DogBreeder

It is only now that we realise that the puppies were different from other litters we have bred. They were far bigger and chunkier than other puppies of the same age. Also, they were extremely quiet. They would try and play fight but with none of the usual accompanying sounds.

Whether or not this is just coincidence we don't know.

The monetary cost of all this is astronomical and it is going to cause us massive problems.

Far FAR worse is the emotional cost. Not only have we got our own worries and grief to cope with, we are also having to deal with all the families who want to know how their puppies are getting on. There have been an awful lot of tears cried in this house over the last ten days.

We believe that the oxygen tent and antibiotics is only delaying the inevitable and so we suggest to the vet that perhaps the pups should be put to sleep before they get to the suffering stage. The vet is still hopeful that the post mortem could help and wants to keep the pups going.

We ask if there is anything else the vets could try but they claim not. We point out that in humans, if there are any problems with breathing then steroids are nearly always used. The vet tells us that it would be impossible to use steroids in such young puppies.

This afternoon we received a call from the vet asking for permission to experiment with a drug. It is a drug that isn't licensed for dogs but has had success in cats showing the same symptoms. We give our permission and just hope that it has some positive effect.

By now, we only have Little Man at home. He is still being bottle fed but we have now started to wean him too.

Monday evening, we get news that the pup we took in first on sunday has died.

They were hoping that the post mortem results would be back but they are not.

On the sunday morning we find another puppy gasping for breath and take this one over to Basildon. Cruelly, when we return we have barely been in the house for half an hour when we discover that another puppy is showing the same symptoms. We phone the vets and before we can tell them, they tell us that the puppy we had taken in on Friday night has gone downhill and they ask for our permission to put him to sleep.

We then get into a minor disagreement about the last 'healthy' puppy. We know that we have to take the affected puppy back to Basildon and so we ask if the last puppy can come too as we feel it is only a matter of time before she too struggles to breathe. The VRCC is adamant that this puppy should stay at home. After a lot of pleading, they finally agree to take her which is just as well as by the time we arrive at the VRCC this last pup is also having breathing difficulties.

We hear that the initial post mortem results are back. They are, in effect, useless to us. The body of the dead puppy had been sent up to Glasgow University - specialists in the canine herpes virus. The gross pathology tells us that the pups died of fluid in their lungs. We still have to wait for the result of the further post mortem in which they have grown cultures. The theory is that once we know what is wrong, the vets can treat it.

At 11pm on the same day that we brought Little Man home, we are getting ready to go to bed when we notice that one of the supposedly 'healthy' puppies is struggling to breathe. We phone the VRCC and they tell us to bring him in.

Following daily updates, finally we received the call that our little man could come home. We went to collect him on the friday morning at 11am. He came with a supply of antibiotics and we were told that we were not to put him back with his littermates. They thought that as he was still a bit snotty that he could potentially be carrying whatever illness the other pups had died of.

We put him in his own crate on a heat pad and plenty of teddy bears as we felt that he needed something to cuddle up to.

We began the task of bottle feeding him every 2 - 3 hours.

On the tuesday morning we were asked to go and collect the mother and the four "healthy" pups. None of these pups had ever shown any signs of breathing difficulties and they felt that it would be better for mum and the litter to be home.

The little man was kept at the hospital as he was still snuffly.

We were telephoned in the early hours of Monday morning and asked for permission to put the pup with breathing difficulties to sleep. She had gone downhill dramatically and they felt she was suffering.