This girl is a trooper. She manages to handle all the situations that comes her way. Whelping isn’t her strong suit which is sad for she carries great genes and is an awesome girl. After having her checked out with a vet specialist last January after a tough delivery he informed us that she should be fine for another breeding. That the problem could have been that it was her first whelping. We gave her a break and then bred her with Shadow in November of 2019. I have been working closely with Dr. Card in Missoula with this litter. We did an AI and as we got closer to whelping decided to do a C-Section. With bad weather and the problems before with her I decided to take that route. It was a good decision for when they did the C-Section Dr. Card said she would have had problems giving a natural birth for her uterus is elongated with thin walls. We got to watch the surgery through a window which was amazing to see. An experience I will never forget. They had 4 technicians working on the pups as she extracted them. They worked very quickly and it was intense. Not one moment was spared as they brought each puppy breathing on their own. Two of the puppies didn’t survive even though they worked on them for 45 minutes with breathing machines and 2 vet techs working on them. I asked Dr. Card why this happens for we have had the same happen here with normal deliveries. She explained that sometimes the placentas get separated before birth and they don’t have enough energy to come out of the birthing trauma. She said that 2 of them had been separated. We brought home 8 healthy puppies because of this wonderful staff. Things went very well that first week and Cassiopeia came out of surgery very well. At day 5 she went off her food and began vomiting. Took them in for dew claws that next day and had Cassiopeia checked out as well. I put her on Mother’s Pudding with some ice cream, chicken rice soup I made for her and anything else I could get her to eat. She mostly liked the dairy products. On Day 7 with the permission from the vet I took her off the antibiotics and no more vomiting. At that point the puppies got diarrhea and some wouldn’t eat. With some meds, Pedylite, and Nutra-Stat we managed to work through it all. One thing that has become a miracle drug for me is the Nutra Stat. I use it during whelping, when mom is down and out, a drop to puppies not feeling up to par, and anytime I feel one of the dogs isn’t feeling well. It can be used with cats, kitttens, puppies, and dogs. It is a high energy gel packed with lots of good vitamins. A must to keep on hand if you have pets. With the puppies being 10 days old we still have a lot of work ahead of us. Breeding isn’t for the faint-hearted for sure. Generally with every whelping during that first week I think about never breeding again. But here I am still at it.
A New Year 2020
Looks as if a whole year as gone by since I posted. And looks like it was when Cassiopeia had her last litter. I am not sure what happened to 2019 but it was one very busy year. The end of January Phoebe had her first litter of 11 puppies. Then we took the summer off to only end up with Andromeda here to have her pups and raise them. She had problems during delivery and we ended up going to Silver Valley for a C-Section to get the last 4 puppies out. Her first delivery went smooth without any complications. She ended up with 9 beautiful puppies. She is now retired and living the life of a Queen at her new home. When Andromeda’s puppies were 4 weeks old Phoebe had a litter of 10 puppies. She breezed through this delivery and is one awesome mom. These puppies all left for their new homes the last part of October. So here we are already in 2020 and a new litter for Cassiopeia.
Each One Different
As with most things in life no two events are the same and no two things are exactly alike. Each litter being born has been a different experience with some commonalities. Cassiopeia unfortunately had a very hard delivery. She was in pre-labor for a day followed by a day of whelping. This took a toll on her little body and mindset. As with people everyone is different and some things are easier for some than others and one may never know exactly the reason why but we can make speculations. I really thought that Cassiopeia would have an easy time with delivery for the way she was built. Was I ever wrong. She had a really hard time getting them out of the birth canal and had to almost sit to get them out. With each one we had to help in getting them cleaned, stimulated, and breathing. Truly I believe that was because it was painful for her and it really scared her. We worked hard and diligently to save every pup. Even though we didn’t save them all we have 7 healthy little bodies that squirm and need attention. Statistics show that the survival rate at birth in dogs is 70%. I really don’t like statistics and try to beat the odds. We were spoiled with our first litter of 11 that came out without a hitch and are still our in the world causing trouble. Know that we will do anything to make sure that each puppy has a chance for life. Fred even went out and got his welding canister so we could administer a little oxygen. And she came around. After such a traumatic day of giving birth it has taken Cassiopeia some time to recuperate. She sleeps a lot and still doesn’t have a great appetite after 3 days. On the other hand she is staying by the pups, lets them nurse and is even starting to roll over so they can reach the under teats. But we are having to do the pottying. Really hoping that she will come around and take over that lovely duty. Nothing like going around smelling like puppy poo. Life at the kennel after whelping is a whole different world and each litter is different.
