thenhelp the babies latch on. Sometimes it was quite a circus! They'd wriggle around looking for the "best" nipple and knock each other out of the way (and off the nipple, of course!), slip off her belly, slide down beside her tail, etc.We usually had to help them quite a bit, and continue to stroke Mama and talk softly to her so she would see it as a positive experience.

Though I'm sure the milk comes down more naturally when Mama is standing, we found that the babies did get some colostrum and the extra stimulation for those couple of days made her fill up with milk until she was eager to nurse on her own (to relieve the pressure I'm sure! LOL...those of you who have breastfed know EXACTLY what I mean!)

Sometimes the session on her back would last up to 1/2 an hour because she was a very good trancer, and we could let the littlest of the litters have Mama's belly to themselves a bit so they didn't have to compete. And doing it with two people was easiest, though I did do a few sessions by myself, keeping the babies close by in a box and putting them on her tummy one at a time so I could carefully watch and help them.

This was time consuming...but it worked for us. It seemed that after Mama and babies alike got the hang of things after 3 sessionsper day for 3-4 days, everyone was much more relaxed, babies were getting chubby, and Sweetie was more confident. Then we let her take it from there, checking for a day or so to be sure every kit was staying full. She always had plenty of milk and did great on her own after that!
 
I'll share more later - but here are photos of Athena's babies today (the healthiest 9 of them anyway).

Athena did nurse Sophia's babies a bit ago...

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:inlove: and i thought i had a hard time hand rearing my lab's 5 pups when she was so ill after whelping! i can sympathise with you on every sleepless night and worry filled day.
thank you for sharing such lovely pics x
 
WOW, lots of babies!! they're adorable! Good luck! I have never had any luck hand rearing babies, but my babies are a bit smaller (Dutch, HLop, Dwarf before, and Mini rex)
 
I'm leaving in about 5 minutes with Sophia to go to the vet in San Antonio - I think she has either a retained kit or placenta. She's doing ok other than slight fever but she's all over me and wanting me to hold her and baby her.

Thoughts and prayers appreciated.
 
The "sorta" good news. Sophia really doesn't have milk - they couldn't find a retained kit or placenta after doing an x-ray AND ultrasound....but there was something there that was sort of suspicious. The vet said she can't say for sure that Sophia HAS an infection in her uterus - but she can't say for sure she doesn't have one either - so the decision was made to put her on antibiotics for the next 10 days (9 days plus today).

We're also going to schedule her for a spay - probably in January. She doesn't appear to have mothering instincts...she has a lot of fat around her uterus (one uterine horn was enlarged) and since she is really a beloved pet - we decided it was best to not breed her again.

Mind you - this was why I got out of breeding lionheads in the first place....almost losing a doe I loved.

In addition - we lost two babies today - and we may lose a third one that got hurt really bad when it got out of the nestbox and cage.

I watched Athena to see what she's doing and I'm taking away her nestbox and giving her something taller. Basically - she made her cage in a corner of the nestbox (back corner) and then goes in and digs all of her babies forwards (as if she was digging in the ground) - and feeds them and hopes they go back. Some of them fall out though apparently or crawl out.

That's all for now - more later - I promise.
 
I am so sorry huni that had to be mixed blessings for sure. I am so happy to hear Sophia is doing ok, but real sorry about the losses too.
 
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