Hallmark Cocker Spaniels

06/17/2026

Today's pupdate:

Lindy is smitten with her wee ones immensely. She has always LOVED being a mommy. 🥰

Babies are doing good overall. The tiniest girl still struggles with nursing so I'm still supplementing her round the clock. She just needs more time to mature and get stronger. 💪

Currently when I can get her latched on to nurse she very quickly falls right to sleep! Lol! She's just not suppose to be out of her cozy womb yet so tires very easily. She IS doing great maintaining her temperature with just the heating pad, so she's officially graduated out of the incubator. Yay! 🥳

The other 2 girls are a bit more developed than sister peanut is, and as such are nursing excellent and gaining weight perfectly. They are no longer needing supplemented. 🙌

These babies are "gainer/growers" now...which means I can breathe a bit more easily. Whew! No more nicu care needed. 😌

They are due to be born on Saturday...🤭🤗

06/16/2026

06/16/2026

Loss happens in breeding, it's just a very heartbreaking fact. 💔

It's very sad I was unable to save Lindy's little girl. What made it hurt even worse was that the day before I had also lost one of my spca foster kittens. It was a little boy kitten that just could not overcome his rough start to life. 2 losses in 24 hrs. Ugh. 😔

But...I will focus on the positives in my nicu. I've got 2 little girl spca foster kittens improving daily. Yay! I've also got 3 little girl puppies that are doing quite well! Even more YAY! 🥳

2 of Lindy's girls were able to leave the incubator yesterday and have successfully remained with mom in the puppy pen in my bedroom. They've kept their temperature stable with just heating pad support, and have been nursing on Lindy successfully. 🥰

Today I am doing a trial run with the last little girl to see if she is able to keep her temperature stable out of the incubator.. she is currently in with mom and so far is doing good. She even is nursing a bit! ❤

I will continue supplementing her puppies with puppy milk as Lindy hasn't gotten her full milk supply in just yet...it may be a bit longer as is common with premature births. Hopefully it won't be long before I can discontinue the supplements. 👍

Here are some pictures of mama and her wee ones. She keeps just watching them, almost as if she's surprised they are here so early too! 🤭🥰

06/15/2026

Lindy's tiniest baby girl has sadly crossed the rainbow bridge. 🌈
I did all I could. 😔

06/15/2026

Well, the preemie "honeymoon phase" is over and while 3 of the girls seem to be doing good...the 4th is starting to struggle.

It's the puppy in the chest brace, the most underdeveloped one. I think she's got a PDA. Very common in preemies, but it needs to close asap. In human preemies they can surgically close it if it fails to close on its own. In puppies, surgical repair in an underdeveloped preemie isn't possible. They can only do older, bigger puppies.

She's also struggling to digest the formula, so I aspirated her stomach, and have been pulling milk off Lindy to tube feed her exclusively with. Lindy isn't producing much milk yet so must use formula with others in addition to what breastmilk I can pull.

Been a long, exhausting night trying to help the tiniest girl. She's just got a lot stacked against her right now. I'm doing my best but wish I had an "adultier" adult with impressive neonatology vet skills here with me. Sometimes I feel like I'm just not skilled enough. 😔

Would you please pray your most heartfelt, urgent prayers for this sick baby girl....?

Love, me. ❤️

06/15/2026

😍

06/14/2026

Current pupdate:

Lindy is doing good. She's stressed as she wants to stay with her puppies but cannot yet. I do care times every 3 hours and help the bigger ones try to nurse etc ..but Lindy doesn't understand why they must go back to the incubator. 😕

She's a devoted mother. ❤

These are very premature babies...probably day 56/57 gestation. They were due the 19/20th - next Saturday.

Lindy wants her babies. Yes, she's quite upset with it all, but it won't be for long as puppies rapidly develop daily at this stage.

Every hour they develop a bit more. More fur, stronger suck reflexes, the ability to safely suck/swallow/breathe while nursing. They get more fat, get stronger physically. 💪

I had to put one into a chest brace this morning as her chest wall is still so flexible that her chest went flat and she went into respiratory failure. Got her into the brace, got her stabilized again but it was scary for a bit to get her oxygen levels stable. She tube feeds only and simply cannot leave the incubator/oxygen for more than quick care and assessment. She's a fighter though! ❤️‍🩹

2 are stronger and have a bit more development so able to nurse on Lindy with help and actually transfer some milk. They can do about 10-15 mins with mom during care times safely before needing back in the incubator. 🥳

1 other girl is a bit better and can have short care times with mom but not for long. She's able to latch on with help but too weak to transfer milk still. It's just a development thing...she will get better every hour. 💝

I'm tube feeding all, but more stable ones get tube fed post any nursing time on Lindy. Mom's milk is best. Lindy needs them to nurse on her on a regular schedule to help get her milk in. Since she had such a traumatic csection and required a blood transfusion, her body will take a bit longer to produce a good milk supply. 👍

Overall I'm content with their progress. Weaning down their oxygen support is very important as staying on oxygen too long can actually harm. The goal is to only boost them enough to support their breathing, so they are not working so hard to breathe with their underdeveloped lungs. 💯

I've been able to reduce the incubator temperature twice which is fabulous! That shows me their fat stores and fur development is progressing great. Once they get enough fat layer and fur they will be able to maintain their temperature with just heating pad supplement and finally stay with mom. That's the goal, to get them all back together full time. 🥰

Mom and pups continue antibiotics. They are doing quite well. I'm seeing appropriate progress in development in the puppies. I've dealt with many premature kittens and puppies over the years of my neonatal and maternity foster care/rescue work, so I have plenty of experience with premature fur-baby care. These babies just need supportive care for a bit and they will do great. ❤

Here are some pictures of the babies. You can easily see the prematurity from lack of fur, mostly very pink skin showing, ears are not fully formed etc. They already look more developed with more fur than yesterday. They change super fast daily. It's crazy! 🤯

06/14/2026

Lindy continues to do well. Babies are doing their best. Was able to lower incubator temp a bit, decrease oxygen support a bit.

06/14/2026

Quick pupdate:

Quite premature babies but good weights, finally stable on extra oxygen and incubator. First tube feeds done and tolerated so far. Expressed Lindy's colostrum and gave them that while in hospital. Babies are at least 5 days premature...but it was deliver them or they would have certainly died. At least they have a fighting chance to survive. ❤️‍🩹

Vet just called and said we can pick up mama Lindy. A few extra hours of iv fluids and meds and she's improved. Definitely have to watch her closely for the next few days. She's been through a traumatizing event and this is why I share it all with y'all, because breeding is truly sometimes blood, sweat, and lots of tears. I almost lost my amazing girl today...its a real risk with breeding. ❤️‍🩹

If you plan to breed...better have a vet bill account with $$$$$... today has cost us thousands. All worth it to keep my sweet Lindy alive. ❤

06/13/2026

Ok not a good situation.

Bad uterine infection 7 pups total... 2 were long gone deceased from likely a week ago, 1 had a heartbeat initially but we could not get it to breathe and could see infection already in it...

We did save 4 and are still working on them with heat and oxygen..they will be on antibiotics due to the uterine infection

Lindy had to get a blood transfusion as she was struggling to stabilize. Already started on antibiotics too via iv.

This whole situation is gutting me!!
She had ZERO symptoms of anything being wrong. No fevers, healthy robust appetite, playing with her favorite toys etc this entire time! Absolutely crazy. Still has no fever!

Update:
Lindy is crashing again. Possibly internal bleeding. Doing ultrasound. Please pray! 😭

🙏 4 puppies are decently stable but still on oxygen as a few days premature