Normally, this breed is misunderstood as Pit Bull and the very mention of Pit Bull, scares people to hell. But the AmStaff is such a cute, lovable and adorable breed that it is a real fun to be surrounded by these icons of loyalty. Our both pets, Liza and Burke are so adorable darlings and have a very cute ways to show their affection. Both Liza and Burke love to sleep like a kid either on your shoulder or on tummy. Whosoever comes to our place, Liza used to welcome the guests with a hug and a kiss. She would stand on her hind legs to hug. She steals everybody's heart. And Burke has also started to receive guests in his own beautiful way with lots of affection.
My brother had also requested one of his friends' to come and see in case any help is required. After a few minutes, the first angle arrived, a boy. Liza cleared the placenta, I informed my brother and he came along with his friend. Our guests jumped into the room after hearing the news. They were fearing that she may not allow them to touch her puppy but she allowed the girls and both the girls picked it in their hand. As per Indian rituals, my brother's friend put few drops of honey in mouth of new born as honey is being given to new-borns believing that it will clear their tongue and throat. All the guests in house heaved a sigh of relief.
I was there by her side all the time. seeing her pushing the babies out and then clearing the placenta and cleaning the babies. The labor pain was quite visible on her face which made me to curse all the breeders. How can they give so much pain to these lovely creatures just for their selfish motives. Breeders are actually cruel. Have they ever thought of the labor pain and anxiety that a female undergoes during pregnancy and while delivering the babies or they are just blind for their selfish motives. Yes, people like us are also responsible for such cruel trades. We go for special breeds to satisfy our ego. We also purchased these pets from the breeders therefore, we are equally cruel.
We were guessing that how many pups will be there and I was expecting five because I wanted lesser number so that she may not suffer much and also I have this fear and insecurity about their adoption by others. She delivered five pups. Then again she was pushing and gasping for more strength. It seems the sixth pup got stuck in the cervix which made me nervous for the reason, if there are more pups in her womb, they may die of suffocation in the womb itself which may harm her also. I was also imagining the condition of the puppy stucked in the cervix, how much he was struggling to get out of that tunnel. As it was Four AM and I was not aware of any emergency services for animals where I can take her, The idea of checking on internet did not came to my mind because I was very nervous.
While my brother was away to the vet on previous day, I noticed that one of the puppies which was most beautiful, a black one with white small patches, had a cleft lip. Later on, I noticed that he is not able to suck enough milk so tried to feed him milk other than his mother's milk, but he preferred to join his siblings in heaven and on the third day after his birth, he departed to heaven.
Probably, it was destined that only these four will remain and the black one will go. From day one, I had noticed that the black one used to remain aloof whereas the other four were together. They were sucking whereas the black one is just lying alone, was he preparing for his departure??
Here, in the picture above, I placed the black one alongwith others so that he can also take his feed, but after one or two seconds he just stopped sucking. Probably, he got exhausted.
Now we are left with four cute angels.
The arrival of these tiny angels, was welcomed by their father with a loud BOW BOW, a typical father, whereas our third pet Qaizer, a three year old German Shepherd was excited and wanted to see this miracle of nature. When Liza was away to the vet, he was busy in Baby-sitting. Touching them with his nose, he was curious also. For the first two days, Liza did not react to Qaizer coming to see her babies but from the third day, she became very protective of them and start to pounce upon him if ever he tried to see the babies.
After the arrival of these tiny guests, a fixed routine was started for me. Seeing them growing, crawling on their stomach was a very pleasant experience which i was enjoying much. During this enjoyment it came to my notice that they had some black patch on their back. It was some sticky substance which i tried to remove with water. It seems that this process gave them pain as they all start to yell so I applied betadine which had some positive effect as they stopped yelling. After few days, it was found that even after the application of betadine, the patch was increasing so they were taken to the vet. It was actually a fungal infection which was caused by the frequent licking by the mother and it was rainy season also.
The vet advised to clean the skin with betadine and then application of skin ointment, twice a day. They lost their fur and there were patches all over body, even after one month of the treatment and the continuous application of betadine turned them yellow, in colour. These patches, thin body and bigger eyes gave them a look of aliens from some other galaxy.
When I posted one of the puppies' picture on social media, one of my friends commented, which planet do they belong to.
One day when I cleaned them with hot water and dettol, they looked amazing. Fur babies in real sense.
Fungal infection took longer time to get cured. It was a test of patience which I guess, I had quite sufficient. I used to scroll down the pages on Google on fungal infection which also suggested that it takes longer to fade away. After one month, we again consulted the vet and he changed the medicines and also advised few tonics as the kids were very weak. The changed medicines had a positive effect.
Here Liza was forced by us to fed her kids. Her posture and expressions speaks a lot as if she is being tormented by us.
I have never seen a mother like Liza, she was not much bothered about her kids. Feeding them only occasionally whereas we have seen her breast full of milk which was almost going waste. We had to force her to feed her kids. She used to meet her kids twice in a day only, which resulted in weakness among kids.
The idea of a breast pump came to mind at a later stage, till then I fed the babies with milk other than their mother's milk. I tried to give them Nan Plus, a milk supplement for human kids but it was not accepted by the Liza's babies. Then I start to give them curd which they liked very much. It might be a laughing stock for others, but for me it was testing the health of these babies. I started monitoring the colour of their poop and i was worried as it was not of the colour of an infant's poop. So, when starting giving them curd, it gave me much satisfaction as I finally saw the yellow colour of poop, exactly of the same colour of an infant's poop. On seeing this colour, I felt relieved.
It was a real fun and satisfying to attend to the needs of these tiny fur babies. Every day I used to change their bed thrice a day to keep them away from any kind of infection. Washing their bedsheets, sometimes at midnight, if not getting time during day time. Felt very excited when they opened their eyes after ten days or so. One baby opened her eyes much later whereas one baby opened his eyes earlier. The baby who opened her eyes at a late stage, was very lazy also which sometimes worried me whether she is fine or something wrong with her because out of seven babies, one who died in the womb was not fully developed. His genitals were missing. The other one was born with a cleft lip so my worries, though useless but genuine also. But she was fine, a very healthy baby and I named her Padholo which in Punjabi means a drum for storing cereal. One male who was just like his mother, was named Gabbar Singh. Gabbar Singh is a famous character in the 70s film Sholay. The other two named as Junior, as he was just like his father. One female was named Shibra. Earlier, in 1990s we had a pair of German Shepherd and they were named Burke and Shibra. So, to keep their memory alive, my brother gave this name of Shibra to one of the kids. The father of these babies was also named after our previous pet, Burke.
Later on, the vet suggested other food supplements. The changed medicine, tonics, food supplement and curd started showing positive results in the babies health, though they were still weak. So I took it as a challenge not only to cure them from this fungal infection but also to get them gain appropriate weight. After they attained the age of two months, I started giving them solid food also. It was rice boiled with vegetables, sometimes it was organic multigrain dalia mixed with vegetables such as carrots, potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, soya chunks, Makhana etc. Everyday, I was searching for healthier recipes for them on internet so that they can be fed on a variety of food to keep them away from boredom of food. Besides this, curd was a regular breakfast which was mixed with some food supplement such as pup start and Samolac.
Applying betadine twice a day and then applying medicine. Giving them tonics and other supplements. At night applying some other lotion for their fur. It was a full time job and quite satisfying. They were just babies for me, their being puppies was immaterial or me.
I wish them good luck in their new homes. May they lead a very healthy and happy life.
In 2024, we got her operated so now she is free and no more chased by male dogs.