Help save Livvy

Please read Livvy’s Story 


Livvy is my 1.5 year old love bug. When she started her second heat on April 21, She was responsibly bred to Reno two times. Once on April 30, and once on May 2nd.

She gained weight and got larger quite fast! Somehow 7 puppies presented them self in her litter!
 
I took Livvy to the vet 10 days prior to her due date for x rays. Everything was fine and normal. 
5 days ahead of time Livvy was huge and starting to slow down. This didn’t seem abnormal for a mama carrying a litter of that size. 

I was giving her the breeders edge prenatal supplements as well as keeping her on puppy food (instinct raw boost puppy) as I do with all my dogs. 

The next day I noticed she had thrown up a whole bunch and was lethargic. I immediately took her back into my vet for x ray and bloodwork. 

The x Ray showed the puppies were pressing on her stomache and she was having a hard time keeping her food down. 
I was advised to give small meals throughout the day which I did. 
She still threw up and seemed to be getting worse so we went to the emergency vet that night. 
The emergency vet checked her over and her cervix was not yet open so she said to try even smaller meals every few hours. I did that. 
 Throughout this time the vets and I were monitoring her temps, which were fluctuating between 100-98-99-100-98

Livvy would hold the food down a little while and then throw it back up.
the very next day we went to my regular vet for more x rays and possible anti nausea medicine -  her temp continued fluctuating and we believe she would start labor that night.

i stayed up all night waiting for her to start labor, but she was so very lethargic not nesting or panting and eventually around 5am pushed out one little bubble. I could tell she was too weak to deliver these babies and needed to take her in. 

I went into my regular vet at 9am and she gave her oxytocin to induce labor. 
She pushed out one baby with my assistance, and then my vet gave oxytocin again an hour later, she then pushed out one more baby.  It seemed like she was incredibly drained despite being given nutrical every half hour. 

I was very concerned she needed a c section after the second baby was born, but we tested her glucose and it was 68 despite nutrical every half hour.
My poor Livvy was so lethargic I knew she needed the section earlier but my vet insisted we do oxytocin first and wait and see. 

Finally around 1:30pm we did the c section, which as it turns out was my vets first time performing this procedure. 

I stood and watched as Livvy had her legs tied down and belly cut open and I waited to catch the babies and clean them and get them breathing. I ran home to get Passion and brought Her in since she just had a pup 4 days ago and I knew she would help nurse and has good nursing nipples good milk flow.
She did a great job helping these pups. 

Several times while operating on Livvy the vet said “she’s starting to wake up!! Get more proponol!” The vet tech would run and get more and I watched in horror Livvy waking up to such pain trying to hold back my tears and keep these puppies going with the help of Passion.

once all the pups were out, I cleaned them got them nursing and Passion was doing her best as well. I asked my vet if I could run them home and get them settled while she sewed Livvy back up. She said yes and I hurried home - thankfully I live less than a mile from my vet. 

I have another nursing mama named Cersei who took on a few of the pups as well. I am happy to say that Livvys pups are all alive and 5 of them have gained weight. 2 have lost but not lost much and I have hopes they will be ok. 
I am working around the clock to make sure the babies are ok. 

When I drove back to the vet to pick up Livvy, (a few hours later around 5:30pm) the vet tech told me my vet had already left for the day- I was furious and called my vet on her cell phone to come back and Check her bloodwork because after discussing with some close breeder friends they advised I needed to know the calcium levels of Livvy and possibly get her a calcium shot if needed. 

My vet then told me her bloodwork machine doesn’t measure calcium and she has no way of knowing calcium levels. I then asked her to call my emergency vet (only a few more minutes down the road) and ask them to give me a blood panel that included calcium and determine if the shot was needed. 
She did that - and then showed me Livvy was still bleeding from her procedure and is likely to bleed the next 5-7 days and I was to give her an antibiotic and monitor her carefully. 

When I picked Livvy up her temperature was at 94, and she was incredibly pale and lifeless. I was in tears and a mess. I called the emergency vet to tell them I was coming right away and my vet would be sending all of the medical records for my Livvy.

I rushed over to my emergency vet where they gave me their 100% attention and care. They did a blood panel and it turns out her calcium levels were actually normal but her protein and CBC was under 17% because she had lost so much blood during the procedure and she was still continually losing blood.
they also immediately checked for internal bleeding which they said was minimal. 

