Friday, September 17, 2021
Puppies playing. I’m sure going to miss these little ones. They will all be going to their forever homes this weekend.
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Three plates of food and they all congregate around one. Silly puppies.
Saturday, September 11, 2021
Puppies get the zoomies in the evening sometimes.
Sunday, September 5, 2021
My favorite time of the day is in the morning. The puppies have been fed, their poop cleaned up and then they play! And watching them play is fascinating. At this stage, they are learning how to be a puppy. Rough housing and “fierce noise making” is all part of it.
Saturday, September 4, 2021
Puppies are doing very well. Vet visit went well and they got their first DA2PP vaccination shot today. Vet exam showed no heart murmurs or cleft palates. Their second DA2PP vaccination shot is due Oct 2, 2021. Here they are playing today before the vet visit.
Sunday, August 29, 2021
We are holding each puppy each day to get them socialized; so far, all really love to be held! Here’s a video of them playing today.
Thursday afternoon, August 26, 2021
Watching the puppies learn how to ‘play’ and interact with each other is fascinating.
Tuesday morning, August 24, 2021
Imagine my shock this morning to wake up and see one puppy outside the whelping box nursing while the others are desperately to get out as well. I need to replace the sliding side with a higher one, obviously. Here’s a short video from this morning.
Sunday morning, August 22, 2021
Because the puppies are starting to play with each other, we decided to move them to the living room area so they could be near us when we’re in here. This video shows the living room kennel we set up with a little stool in the corner, water bowl and the blankets that I will be sending home with them. This is the first time they’ve been outside their whelping box and they were *very* hesitant at first. Once I put Ava in with them they became much more comfortable.
Saturday afternoon, August 21, 2021
I captured a couple of videos of the puppies playing today. Sound on!
Saturday morning, August 21, 2021
Sorry for the delayed update – it’s been an incredibly challenging week at my regular job.
The puppies are all doing well; some even wag their little tails when I reach my hand into their whelping box. They are very much in need of a bath as they make such a mess when they eat. But they are too young to bathe just yet.
I’ll try to get some photos later today or tomorrow.
Tuesday late morning, August 17, 2021
So I noticed for the first time the puppies actually playing with each other and I captured this video:
Tuesday morning, August 17, 2021
The puppies are all eating food from a flat plate now – twice a day. As they begin weaning, they will eventually work up to eating 3-4 times a day. Right now, they are still nursing pretty regularly but I feed them Royal Canin Starter food twice a day. And boy, is it an adventure when I do! They will all eat at their own pace with some licking the edge of the plate first. Others dive right in; feet and all! Here’s a short video (apologize for the shadow on the left – their box sits next to my bed near a window and this morning was quite cloudy).
Sunday evening, August 15, 2021
Puppies are 3 weeks old today. I gave them their first taste of Royal Canin Starter food and by the end of the day, they were all eating it! What a mess they make walking through it but it’s good to see so much progress for each of them.
I’ll try to get some pictures posted either later today or tomorrow.
Wednesday morning, August 11, 2021
Puppies are starting to try and walk around rather than scooting on their tummies. Will work on getting individual pics later today when my son can help.
Late Tuesday evening, August 10, 2021
Puppies and Ava are all doing well. Today has been a rough one for me so that’s why I didn’t post anything earlier. Will try and post video/pics tomorrow.
Monday morning, August 9, 2021 (2nd update this morning)
It’s so funny watching them all jockey for position.
Monday morning, August 9, 2021
All of their little eyes are open. I’ll work on getting more pics uploaded today or tomorrow.
Saturday, August 7, 2021
I uploaded some individual puppy pics today. The dark Blenheim boy has one eye open – it’s so cute! The others will have their eyes open any day now I think.
All puppies have been adopted now and I’m excited to share their growth with their new families.
Friday, August 6, 2021
Puppies are 12 days old now. Here’s what I fondly call a Pile of Puppies

Thursday, August 5, 2021
I finally got the battery for my good (e.g. not-a-phone-camera) and took this photo today; they are all doing so well.

Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Puppies are doing well, as is Ava. I have commitments and/or deposits from 4 families for puppies now so the only puppy available is a Blenheim male. You’ll want to watch this all the way through as one little Blenheim boy is going for an Olympics-level nursing effort.
Monday, August 2, 2021
Puppies are 8 days old today and as you can see, they are all doing very well!
For those of you wondering about the white bars around the edge of the whelping box, that is to prevent a puppy from being squished against the side. I wish I could tell you how many times I’ve heard whining only to realize a puppy is caught under the bars against the side when Ava went in to nurse them! Turn up your volume and you can hear their little voices.
Sunday morning, August 1, 2021
Puppies are one week old today – a critical milestone for these little Cavaliers! All are doing very well and Ava’s appetite has picked up tremendously!

