Paradigm Rhodesian Ridgebacks
| Dinah's Blog for her Feb. 4-6, 2011 Litter (Rowan & Dinah): CH Paradigm's Red Talisman SC CGC TT TDI x CH Paradigm's Fire & Brimstone |
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| Contact Us: Mike & Martha 860-887-9635 paradigmrr@sbcglobal.net |
November 2010:
- the 19th: Dinah finally came in season today! She is later than expected. We are now scrambling
around rearranging our Thanksgiving plans. We contacted Rowan's owner to give her a heads-up for
a possible breeding the 1st week of December. - the 27th: Mike flew back early from visiting with family in IN and drove Dinah up to the repro vet in
Framingham, MA (~1.75 hours one way). They performed a health screen (everything good), a
brucellosis test (negative), a vaginal smear (cells associated with high estrogen rise present) and a
progesterone test. - the 28th: Mike called the repro vet and obtained the progesterone results -- unfortunately, they are
baseline (0.5 ng/mL). So, Dinah's progesterone is rising slower than expected or I misdiagnosed
her first day of heat. I swabbed her bottom on the 19th and there was a drop of blood. We didn't see
any further evidence of blood, however, for several days. So, she likely was not yet in season on the
19th. - the 29th: Another progesterone draw -- this time at our local vet. We obtained the results on the 30th
-- still baseline (0.6 ng/mL) -- frustrating! See Dinah's 2010 blog, if you are interested in learning
about what this all means.
December 2010:
- the 1st: Dinah is starting to act 'flirty' -- this is usually associated with the rise of progesterone levels.
She had another progesterone draw this afternoon. We also contacted Rowan's repro vet in Texas to
provide them with our repro vet info in MA, as well as to provide our credit card information for collection
costs. - the 2nd: Dinah's progesterone reading on the 1st sharply rose to 1.6 ng/mL -- likely corresponding with
her LH surge, which also correlates to 'flirty' behavior. Mike took Dinah in for another progesterone
tonight at 4:30 -- she has caught on to the routine and now runs upstairs to avoid going to the car.
Dinah is strongly flagging tonight, which more than likely indicates her progesterone is rising over
yesterdays. If we see a strong increase in the progesterone reading (will have it tomorrow), Rowan will
be collected on Friday afternoon for a Saturday breeding. It is a little on the early side. If the weekend
was not looming, we would not run a progesterone today -- we would have waited until tomorrow. But,
we need a reading to see if her progesterone is ramping up. The weekend poses difficulties, since
FED EX does not deliver on Sunday. So, the repro vet is trying to calculate when her fertile window is
and wants to ensure it is fully covered. See ovulation chart to the right for more info -- we are looking to
have her 'covered' (i.e. sperm in her uterus) during her fertile period (orange band). - the 3rd: Dinah's progesterone barely rose to 1.8 ng/mL -- she needs to be about 5 ng/mL to ovulate.
Thereafter, it takes about 48 hours for the eggs to mature and be receptive to sperm. Rowan's
collection appt was cancelled and rescheduled for tomorrow (Sat), with a breeding planned on Monday.
Dinah has an appt with Slade Repro vets tomorrow for another progesterone and a vaginal smear. We
are hoping and guessing that her numbers for Saturday will be above 5, which should make Monday a
good time to breed. I was hoping to avoid this scenario, since Rowan's sperm will be sitting around
(chilled and extended) until Monday. Everything should be fine, though. - the 4th: Martha drove Dinah up to the Slade Repro vet. According to the vaginal smear, she has
progressed very close to ovulation, but is still early to breed. That is a good thing, since we cancelled
Rowan's collection yesterday. And, we hope that she will be ready on Monday to breed. In any event,
that is what is going to happen. Rowan was collected today (the 4th) in TX and his sperm is in route to
Framingham, MA for a 10:30 a.m. guaranteed delivery. Dinah's appt for a transcervical insemination is
at 10:40 a.m. - the 5th: Good news! Dinah's progesterone came back at 4.1 ng/mL. She is very close to ovulating or
maybe has, when you look at the chart to the right. She needs to be above 5 ng/mL -- this is an
indication that ovulation is complete. Just to make sure, Dinah will have another progesterone draw
tomorrow, when she is bred. We also have another appt for a breeding on Tuesday, since the sperm is
anticipated to only last 24 hours given that it has already sat around for a couple days. - the 6th & 7th: Dinah was bred on Monday & Tuesday. A progesterone sample was taken on Monday just
to make sure she ovulated. And, yippeeee, she has (14.9 ng/mL). So, timing for breeding is good,
since it takes a couple of days for the eggs to mature. The breeding was via a trans-cervical
insemination. They basically thread a scope through her cervix and deposit the semen right in to the
uterus. While this is more expensive, it greatly enhances the chances of conception. She stood like a
rock -- even though it is rather uncomfortable -- and kept 'lock-on' eye contact with Mike, who drove her
up on Monday. Tuesday, I impulsively decided to go with him. I will have to crank through my work to
catch-up, but was worth it to see the procedure. The vets and techs raved about how good Dinah was
and that they usually require restraining. They were also very very excited about the timing of the
breeding in relation to her progesterone level on Monday. Thanks to Michele, Rowan's owner, in flexing
her schedule to make this happen. Due Date: Feb. 4-6th! - the 30th: Many of you e-mailed, requesting updates on Dinah. Thanks for the interest. Dinah has an
appt on Wed, Jan. 5th, with our local vet to palpate her -- hopefully, to confirm pregnancy. We think
Dinah is likely pregnant. She has lost her 'tuck-up', because of mammary gland development. Since
we bred her on her next heat cycle after her previous breeding, we are not positive whether this is simply
hormonal swelling that you sometimes see in bitches after a heat or whether she is actually pregnant. It
seems, though, that there is enough gland activity that is consistent with pregnancy. She is also acting
a little goofy -- very smiley and sheepish. :-) Anyway, there is the update (for what it is worth). We hope
to have some exciting news next week! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New
Year!
