Viola's first veterinary check-up

Today Viola had her first pre-natal check-up at our wonderful vet Blue Ridge Animal Clinic in Lexington, VA. She's perfectly healthy, appears to be having a normal heat, and is very early in it (as we suspected) and not ready to breed yet.

Viola with her nephew Aidan aka Leo

We had her progesterone levels tested, and that has to be sent off to a lab, so we should find out tomorrow or Monday where she is in her season approximately. That will give us a good idea when she will be ready to breed, and it will let us know that she is having normal hormone levels.

We also had her rabies vaccination done. Often vets recommend against giving vaccinations if a female dog is in season, because there is a potential for the virus to be passed to the eggs. Rabies is a killed virus though, so there is no risk to the babies at all. We definitely double checked that to be sure! I am so fanatical about keeping our girls' pregnancies safe that I won't give them carsickness pills because they are a slight risk to the developing fetuses.

So now it's all about waiting until she is ready to breed, keeping her nutrition healthy, and keeping her happy while she is away from home. She said the spring in Virginia SUCKS compared to South Carolina.....