Saturday morning, July 31, 2021
It was a restful night last night for everyone – even me! It’s been a week of hypervigilance for sure!
You’ll recall that with Ava’s first litter, I didn’t actually get home from Denver until the puppies were five days old so my experience of the critical time period immediately following birth was non-existent until – this litter. Thus I’ve been extremely focused on the health of both Ava and the puppies this past week – all while trying to keep up with my work too! Oh my, how I wish I were able to retire!
I weighed all the puppies this morning and everyone is growing so nicely! Each has gained at least 4.5 ounces since birth! I feel confident that they will all do well going forward.
Thursday morning, July 29, 2021
Ava ate some scrambled eggs and canadian bacon this morning after a restful night. She’s not panting nearly as much (I will have to take her temperature later but I have a feeling it’s normal). UPDATE 10 AM – Ava temp is normal!
Weighed all the puppies this morning and all have gained at least 2.5 ounces since their birthday last Sunday!! Woohoo!!! They are all doing very well!
For those curious, the two with the collars (red and pink) are girls; the rest are boys.
UPDATE – Wednesday, July 28, 2021
After doing a lot of research, I will not be removing the dew claws on these little ones. Reading this website helped convince me it is not a good idea:
https://mokidocavaliers.com/dewclaws/
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Ava had a good night and the vet said her calcium is fine. Her temp is on the normal-high side but not worrisome. She does have low potassium and is slightly anemic (vet said likely due to having just given birth) so I’ve got to figure out how to get her to eat more/better (she’s always been finicky). The trip to Olympia from my house is 1.5 hours; with Ava and puppies in a box, I had to pull over twice to make sure everyone was OK – very stressful. But we’re home and everyone is in their whelping box and back to normal.
Here’s a pic of Ava with her blood draw bandage, giving me the side eye – that’s her way of telling me we’re not having fun!

And here they are back in their whelping box, nursing and glad to be home!