- the 3rd: Wow, thanks for all the excited e-mails coming our way! We hope we will have some good
news on Wednesday. Dinah continues to 'look' more and more pregnant. She also is doing her best to
negotiate sleeping on our bed all night. It takes a crane to get her off! We've increased her food by about
1/2 cup, since she is unceasingly hungry! Will keep you posted! - the 5th: Dinah is pregnant! :-) She was not too thrilled about being palpated (i.e. rubbing her flank area
firmly -- one hand on each side of her). She doesn't even care for us to touch that area right now. The
vet was not sure how many, but will take a head count via x-ray on the 31st. We are very excited about
this pregnancy confirmation. At this point, we are closing our waiting list. Depending upon litter size, we
may re-open the list. - the 20th: Our sincere apologies for the silence. All is well, except we have a new home computer that is
wonderful. But, it seems that our website was somewhat corrupted and sometimes works (and
sometimes doesn't). Will try to get pictures of Dinah this weekend. She is steadily increasing in size,
hunger and demands. In fact, we are needing to run interference to make sure she doesn't eat Eva's
food, since Dinah inhales her in a minute or two. We still plan to get her x-rayed on the 31st. Thanks for
your patience. - the 27th: Well, I thought our website issues were resolved -- it appears, however, that our new computer
system is incompatible with Yahoo Sitebuilder. So, after 1 'file save' and "publish", it will crash. I'm in
contact with yahoo and, hopefully, this last patch will resolve the issue. Please e-mail us directly,
though, if there aren't updates here, and we will try to work around other alternatives for updates. So, on
to more interesting things, Dinah is doing great! Getting bigger and ravenous. Our 3 raw sweet
potatoes disappeared yesterday, while I was out shoveling the sidewalk. There was 'evidence' this
morning on who the culprit was! I do have pictures -- but guess what -- my Adobe Photoshop 3 is not
compatible with Windows 7. We are going to see if we can get a patch this weekend. If not, we will
upgrade the software. We are doing our best to work out these bugs before pups arrive -- NEXT
WEEKEND! We have the whelping box set up in our spare bedroom -- everything is ready to go. - the 30th -- still don't have website issues resolved. I can 'update' it once, then it crashes. I then have to
uninstall/reinstall. Our new Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 was installed today. So, to the right are all
the pictures, I did not post previously. Click on thumbnails to enlarge. Tomorrow X-ray! - the 31st -- well, we thought she was not going to have a big litter. We were surprised, however, that the
x-ray only showed one very big pup!! Not sure if it is because she will be 6 years old in April (equivalent
to a 42 year old woman) or whether she is one of those girls that needs a "live" breeding. In any case,
we know there are a lot of disappointed homes. We are in the process of contacting everyone
individually to let you know where you stand. We went ahead and scheduled a c-section for Friday
morning. We will have more information by Friday afternoon. We are hoping and praying for a safe
surgery and recovery for Dinah and safety for her little one! - Feb. 4th -- we have a baby liver-nosed, show-ridged girl! Dinah and baby are doing fine.
If you are on our waiting list, please e-mail us ASAP to obtain referrals to other litters or to
transfer your application to our 2012 waiting list. I know this was disappointing for all of
you. We are happy, though, that both momma and baby are doing fine. Thank you so
much for the outpouring of encouraging e-mails. We appreciate it!
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Why a blog? First, in early 2010, we were/are mentoring two "newbies", who were interested in breeding at some point in the future. This
seemed like an efficient way to train. Second, we receive a lot of e-mails about the status of our upcoming litter, and a blog seemed like an
efficient way to share info. This is not to discourage e-mails directly to us, but we know from the statistics of our blog pages that this is a
valuable resource to those that are interested. Finally, we have received tremendous positive feedback from long-term Ridgeback
breeders, people on our waiting list and those who are simply just interested. Please enjoy and feel free to ask questions. Mike & Martha
seemed like an efficient way to train. Second, we receive a lot of e-mails about the status of our upcoming litter, and a blog seemed like an
efficient way to share info. This is not to discourage e-mails directly to us, but we know from the statistics of our blog pages that this is a
valuable resource to those that are interested. Finally, we have received tremendous positive feedback from long-term Ridgeback
breeders, people on our waiting list and those who are simply just interested. Please enjoy and feel free to ask questions. Mike & Martha
January 2011:
Jan. 12, 2011
Jan. 21, 2011
Jan. 30, 2011
Jan. 26, 2011