On to the Third Trimester

Micha is now in her third trimester and we are getting closer to her whelping window.  We've increased her food to support the growth of the puppies who will be doing most of their growing in the next three weeks.  We've also drawn blood to be sent to the University of Wisconsin who will run a nomograph.  What's a nomograph you might ask?  The CAVIDS titer testing website gives a good explanation:

"A nomograph is an estimate of the amount of antibody passed to a litter of pups from the mother via her colostrum.  During the puppy’s first hours of life, its intestinal tract is able to allow colostral antibody to be absorbed into the bloodstream.  This passive antibody helps to protect the newborn from all the diseases that the mother is protected from.  As the puppy grows up, maternal antibody breaks down in approximately 2 week “half lives” until it is no longer present in the pup.  While this antibody is at higher levels, it is able to neutralize viruses such as canine parvovirus and canine distemper virus.  Because of this neutralization, puppy vaccine can be blocked.  Maternal antibody interference is one of the most common causes of vaccine failure to immunize!  The reason that puppies are given multiple doses of vaccine is because most of the time we don’t know what their maternal antibody titers are, and so don’t know when the vaccine will be effective.   Nomograph testing helps us understand the best timing of vaccination to assure a litter will be effectively immunized."

https://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/lab/cavids/


Beyond that, Micha is doing well.  A little thicker in the middle but still doing a bit of obedience training and quartering to keep her on birds which she very much enjoys.