Sunday

Miniature Dachshund Puppies



Surgery preparation 1
Surgery preparation 2
Desexing after the caesarian
It seems fitting on the first day of a new year to share images of new life.

Cameo, my cheeky miniature dachshund, gave birth to her first and only litter of pups on 10 September last year. It was a difficult labour — an extremely good pregnancy produced pups that were simply too big for my little girl to handle. After the first one got stuck and suffocated in the birth canal, and the second was wrenched free, alive, the vet performed an emergency caesarian, which produced a further two.

A newborn little girl
Despite a painful and exhausting experience, Cameo was the ideal mother — she searched for her three healthy pups and tucked them under her arm before the anaesthetic wore off.

Lulu at 2 weeks
Dieter at 2 weeks ... what a fat belly and adorable, stumpy legs
It was a privilege to watch "the kids" grow. At birth, their feet were half the size of my little fingernail. At two weeks, their eyes started to open and you could see them concentrating so hard to focus on the world that was slowly revealed. At six weeks, they romped on the back lawn for the first time, tumbling as their wobbly back legs gave way. They were unstoppable by the time they went to their new homes, jumping up the steps and hurtling through the cat door.

The kids: Daks, Deiter and Lulu at 6 weeks
How I cried when they left, even though one is with a friend's inlaws and another is only two houses up! Such grief was worth it, though — I'm proud to have given three other families the miracle of a healthy, well-adjusted and beautiful miniature dachshund.


This breed certainly makes the world a nicer place.

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