Page 77 of Saving Veronica
“What?” Ted scoffed at her. “A cat?”
“If you must know, I have five stallions, five mares, seven barn cats, a four-month-old filly, and a McCaw bird.” It took everything Ronnie had not to grin at Ted’s expression.
“Oh.”
“As you know, I know animals. I may not have my license yet, but I’m working on it. I’m done in December and I only have to take the state exam in late January. I’ll then be working here full time. Not only as a vet, but also as a partner.” She held up her hand when Ted started to say something. “While Grady’s out, I will be talking the field calls, and for the record, you may call me Ronnie or Ms. Parker. As of today, I will no longer tolerate being called ‘Little Lady’.” She grinned when he swallowed audibly.
“Do you have any concerns?”
Before they could answer, the buzzer for patients wanting in sounded loud and clear, as well as pounding on the front door. They couldn’t hear what was being said, but they heard yelling. Ronnie was the first one out the door, and actually slid to a stop when she saw Norm and Finn outside the door. She opened it and gasped.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Molly,” Norm said, as he strode in with his very pregnant dog in his arms. “She started giving birth, but stopped.” Grady directed them all to the large room in the back and as he and Ronnie examined the dog, it was Ronnie who swore. She took over as she stared at Norm.
“Don’t panic, you did the right thing by bringing her here. It seems that the pup is stuck in the birth canal. We’re going to have to perform a C-Section on her. I know she’s your baby, so I’ll give you two options. You can stay here and watch, but only if you keep quiet, or you can go out in the waiting room.”
“I’ll stay here,” Norm said, as he watched the two men behind Ronnie work on getting Molly ready for surgery.
Ronnie turned to Finn. “Same for you.”
“I’ll stay here with Norm,” Finn said, as he clasped his hand on the other man’s shoulder. She only nodded and turned to wash her hands and prep herself for surgery. By the time they were ready to make the cut, it had only been twelve minutes from the time Norm and Finn pounded on the door.
Ronnie wasn’t surprised when Grady handed her the knife, but was shocked when Ted didn’t say a word. At one point, he told Norm he could come and pet Molly’s head as Ronnie worked. That made Ronnie look at him in a new light.
Ten minutes later, she looked up and grinned. “That’s it.”
“Holy hell,” Norm said, and she saw that he had tears rushing down his face, as he looked at all the squirming, wet bundles being dried by Grady and Ted. “And the one stuck?”
“Breathing on its own.” Grady held up the solid black bundle and grinned. “We’ll keep an eye on him, but he should make it. Mom should wake in a few minutes and unfortunately she won’t be able to nurse until she heals. You’ll have a lot of bottle feeding in your future.”
“Christ, I don’t know how.”
“We’ll teach you,” Ted said, and frowned when there was another bout of pounding on the front door. This time he left and came back with a man behind him.
“Grandpa? What are you doing here?” Finn asked in shock, then spotted Major. The other dog immediately rushed to Molly’s side as she was waking up. He licked her all over, then sniffed the pups and started cleaning them.
“How many are there?” Eric asked. He turned to Finn, and said, “I couldn’t let the Daddy stay home and wait. Thought he’d want to be here.”
“Thanks Eric.” Norm slapped him on the shoulder. “The vets are about to show us how to feed them.”
“First, there are eleven pups.” Ronnie grinned at the shocked expression on Eric’s face. The whole room burst into laughter at his next comment.
“Way to go with that super sperm there, Major.”
While Ronnie had been cleaning up and making sure Molly was doing okay, with Finn’s help they put her in a bottom cage against the wall. “We’ll want to monitor her overnight, and the pups will have to be fed every two hours.”
“This is how you feed them.” Grady had laid out an array of items. He showed Norm and Eric how to mix the milk. How to fill the eye dropper, and then how to feed them.
“How do we know when to stop?” Eric frowned.
“They won’t take anymore. For the first few days, they’ll only take about an eyedropper full, maybe two. When they keep sucking, then you’ll know to go to the next size.” He pointed to the table.
“If I could make a suggestion?” Ted asked. “Find different colored ribbons to tie around their necks, so you’ll know which one was fed. And if you can, set up a feeding chart so that you can check the colored ribbon with the meal.”
“Okay, so every two hours?”
“Yes.”
