Puppies No 4 and 5

Four hours after no 3 was born, no 4 appears from nowhere and is sadly stillborn.  Alice was lying down and appeared quite comfortable, no panting, no contractions, in the blink of an eye he just slipped out almost un-noticed.  We tried the ususal to revive him but to no avail.

Now we are not sure if there is another one to come or not, and if there is, has it been delayed by the stillborn pup (a boy by the way).  Not wanting to take any chances, we call the vet who advises us to bring in Alice and her brood to be checked over.  A scan reveals what looks like a spine, and a heartbeat is also detected.  They can't be sure that this is the only one so we leave Alice and pups with them, the plan being to administer an oxytocin injection and hope this delivers the puppy.  They will then rescan to see if any more can be detected.

An hour later we get a call to say that she has delivered another boy and that all the puppies are happy and feeding.  They have been checked over and are fine.  No more to come so we collect them all and settle them down in what will be their new home for the next few weeks.  They seem none the worse for their unplanned trip and Alice is more relaxed now.