As We Move On...
It has now been seven months since we lost Belle Starr. And so much has happened since then. One way I coped was to stay away from all business. Not Good... Cassiopeia had her cycle early and so we didn't breed her in January for she didn't have her hips and elbows done. So we had a break from puppies and breeding. In June I bought two young ladies from Midnightsky's Kennel in Oregon, Phoebe and Andromeda who are sisters and half sisters to Cassiopeia. They were almost 16 months old when we picked them up. They have turned out to be such sweet girls. Phoebe lives here with us and I co-own Andromeda with Fred's niece Mary Ellen in Frenchtown. Mary Ellen also has Bones, (Shadow and Belle Starr's son) and eventually I will turn ownership of Phoebe over to her in full. We need to have more responsible lab breeders and Mary Ellen is one of those people. Then we have Bolo Sophia who has captured my heart in full. She is her own, but shares her mom's personality. Love that girl. She gets along so well with her brother Storm Trooper and they have an unique relationship. White Hawk (Hüd) out of Belle Starr's last litter with Colonel Hawker lives in Kalispell with Fred's brother. This is what is called fostering: where we have ownership, breeding and show rights, but he is Bob's pet and will obtain full ownership. So Fred and I are now managing six breeders and we have Therapy Dog Storm Trooper. Storm Trooper keeps the kennel balanced and is a joy. Sophia and Phoebe are good friends and all my girls get along so well. I am blessed. And of course handsome Shadow is looked up to by all. Everyone loves Shadow. Our kennel is complete and our plans are to make the most of it. Cassiopeia is having her cycle as I type this. We will be breeding her to Shadow this coming week. That will give us an all yellow litter the first part of October. ( I seem to have a monopoly on October..Yikes) They will be awesome puppies if all goes well. And then we have a surprise. Andromeda who lives in Frenchtown and Bones who lives in Frenchtown decided to add puppies to the kennel. If Andromeda is pregnant then her black and yellow litter will be born the end of September. We were going to wait until her next cycle to breed, but hormones won over. Bones has all of his clearances and Andromeda has all of hers except for hips and elbows. So we will do those 4 weeks after she weans her puppies. We will know the end of August if she is with puppies or not. This litter will be some awesome labrador puppies. Surprise...Our plans for Phoebe is to do a prelim on her hips and elbows this next month along with the rest of her certifications and DNA. Our calculations is that she will come in season in January just around the time she turns two. So with the prelim we can breed her then. If all goes well they will be some awesome pups as well. As for as Bolo Sophia and White Hawk, we will take them to shows and they will be of breeding age in fall of 2019. They both have great conformation, personalities, and carry great blood lines. So here at Happy Labs Kennel we are moving on at great speed.
Copper Toxicosis
Belle Starr's Battle:
After a long battle we lost our precious Belle Starr. She truly was a unique Labrador Retriever. She was smart, loved her people, the best dog mommy ever, sweet, and was my companion. She carried a beautiful curly coat, was stocky in build, and had the cutest face ever. She got along well with the other dogs and loved her Shadow. It was heart breaking to lose her, but we have her little girl Sophia whom we kept from her last litter. After the diagnosis, we now know why she battled her health and had problems with her delivery. We are so fortunate to have her pups that carry on her legacy. Thank you Belle Starr for what you have given us. You are missed by all. Humans and Fur Family
They believe that she died from Copper Toxicosis. This can be a genetic factor or also could be environmental. She was the second dog who recently died here in this area. The other was also a young female who had delivered pups 5 weeks before her death. Belle Starr hung in there as best she could until her litter was 10 weeks old. She first started with signs of sickness when they turned 4 weeks old. Copper Toxicosis tends to hit female Labradors between the ages of 3 and 6. I am attaching a paper that explains the genetic copper toxicosis. Many vets haven’t even heard of this to my surprise. They say it is a rare condition, but I wonder how rare for if they don’t know much about it at this point. I have had many conversations with genetics from a couple of DNA testing centers. The one problem I have came across is that I was not able to have Belle Starr’s DNA test done for Copper Toxicosis. The vet who did her second surgery was also the vet that diagnosed the other lab with this disease. The other lab that passed away from this, they had done the test and she came back with the genetic disposition for CT. After Belle Starr’s surgery they took a biopsy of her liver