Tuesday, July 27, 2021
Puppies gained a good amount today and are doing well.
Ava is running a slight temperature, panting more than I’d expect and I called my reproductive vet in Olympia. She asked me to bring Ava in tomorrow for a blood draw to check calcium levels so I’ll leave here around 8 AM for the 10 AM blood draw. My reproductive vet (Dr. Wendy Saunders) has a lab in-house and will be able to get the results right away which my regular vet can’t do. After given Ava some Calsorb and cottage cheese today, she seems much better tonight with respect to the panting so I think she’s fine. I just don’t want to take any chances.
More tomorrow.
Monday, July 26, 2021
We all had a restful night. Ava is a good momma and taking great care of her puppies. All puppies gained overnight. Here’s a video from this morning:
July 25, 2021
Ava went in to labor last night and her first puppy was born this morning at 6:50 AM. The first puppy was a Blenheim boy weighing in at 7.3 ounces; second puppy was a Tri-color girl weighing 7 ounces was born at 8 AM; third puppy was a Blenheim boy weighing 7.6 ounces and was born at 8:40 AM; fourth puppy was a Tri-color boy weighing 6.8 ounces born at 9 AM; and our last puppy took her sweet time coming in at 11:20 AM and is a little Tri-color girl weighing 6.77 ounces. Everyone is doing well and we’re all resting comfortably.
Saturday, July 24, 2021
My little Ava (aka “Missy”) is so very pregnant; it’s hard to imagine her going much longer. Puppies are due July 27, 2021 as far as we know. Despite her size and being much slower than usual, she’s her happy self.
It’s Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Yesterday (July 12, 2021) I took my little Ava to a reproductive health vet near Olympia (Wendy Saunders, DVM). I wanted her to help me prepare for how many puppies and my regular vet doesn’t do much reproductive vet work (by their own admission). A digital x-ray showed 5 puppies; but the vet said one may be hiding given the skulls were still “light”,meaning the bone density was still in the formative stage. She did confirm that the expected delivery date of July 27, 2021 appears to be accurate.
It’s Sunday, July 4, 2021
Ava went into heat in late May while I was visiting my granddaughter in Denver. My youngest son Ryan was home taking care of things and thinks they might have mated on May 25, 2021. While he didn’t see them mate, he saw the after effect in Mickey so that’s the date we’re assuming she got pregnant.
63 days from May 25, 2021 is July 27, 2021. That’s when we’re assuming we’ll have another litter of cute little Cavaliers.
This coming Thursday – July 8, 2021 – I’m taking Ava to the vet for an ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy and see if we can’t pinpoint a due date.
More to come as this new adventure unfolds.
Information about Ava’s first litter is being preserved here below the separation line and includes a lot more about me and how I came to have a litter of Cavaliers.
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
I received a call from my regular vet today saying that the vet I was going to see for an ultrasound tomorrow went on vacation and while they’d be happy to see me, they didn’t have a vet available to do the ultrasound.
Needless to say, I was stunned. The whole point of the vet visit was to get an ultrasound.
Anyway, after considerable conversation with my regular vet’s office manager, we agreed that an x-ray would better serve my needs. You see, I didn’t just want to confirm pregnancy; I wanted to know how many puppies to expect. So we changed the appointment for next Tuesday early for an x-ray.
Then I started doing research and realized that canine reproductive health is a specialty and an x-ray to determine puppy count and size is only as good as the technician reading the x-ray. Unless the technician has some experience reading x-rays for puppy count purposes, you could end up with inaccurate or even misinformation.
So my search began in earnest for a reproductive specialty vet near me.
I found one in Olympia and called. I explained my situation and she assured me that yes, in fact, they are one of only two reproductive vets in the area and she would be able to get Ava in Monday morning first thing for an x-ray and exam!
So I called my regular vet and explained that I found a reproductive specialty vet and decided to take Ava there. The receptionist I spoke to told me ‘that’s good – we don’t do much reproductive vet work here’.
Stunned – for the second time in one day!
Why wouldn’t they mention that to me in the first place?!?!
Anyway, I’ve learned a lot today about vets. I now have a regular vet and a reproductive speciality vet as well!
And Monday, July 12, 2021, we’ll find out how many puppies we’re having and make sure they are not too big for Ava to deliver them safely.
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November 9, 2020 (Monday) our little Ava Roundhouse The Unique And Beautiful (AKC registration number: TS37021704) had four little Cavalier puppies! Dad Mickey Roundhouse (AKC registration number: TS36642402) seemed bemused by it all.
This is where I will document our journey together!
To begin with, it was quite the surprise. You see, I’m not a show dog breeder, or even a hobby breeder. I’m just an old lady who has two Cavaliers that hoped maybe one day, we could have puppies. You won’t find any pretentious statements or onerous requirements here if you’re wanting a Cavalier puppy. I do have a Puppy Application that I require because I want my puppies to go to only good, loving, forever homes.
Ava and Mickey are just over three years old and while I hoped to have puppies ‘someday’, it seemed clear that it wasn’t going to happen because Mickey didn’t seem to know how, and Ava was humping him whenever she was in heat.
Around the middle of September, Ryan (my son) was preparing for his first solo road trip from our home in Covington, Washington to see his brother, sister-in-law and niece in Denver, Colorado.
Now this was a BIG DAMN DEAL because Ryan doesn’t even like driving to Seattle alone, much less a two day road trip! When he finally hit the road, I immediately got very sick and ended up spending a week in the hospital with pneumonia (3 days in critical care). It was during this time of significant Life Chaos that Mickey figured out how to do it!
To further complicate things, I was in Denver myself when the puppies were born 63 days later.
Ryan sent me a video from his phone asking what was wrong with Ava. Because his phone is an Android and I use an iPhone, it was hard to tell what was going on but it looked to me like she was having problems breathing so I told Ryan to take her to the emergency vet.
Given the COVID19 pandemic, he had to wait in the parking lot for them to come out and get her. While waiting, he became so alarmed at the noise she was making that he called them a second time and begged them to come and get her. It took them less than a minute or two to figure out she was in labor. Needless to say, Ryan was shocked and called me immediately in a panic.
Ryan and I both knew there was no way he could handle a newborn set of puppies that we had no idea were coming and hadn’t prepared for.
So I did a google search and found a wonderful Cavalier breeder near us and she agreed to foster Ava and her puppies until I came home from Denver. I will be forever grateful to Trudy Owens of Cedar Creek Cavaliers for her generous spirit and kindness!
The puppies and Ava were fostered in a wonderful and separate kennel area and did well during the 4 days they were there. Here’s a video from Trudy she sent after they arrived and got settled.
I got home from Denver on Thursday so Friday morning Ryan and I went to pick up our wonderful Ava and her puppies. We got them home and settled in the family room where I could relax on a recliner at night with them. Ava and her puppies adapted pretty quickly, although it was clear Mickey made Ava nervous so we had to keep them separated.



Here’s a video of the puppies at 8 days old:
Very active and ready to nurse today – Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Ava nursing the puppies the day before Thanksgiving – November 25 2020

They are snuggling and sleeping so soundly (12/3/2020):

Puppies and Ava after vet visit – exhausting adventure for all! 12-5-2020:


Introducing puppies to Royal Canin Starter food:
Puppies playing with sound:
We have an exercise pen in the living room and that’s where the puppies play when we’re relaxing and not working. Ryan is on a stool in their pen playing with them.
Puppies going downstairs for playtime, December 29, 2020:

It’s such a challenge to get them to all look at me at the same time now – they have grown so quickly! But when they were waking from their nap, I opened the kennel door and managed to get this photo on New Year’s Day, 2021:

Jack and Roxanne are going to their forever homes tomorrow. This video is from this morning and it’s clear that all are doing quite well after their first immunization yesterday. Roxanne and Jack are the two running around and playing with each other; Sadie and Penne are tussling over a chew stick.
January 16, 2020
Today Sadie went to her new forever home so it’s just Penne left now.
Here’s a video of Penne and Ava are playing now:
I have created a Puppy Page for each so you can follow their progress: