HANG IN THERE WEE FLINT

I took Flint to the Emergency Vet earlier on this evening (6 pm), and I was told the only thing we can do for him is try and give him a bottle every 2 hours, so, I've been doing just that. 

The vet gave Flint an injection of Vitamin B 12 to give him a boost, and a calcium supplement for Coco, which will benefit the pups.
Fingers crossed that helps.

By about 8 pm last night I was feeling REALLY sick, most likely due to a combination of tiredness, not taking my anti-depressants and fear for Flint, so I left the pups in the care of Stew, Steve and Bex and went to bed.
They let me sleep until 11.30 pm, so I'm feeling a bit better now.

FLINT:  has had a few feeds from Coco and is looking a little better, though I am NOT counting my chickens with this little puppy.  He's got a long way to go before I will be more relaxed about him.

As you can imagine, I will not be doing much today apart from keeping an eagle eye on the pups, and Flint in particular.

6.50 am.  Flint is still with us, but he is still not doing well at all.  He's lost weight since last night, and isn't sucking anymore.  I am syringing milk into him now.
Hopefully by making sure he is getting milk today he will pick up.  I can only hope.

I should mention:  all the other puppies are doing very well AND Dante's cold is getting better.  He's been off his food too, but is almost back to normal now.

As for me?  I took my anti-depressants last night as I just knew I was feeling shocking after not having any for 6 days!  I'm feeling way better this morning too now.

Please don't worry about ME.  Last night was just a bit too much, I was overly tired/emotional and so should NOT have stopped taking me medication.  Lesson learnt AGAIN.  DON'T DO IT!

Bex and I are both hovering.  Every time he wakes up we try to get him on a nipple, and at 8am he went on.  So we held him there and stopped the other puppies from nudging him off.  Then we topped him up with some formula. 

I can see how easy it is for a little runt like Flint to die... he is just too fragile to do much for himself right now.  The Vet did warn me that even our best efforts might not work and nature will take it's course.  I say BUGGER NATURE!  I am gunna do all it takes to make him well.  If he does die, it won't be from lack of care.

I took Brylee's Enrolment Form down to Alfriston College this morning ... and damn it, I had forgotten to get her to sign it, so will have to take her over there this afternoon.  That will fit in well with the other thing I must do today.
Have me quarterly blood tests.  I'm not even stressed thinking about it, I just want it done and then get out of there so I can get home again.

Oh to add to our worries, Stew's car has an oil leak and he had to park it on the side of the road last night and walk home.  He's taken my car to work today, goodness knows how long it will take to get his car fixed.  $$$'s we can hardly afford to be worrying about.
I won't even mention how much it cost at the Emergency Vet's last night!  Scary!


ABOVE:  a video of Flint, showing how laboured his breathing is.  Poor little fulla, I'm so hoping he pulls through whatever is causing this.

DAVID: thanks for your input.  I shall try giving him some boiled water and maple syrup!  It's the only glucose based  stuff I've got in the house right now.  Any idea on how much water/syrup I should try him with?  He's only 6 days old and weighs 207 grams.

I've talked to our vet, and will hold off any glucose supplements for now.  We may even need to take him to see our Vet at some point, just to make sure he's not getting worse.

so... Coco and Flint are going to our Vet this afternoon at 4.30.  They will give them both a thorough going over, and they can tell me if I'm fighting a loosing battle.  Poor Flint keeps fluctuating between battling and gasping.  Neither is good, but watching him gasping is making me feel sick.  I don't know how long I can prolong his life if he's only going to die anyway?
And I can't bear to sit here hour after hour watching him suffer.

Flint has  Pneumonia  He has been given an injection of Antibiotics and an electrolyte/glucose solution to try and turn him around.
The Vet was very honest and said he has a 75-80% chance of passing away.  
If he shows no signs of improvement by this time tomorrow we can and should take him back to be put to sleep as we are only prolonging his misery.

His body temperature keeps dropping dangerously low too, so I've put him on a hot water bottle and wrapped him in a woolen blanket too.  Obviously the heating pad in the whelping pen isn't enough for him.

He's on electrolyte/milk formula every hour and a half from now until he either picks up... or doesn't.

Trying very hard not to cry.  This has been my biggest fear after losing Sage in our last litter.  

How adorable is this?  Flint is on the hottie bottle, all snug and his brother Jasper climbed in with him.  Awwwwww.

End of Day:  well... little Flint has taken some electrolyte solution, some formula AND he suckled off Coco for a little while too.  So I'm feeling happy, if very cautious in my relief.  It's early hours for him.
I will be up all night, feeding him and keeping him warm so will say goodnite now.
nite nite

*sniffle*  Thanks for  all the lovely comments today, some of them made me cry, and Lacy... your's sure did.