Team Ariel

When 9 month old Ariel came to us at Ledyard Animal Control just a few weeks ago we knew she was carrying a litter of puppies. The scary part of it was that she was only a baby herself. She hadn’t even been old enough to advance to eating adult dog food. This also meant that the puppies were conceived on her first heat, and there was a huge risk of when her puppies were born she wouldn’t be mature enough to understand how to take care of them. It was confirmed that she was carrying at least 11 puppies. We knew she couldn’t do this alone.

Officer Kimlyn Marshall immediately arranged for help from Kim Behrens, who is extremely knowledgeable with not only birthing puppies, but caring for baby opossums.  She let Officer Marshall know exactly what we needed for soon to be mama and her babies. She agreed to be there for us every step of the way. Meanwhile, our MIS people Justin and Regina Brulotte made it possible to monitor mama Ariel from a web cam. Officer Marshall and I monitored Ariel’s temperature over the last week, and when we took it Friday morning, her temperature had dropped. This let us know that she will begin her whelping stages. We were actually expecting her to begin having her puppies the following day because she did not have any signs of hard labor. Officer Marshall and I came up with the plan that I would stay the night with Ariel and she would relieve me in the early morning so someone would be with her at all times. That night before catching a power nap, I decided to log into the web cam and check on our soon to be mama. Ariel was showing signs of extreme discomfort. I immediately went to the kennel and surprise, she had just given birth to her first baby boy. Ariel seemed so scared and confused. I called in my birthing team, and within a short period of time we had everyone we needed to make this experience as safe as possible for Ariel. As mama gave birth to each and every puppy, Pat Riley and Kim Behrens cleaned them, cut umbilical cords, and released all the fluids that was in their lungs in order to breathe properly. They even kept up with mama’s sugar levels from getting to low. Marissalyn Marshall and Desarae Schenk kept track of birth times, sexes, names and helped keep the newborns warm along with Maze Stephan and Paula Jeann Smith in order for mama to focus on each and every birth. I was able to play different roles in this experience. I was able to assist with the deliveries, cut umbilical cords, and monitor mama’s contractions while I comforted her. After Mama gave birth to her first born at 7:05pm Friday, June 15th and her 11^th born at 1:00am Saturday June 16th, Ariel still did not understand the overwhelming concept of feeding her pups. Kim and Pat worked with her until she was able to grasp the nature of it all. After all the excitement was over, I stayed with Ariel and her pups switching them back and forth to ensure that all 11 puppies were equally nourished, and even bottle fed her little runt girl until she was able to understand how to feed from mom.

I can’t even express the amounts of gratitude for our amazing friends, Kim Behrens, Pat Riley, Maze Stephan, Paula Jeann Smith, Marissalyn Marshall, Desarae Schenk, Regina Brulotte, and Justin, who have all consisted of the birthing team. Most of all, I am forever thankful for the knowledge I have gained from these incredible ladies, and I feel very honored to work for such a great town.  Aside from all of us at Ledyard Animal Control, I know that the biggest appreciation comes from our new mom of 11 healthy puppies, Ariel.

I hope for people to understand that when dogs and cats have babies, there is so much more entailed than just puppies and kittens. There are potential medical risks that are taken that could jeopardize the well being of both mamas and babies. Please spay/neuter your pets.