The emergency vet (which is an emergency vet I have used many times and they are very reputable) recommended I give her a universal donor blood transfusion and start antibiotics as well as round the clock care for her to stay there. I said of course because otherwise she will not survive. At this point my bill was up to $2200 with them. As well as my bill from my regular vet being $1500 for emergency c section and additional $500 for the other things like oxytocin and bloodwork and nutrical and the visit. 

But how can I say no and not save my lovebug Livvy? 

I stayed up all night calling every few hours to check on her and talk to the doctor when they were available. She was showing some improvement last night after the transfusion and I was given hope I could bring her home in the morning. 

Finally around 4;30 am I crashed asleep, and didn’t wake up until around 10am. I had two missed calls and voicemails from the vet. 

The first voicemail which was at 5:09am and the vet was happy saying she is more stable and a little brighter and she’d call me again in a couple hours.

the next voicemail was at 7:12am and she still sounded good saying Livvy was brighter and more stable and they wanted to continue more blood transfusion since that seemed to be going well. She also ate a little food for them. 

When I woke up and had just missed 10am call and voicemail that Livvy had started taking a turn for the worse. Her stomach is Enflamed and not tolerating food, she is not absorbing fluids well despite having non stop IV drip in her and she didn’t want to pick her head up. 

I called back immediately and asked them to do whatever is necessary to save her life. The Dr. then told me despite being given antibiotics she has a very infected uterus which is also hemorrhaging. They are using a stronger antibiotic now and trying to control the bleeding, pain, and infection. 

I got off off the phone with same vet at 3:30 pm where she informed me the uterus may need to be removed (which was fine with me) but before putting her Into surgery again they are going to try a few more hours of antibiotics as well as decompressing her stomach with a gastro tube, which she thinks will help Livvy feel better and want to eat again. 

basically Livvys body is incredibly enflamed because of holding so many puppies and not getting enough adequate nutrition for a few days because the puppies were pressing so hard on her stomach and she was unable to keep anything down. Being so weak and going into a c section surgery after barely being able to birth two puppies has caused Livvys entire body system to go systemic. 

I have given the vet the go ahead to do whatever is necessary to save Livvy, I love her so much and the thought of her not coming back home is killing me and breaking me in half. 

I started this gofundme because I am up to $4000 at my emergency vet and 2000+ with my regular vet. Emergencies happen, and I do the best I can. As most of you know, chihuahuas are my full time job, this is what my heart says to do and I spend 24 hours a day with my babies. 

I am grateful to God that Passion and Cersei are nursing the 7 gorgeous babies Livvy made (with Reno). 
Without them I would have to bottle feed and I don’t know if I would make it. 

I ask you from the bottom of my heart if you can help make a donation to saving Livvy. I am a humble woman and would not normally ask for financial help, however this is a true emergency, and I could use all the help I can get. 

I am here for all of you if you want to call and  ever talk about chihuahuas for hours, answer 100 questions or tell you why your chihuahua does this or that, or just talk about life. 

I am open to sharing vet records, x Ray pictures, vet names and numbers, and anything else someone is interested in. 

I would like to note- my regular vet I use has been overall very good to me and helped me with all my puppy exams and vaccinations. Whenever a new dog enters my home, we go to my vet to have a comprehensive exam, checking teeth, heart rhythms, stools, patellas, bloodwork if needed, eyes, temperatures, and getting all shots. I have been very happy with her overall and feel grateful to have her in my dogs lives. 

In hindsight I am trying to learn as much as possible to prevent a catastrophic event like this from ever happening again.

I am a permanent student of the chihuahua breed, and want to have successful litters, and gorgeous healthy puppies. I am continually working to have every adult dog health tested and chic certified. 

I am open to advice and your own experiences. I have had a few c sections in the past when I first started breeding chihuahuas, but nothing like this. This was not something I was prepared for, or anything along the lines of a typical c section. 

If you can find it in your heart to donate to save Livvy, I would appreciate it. If you do not want to donate to the gofundme, you can also call the Dulles South Emergency Vet Clinic at (703) [phone redacted]. They know who Livvy is of course, and are praying for her recovery as well. 

Thank you for reading all of this. 

I can also be reached on Facebook (Roxy Frances, Classy n Sassy Chihuahuas) 
and on the phone through text or phone call - [phone redacted]

Thank you to all my friends family and supporters and my chihuahua family you mean everything to me.


update: Livvy survived through her second surgery removing her uterus which was draining her body. She is now struggling to move anything through her GI tract. She has also started head tremors I’m guessing due to lack of nutrients She is still in the ICU and needs as many prayers as possible. Thank you