and were going to run several different tests on her. To my unknowing they cancelled the tests when she passed on the next day. Their thinking was to save Fred and I lots of money ($3,000). A week later when I called to check on her tests results was when I found out that they hadn’t run the tests. I talked to the vet for a lengthy time and he apologized several times as making a mistake. I stated that the only test I was interested in was the genetic test for CT. Belle Starr and and this other young female had the same issues: (They had drained 2 liters of fluid from both girls, they drank lots of water, and both girls had very abnormal livers. They were both about the same age and each just had a litter of pups.) So my next step was to have Shadow and Sophia tested and I did Cassiopeia as well. Sophia’s tests came back as carrying the 2 ATP7A which is the “good” mutation and both of her ATP7B genes were normal. So this tells me that Belle Starr had to have at least one good ATP7A and at least one of the ATP7B had to have been normal. Shadow came out with the “good” mutation on his X chromosome, and both of his ATP7B are normal. So genetically Belle Starr’s and Shadow’s pups should be fine. If ever in doubt you can order a DNA test from Paw Prints to check for CT. I haven’t gotten the results back from Hawk yet, but will only contact you if I feel there is a problem. Now the other factor is environmental. This is the food and water intake. I checked the food, but don’t see copper listed. Also our bodies need some copper and zinc helps control the levels. My next step is to have our water tested for copper levels. So this is a very complicated aspect of genetics and how our bodies work. And I learned that humans as well can have copper toxicosis. Interesting… One of the signs that dogs show with this is they stop eating. Belle tried to eat, but her body wasn't digesting it and then she would end up throwing up. Another thing that I noticed was that she was drinking lots and lots of water. That had started before she even got pregnant with the last litter. I had her tested for diabetes along with her thyroid tested and all other tests. Her bloodwork always came back normal. The thing is that copper toxicosis doesn't show up in blood work. The more you read about it the more mysterious it is. The good news is, if they are diagnosed at an early stage, there is medications that can help the situation and they can live a long life.
I hope I have answered any questions you might have had about Belle Starr’s condition.So
as for Belle Starr’s pups go, they shouldn’t have any issues with CT.
CT - Copper Toxicosis (Labrador Type)
Copper Toxicosis in the Labrador Retriever is similar to the disease found in other breeds in
that it manifests itself as a build up of copper in the liver of affected animals. Unlike the
disease seen in Bedlington Terriers, the Labrador form is not inherited as a strictly recessive
trait. The mutant genes have an additive affect, so one copy of the mutation increases
copper levels, and a second copy when present increases levels even further. This affect is
somewhat more extreme in females than in males. We know very little of the frequency of
the disease itself. It is an uncommon diagnosis, but that may be due to the fact that it is a
relatively late onset disease (middle aged or older dogs) and may have variable, difficult
to diagnose, symptoms. The mutation responsible for copper toxicosis in Labradors has
been identified by researchers at the University of Utrecht. Our test is based on their
findings.
The primary cause of copper toxicosis in Labrador Retrievers is a mutant form of ATP7B. Dogs that inherit two normal versions of the gene (one from each parent) will have normal levels of copper in their livers. Dogs that inherit one normal copy and one mutant copy will have somewhat elevated levels of copper in their liver, while those that inherit two mutant copies will have the highest levels. Generally speaking, it is those dogs with two mutant copies that are at the highest risk for the disease, although there have been some dogs reported that only had one copy and still had dangerously high copper levels.
The second gene involved in the Labrador disease is a mutated form of ATP7A. This is a "good" mutation which helps minimize the accumulation of copper in the liver. Since this gene is located on the X chromosome, the mutation is inherited as a sex-linked recessive. Males inherit only a single copy of the gene either normal or mutant from their mother, while females inherit two copies, one on the x chromosome of each parent. Therefore, males only need to inherit one copy of the mutant gene to help with their copper levels, while females need to inherit two. This is why females are more commonly diagnosed with the disease than males.
Since the frequency of the ATP7B CT mutation is relatively high, we do not recommend breeding completely away from it, but rather avoiding pairings that might produce two-copy offspring.
