Six spines.
She's gonna have a big job on her hands.
And I just wonder whether a small dog like her,
on her first litter is gonna be able to do that.
We've now waited the full hour,
but there's no sign of any puppies at all.
"This isn't panning out like it normally does."
She's been putting contractions in,
"but the puppies haven't been doing their bit. Why?"
There's a chance
they may no longer be alive.
Problem we’ve got is these puppies
really forced our hand.
Hello, how are you?
"- I've got Leaha. - Leaha, hello Leaha"
She's having pups.
"- Okay, having some trouble? - Yeah."
"She can't stand up on her back legs and she's taken forever."
She's huffing and puffing.
Okay, have a seat.
"- I'll go and get Dr. Chris for you. - Thank you."
"Chris is back at the Kyabram Veterinary Clinic"
where Heather and her daughter Alana
have arrived with a very pregnant Leaha.
This much loved
Maltese is definitely no farm dog.
She's the world to us, yeah.
She's our little girl.
It's starting to get really concerning.
So we brought her in to have her checked up.
Okay, how old is she now?
She's nearly four years old.
"How long has she not been able to walk for?"
About ten o’clock this morning.
She can't even get out of the bed.
She's just got nothing.
Yeah, she's really unable to stand there.
Yeah.
The way I’m thinking is with labor for dogs, they generally have two stages.
The first stage is
when they have internal contractions,
where the puppies start to move around and
"and her uterus, her womb is really starting to move the puppies"
in along the tube and getting ready to come out.
Yep.
The second stage is the actual visible
contractions where she's really forcing
and pushing the puppies.
She hasn’t really reached
"- that stage yet. - No."
So, what I think has happened is
the puppies have moved into an area where
they’re starting to cause some paralysis for her.
Yep.
"And because of that, she's reached a bit of a deadlock."
Yeah.
"She just hasn't been able to push because she can't really feel a lot of"
"- what's going on. - No."
I wanna know exactly where she's at, how many puppies she has
where the puppies are and how close they are to being delivered.
The only way to do that is with an X-ray.
X-ray.
Wow, and I reckon I can count
one, two, three, four, five, six spines.
She's gonna have a big job on her hands.
and I just wonder whether a small dog like her,
on her first litter is gonna be able to do that.
How’d you go, there’s only three or four?
She’s got six.
Six of them.
My goodness.
Leaha has been in labor for more than five hours
and there is no sign of the pups.
Chris now fears the worst.
My worry right now is that this isn't panning out like it normally does.
She's been putting contractions in,
but the puppies haven't been doing their bit. Why?
There's a chance
they may no longer be alive.
Good girl.
You know, I just think we need to give her
a few drugs to move things along.
"- Yep. - to move things along."
Okay.
If we don't see any action, then.
Then I think she's gonna have to go into a caesarean,
which I know isn't what we want.
No.
Caesareans aren't something we just rush into.
I'd rather she had those pups naturally.
So, we’re gonna give her two injections, the first one is calcium.
"Really to give her muscles the ability to contract strongly."
And the second is oxytocin, which really
stimulates those muscles to contract.
The two together are a pretty powerful combination.
Good girl.
These injections should start working within a couple of seconds.
But I'm gonna give her a full hour
to see if their gonna have any effect in getting these puppies out.
So you can see, that's already bringing
on a few little contractions here.
Good girl.
So this stage now, will really tell us if she's gonna have the strength
"- to do it by herself. - To go through."
Yeah.
Good girl.
I'm just hoping that she's able to have a normal birth
and everything goes well, but she's exhausted.
So, it's a wait and see game.
We've now waited the full hour,
but there's no sign of any puppies at all.
You know, I've got two concerns here.
One is that
those puppies inside of her
probably have waited for long enough.
Yeah.
Another thing is that there could be
something wrong with the puppies that's resulting
in them not really sending the proper signal to mum to give birth.
Why is that signal not being sent?
Those puppies could either be in trouble
or they're no longer alive.
Yeah, unfortunately, I don’t really think there's
any other option now apart from
"- caesarean. - No she's gone all day."
"- Yeah. - We’re not getting anywhere."
That's starting to get
"really concerning because she's just been like this for so long now."
We need to save her as well as the pups.
The plan here is to give Leaha enough
of this drug to put her on the anaesthetic.
"but at the same time, not make the pups too sleepy."
The thing you really have to bear in mind
when you give a dog like Leaha
"an anaesthetic for a caesarean, is that, you’re not just injecting her"
you’re essentially giving the puppies inside of her that drug as well.
And when it comes around to waking them up, the less drug
"they have on board, the quicker they will wake up."
Okay, ready to start?
Just trying to be fairly measured here at the same time quite fast,
because these pups have been essentially
on hold for six, seven hours now.
It's been a long time.
So, just conscious of trying to get them out as quickly as we can,
but as successfully as we can as well.
This is the uterus here, it’s holding the puppies
so, we’ll just have to make a cut in here
and then, it's gonna be action.
Normally, Leaha would lick her newborn pups
to stimulate their breathing.
But in this situation, a team of vets are on
standby to begin reviving the babies.
And we’re away, alright.
Come on puppy, just give us a couple of breaths.
There’s a heartbeat, but it's not breathing.
Ready for another one?
The problem we’ve got is that these puppies
really forced our hand.
"By the looks of it, they're not exactly ready to come out."
So they're taking a long time to wake up.
