My Accidental Angels

Seven angels, from Heavens above, decided in the month of May, 2023 to visit our home.  These were carried by our beautiful  pets Burke and Liza, an American Staffordshire Bull Terrier couple. Liza nurtured them in her womb for two months. It was an accidental mating as Liza was too young just one and a half years old and she got heats for the first time. 

 

 Liza, a cute and bubbly but fearless and a jumping jack female. She was brought up at some farmhouse without any guidance and discipline. As the fate decides, she somehow landed up in our house when she was one year old only. She was not trained for anything, completely unaware of timings, was fed on chapatis only (I Guess) as she is very found of chapatis and don't relish other food as much as chapati. Milk doesn't suit her infact wheat and milk are not good for dogs and all three of our pets cannot digest milk.

Liza, a complete fearless female, can jump up to the height to 6.5 feet which is quite high as per her size.  She sleeps like a kid on my stomach or by my side placing one of her legs on my stomach, loves chasing squirrels but she can not tolerate any stray animal, be it pig or a dog or if she finds any other stray animal. She never ever feared attacking a dog, double her size. During her days of pregnancy, we were worried for her as she was too young with a heavy body but she continued to chase the squirrels  as usuals.  Since, she had a heavy body so she stopped jumping and she found it difficult to scratch her back so we offered that help to her. But she and our two other pets never ever attacked a human.

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. 

 Here she has put her face on my tummy. 

Liza, a week before the delivery of her babies. 👇

We had few guests at home and one of these, one of the guests, used to pamper her in all the way, Liza likes. Our guest used to massage her belly tenderly and used to feel the heart beat of foetuses and also waits for their kicks. All these guests were waiting eagerly for the arrival of these little angels. 

The day finally came.  In the midnight of 24th July, 2023 we made a separate place where she can deliver.  Liza, who was experiencing her first labor pain, was curious and anxious. We were also anxious and curious. Our guests were sitting besides Liza as they wanted to see the delivery of the litter by Liza. But it seems, she was fearing in the presence of so many people so I requested the girls to vacate the area and told them I will call them when it happens.  

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. 

In the morning when I told my brother that one puppy got stuck in the cervix, he took her to the vet and returned after three hours and confirmed about the puppy stucked in cervix which was dead now and there was one more in the womb which was underdeveloped and has also died. After few minutes, the stucked puppy flushed out and I was looking at him, it was slightly bigger in comparison to others. Then, my wait started for the second one, which flushed out after 24 hours means the next day, after a visit to vet who again gave her another injection. So, two angels refused to visit our house and they painfully departed for heaven midway. Yes, they were suffocated to death which must have been very painful for them.

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. 

We  made arrangements for her safe delivery in the corner of one of the bedrooms. Which, I guess she was not much comfortable with, though she spent two days in that corner with the newborns. So one fine morning, when I woke up, I found her sitting on the bed with her three kids. I got worried for the fourth one and then start to remove sheets and pillows from the bed in search of the fourth baby. I immediately made arrangements in the other bed room.  I got prepared one wooden box for the babies, previous evening, so placed the box in one of the corner of the other bedroom. Placed a mattress  and newspapers in it to keep the bed dry and clean. Now, again started the search for the fourth baby, then I realized that i removed two pillows from the bed, so when i checked one of the pillows, the missing baby was found. It was hiding in the pillow and I really thanked my senses that I simply placed the pillow on the other bed and didn't throw it in panic. Finally all the four were shifted to new location which was again disliked by the mother, but somehow she adjusted with the new location.

The foursome sleeping peacefully in their bed. I put a baby sheet underneath the bedsheet.

 

Shibra and Padolo, they always used to remain with each other's side.  👇👇👇 Since, these kids were weak, so their eyes look bigger, though this breed has smaller eyes.

Few days old Gabbar 👇👇👇 

Four months old Gabbar 👇👇

He is named Junior because he looks just like his father, so junior to his father. Junior at the age of one month in the picture above.  He turned out a very handsome puppy. Here he is five months old and it is really very very satisfying to see him. 👇👇

 

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. 

Now, it is difficult to recognise them in their old pictures except Gabbar because he was different. So I don't know who are these two.

He really looked an alien with thin body and big protruding eyes.

One day I took Gabbar out in the front verandah so here he is cautiously exploring his new environment.

Then  at the age of two month👆👆 and later at the age of four months

Gabbar and Padholo

Since, we already have three major pets and our house is neither very big nor it has space where these kids can run around, so we had to send them away for adoption. The very thought of sending them away from me, gave me shivers and goosebumps. So, when my brother's friend asked for one puppy, we decided to give Shibra. I wept like anything while sending Shibra away. I got so perturbed on the day of her leaving our house that I forgot to took the phone number of the person. I lost interest in almost every thing and it took three to four days for me to be normal. She left our house on 10th December, 2023. 

Shibra, a night before her leaving our house. She left our home on 10th December, 2023. So decided to click few of her pictures.  She is very cute and a sweet kid and very much attached to me. Whenever, I entered their room, she always wanted me to hug her and I have always fulfilled her this desire.  On 10th December, I was preparing lunch for these kids when our door bell rang and I saw a man who had come to take her.  All of sudden, I found myself in tears which were uncontrollable. I packed her lunch because if I fed her lunch, she could have vomited during the journey. So she had her first lunch in her new house, which was cooked by me. I wish her good luck.

Later on, one of our family friends requested for adoption of all the three puppies. So Padholo and Junior were adopted by him on 5th January, 2024 and after 10 days of their adoption, Gabbar was also adopted by this family friend which left me in tears. I am missing them immensely, missing all the four. After, they left home, the home doesn't look like a home. It seems empty. I do not dare to enter the room, where these angels spent five and a half months. An old song came on my lips "Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end.......". 

These five and a half months were so pleasant, fruitful and satisfying that I always felt myself bursting with energy. It seems that these months have gone with a blink of an eye. 

Only one thought is coming to my mind is, that nobody can take our kids away from us without our permission unless they are kidnapped, then who has authorized us to take their kids away from them and giving them to others. We are criminals actually. These are not ferocious, they turn ferocious with our behaviour, they turn ferocious the way we brought them up. Just like us, they also have feelings and moods, it is necessary to respect their feelings as well as their moods. We are their WORLD so when they find their WORLD is not treating them properly and not attending their needs properly, they get shattered and who knows they may feel ditched. 

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.