Mia

It's been a good and a bad week. I posted that Sadie, my mastiff cross, had six puppies on Monday. All six are doing well and getting big and fat.

Mia, my rottweiler, also had six puppies. Hers were born on Wednesday. Three girls and three boys. By Wednesday night, one of them was dead. As of this posting, she is down to only two still alive.

Mia came to me by way of my brother. His other female kept beating up on her and she was spending all her time at my house. She'd only go home in time for dinner and even then not always. Finally, I just bought her. I felt so sorry for her because she was always covered in cuts. She is much happier here, I think.

She's never been an overly healthy dog, though. Every single thing going by catches her. First it was a swarm of bees. The poor girl was nearly stung to death but we pulled through. Then it was ants. We kept spraying for them but somehow they just kept coming back and attacking her feet. It took about a week but we finally got rid of them. It took another week for her poor feet to heal. Then it was fleas, then fleas again and right now we are at the beginning of another flea attack. I tried everything on the market to get rid of them and in the end soap and water was the best thing. And no matter how much I feed her or what I feed her she cannot put on weight and keep it on.

This is Mia's second litter. The first time she looked like she was going to have one or two puppies and she ended up having ten. Within days all ten were dead. I waited over a year and really tried to build her up before breeding her again. This time she looked good. She was a good size and everything went smoothly but in the end she's just not a good mother. She doesn't seem to be taking care of them. They are dirty and when I try to get her to clean them she just turns her head. She lays still and lets them eat though and has stayed with them except for dinnertime.

I won't be breeding her again after this. Tomorrow, if any of them are still alive, I'm going to get a baby bottle and some puppy milk and try raising them myself.

Cheers :-)
- Rainforest Mommy