But there was really no choice given
the fact that mum had gone into paralysis.
Chris has now delivered three puppies,
but none of them are breathing.
It's got a heartbeat, but it's still not breathing.
So, just got to keep working on it.
Come on little one.
With the pressure increasing,
"Chris joins in the team effort to revive the puppies."
Come on.
Tough love is required.
You alright for me to get back in there and?
Yep.
Let’s get another pair of gloves.
But with another three pups still to come.
Time is running out.
They’ll never give up on these pups
they’re amazing, they're fighters.
My worry right now
is that those girls are struggling to get those puppies alive.
From here, we're just hoping.
Even though it's hard to be here when I know
the puppies really need help out there.
Fact is, they need a mother as well.
"So, that's why getting Leaha through this is my priority."
It's been more than 20 minutes since Leaha's first pup
was delivered by Caesarean.
Sadly, two pups haven't made it.
A team of vets is working frantically
to save the lives of the remaining four.
They're not actually breathing on their own yet.
But the anaesthetic does have a suppressive effect on their breathing.
So, hoping that they'll come round.
But yeah at the moment, they're quite purple
we need to keep them getting oxygen into their lungs.
Finally,
one puppy takes its first breath.
We've got one breathing and wriggling and squeaking like it should.
Yeah, it’s great.
You’re doing really well aren’t you?
The vets have now managed
to revive the four tiny pups.
So they're getting nice and pink
and there's a few little squeaks going on.
So, worth all that hard work, it's great.
How you going out there guys?
We've got some squealers now.
Good.
Squealing, wriggling.
Very good, you’re doing a good job.
So after all of that
we're down to our last stich.
Alright, we're done.
So, she's in good shape
she's actually come through that really well.
With a couple tense moments
she lost a lot of blood,
all those puppies coming out,
but she's bounced back incredibly well.
Now, I really want to see those puppies.
Wow.
You guys have done an amazing job.
You really have, because when they came out, they were just so small and
I didn’t really give them much chance.
You sticking your tongue out at me are you?
"It's just such a buzz getting our live puppies at the end."
Yeah, that's.
It's great. Awesome.
Now guys, about the milk bar.
She's occupied at the moment
but she will be with you
shortly alright.
Little patience and you'll get your drink.
You ready for this? It's a big moment.
You know when we said before, you might have a little bit
of a surprise waiting for you?
Have a look at these.
Leaha they’re yours.
Yeah.
In reception,
owner Heather and her daughter Alana
are anxiously waiting for news of the birth.
First thing I'm gonna do is go and check Leaha.
Yeah, she's, got to make sure she's okay.
Yeah, and then go and see the pups.
Oh, hello darling.
Well done Leaha.
Oh, definitely love at first sight.
They're just beautiful.
They look cuter than I imagined.
They’re gorgeous, yeah.
You’re beautiful you did such a good job.
What a lovely girl, you’re so clever.
So I guess we just
"- leave Leaha to sleep. - Yep."
"She'll wake up in the morning, realise that this wasn't a dream."
Yeah.
She is a mother, but she'll be happy.
"- She'll get a head around it, - Yeah."
"- and she'll be very happy. - Yeah."
"- For you guys. - Yep"
As much as I'm sure Heather and Alana would love
"to take this puppies home tonight, they're still quite fragile."
They’re gonna need to stay in here tonight
for observation and a few feeds,
"and then tomorrow, all going well, they'll get their puppies home."
So it's all ended up pretty well.
It has, thank you, it’s all wonderful.
The thing for me, the amazing thing is,
no matter what animal you're dealing with,
no matter where you're working,
that sense of awe and wonder about
what's just happened is always the same.
It's something you never get sick of seeing.
You excited to get them home? Your little puppies.
Yeah it’d be good.
It's been 12 hours since Leaha’s emergency caesarean
the Maltese now has four healthy puppies.
I'm really excited, really excited, really missed her.
Yeah, it was really quiet last night and I'm so excited
I can't wait to see her.
Do you guys want to come in?
Yes.
Hello.
I think you need to see something.
Hello darling.
Someone’s decided that motherhood is for them after all.
And has been allowing puppies to suckle.
She's been licking them,
she's been cleaning them.
Oh, good girl.
Oh, look at that.
One, two, three, four.
Oh, they're beautiful.
Oh, Leaha you’re so clever.
I was pretty sure that Heather and Alana
"had fallen for the puppies yesterday, but now I see them with them"
today they are head over heels for them.
Can’t believe he’s so little.
And they're doing so well that I think that they can go home today.
Oh, really?
As long as you get a desex now.
How long? How long do I have to wait?
You just have to wait another month or so.
"- A month or so. - Yep."
Lucky you brought that up I was gonna ask that question.
The look on their face
when I tell them they can take the puppies home
is something else.
Beautiful.
I know they’re gonna look after them incredibly well.
Having thinking we were going to lose Leaha and we we've met Dr. Chris
and we're taking home a dog with four little puppies.
How good’s that?
He has done a great job, he's done an awesome job.
He's brilliant.
Is it too early to talk about names?
No, one of them is gonna be Brownie.
Is it really?
Yes.
Is it like looking at yourself in the mirror or?
Well, the hair colour’s the same.
And look he's gorgeous.
Okay with this Leaha?
What do you reckon Brownie?
And it looks like there's a bit of a trend appearing here.
I've now got a calf called Christina and a puppy called Brownie
Really making a name for myself in this town.