This month I’m going share some thoughts about hormones as they relate to an on-going miracle that so struck me as so amazing, it was impossible not to write about it. Can you guess what that miracle was and is?
If you took one look at my picture and guessed menopause, you’re wrong. Although I do consider it amazing, it’s not nearly as amazing as the hormonal miracle I have in mind. It began the week before Thanksgiving when I bred my amazing shitzu-terrier mix, Frica, to an equally amazing poodle-terrier mix named Bailey. That set into motion a string of hormone-mediated miracles that culminated with the biggest of them all when she gave birth to 4 healthy puppies on January 20th. You might think that, as a veterinarian, I’ve seen all kinds of animals giving birth. While true to some extent, the fact is that I’ve seen all kinds of animals having problems giving birth or giving birth under the most horrendous conditions. Animals capable of giving birth as nature intended don’t need the services of a veterinarian to accomplish this. Within the limits of veterinary practice, birth is associated with young who are too big and birth canals that are too small, c-sections, ruptured uteruses, females who are terribly ill and young who are fighting for their lives with some not making it.
Against that backdrop, any pregnancy that progresses flawlessly and ends in the birth of healthy young is truly a miracle. As I observed how all those seemingly unrelated aspects of physiology and behavior come together in a mind-boggling energy-efficient display that results in the creation of new life, it seems as if all but the most jaded would be awestruck.
To describe the role Frica’s hormones played in the whole process from start to finish would take volumes. Even if such were possible, the material would almost surely be out-dated as soon as written because science has barely begun to unlock the secrets of these extraordinary substances. Throughout the heat cycle, mating, fetal development, birth, nursing, and weaning, various hormone levels rise and fall singularly or in interdependent duets, trios, quartets and other combinations that participate in changes throughout her body. Even when science can tell us something about what hormone level may rise or fall when and how this affects physiology and behavior on average, like all of us, Fric is a unique being who may or may not fit that average mold.
One thing I do know is that something caused and is causing Frica to behave differently with this litter compared to her first. Age and experience surely play a role. Instead of the many hours of restlessness that preceded her first contractions the first time, this time the entire process from start to finish took about 4 hours. On the other hand, I was a lot calmer this time so I wasn’t feeding any stress hormones into the process that might have inhibited her.
But during this pregnancy and her behavior since the puppies were born, Frica has made it quite clear how the term “bitch” has come to mean a nasty, snappy female. She isn’t that way to me or any humans or Watson the hound or Whit the cat. But BeeBee, the 8 ½ month old female corgi, will experience the full mother grizzly routine if she gets anywhere near the pen with the puppies, or rather Fric’s food in the pen with the puppies. BeeBee’s ultra-nose makes the food her first priority and she inevitably makes a, if you’ll pardon the pun, beeline for it to the exclusion of everything else.
Frica considers Bee a sufficient threat that she’s caching her food, which she didn’t do the last time either. I go to all the trouble of spiffing up the maternity suite with clean papers under the box and the next thing I know, Fric is pulling them up and piling them on top of her food bowls in an attempt to hide them. Needless to say, BeeBee doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about, but she’s usually smart enough to stay out of the way. When she crosses the line, Fric is sufficiently bitchy that even deaf and brain-damaged Bee gets the message. Unfortunately, Bee’s response to even the most obviously ritualistic canine discipline is to act like she’s being killed. She screams and carries on as if Frica has stretched her on a rack and is tightening thumb screws into her four fat little feet rather than yelling at her for albeit indirectly, but nonetheless rudely, stealing food from babies.
Thus we can say that the hormones that are governing Frica’s behavior put her in that mental state familiar to all good mothers: even when she’s sleeping, part of her is always alert to her pups, ready to viciously protect them or gently nurse or snuggle with them in an instant. But when the puppies are at peace and the dogs are downstairs away from the pen or outside, the grumpy “Keep away from me” message she broadcast to Bee during the final days of her pregnancy is fast fading. Rather than refusing to play with the exuberant Bee, she now responds to the younger dog’s foolishness. Not as much as in the past because she now has those mammary glands weighing her down and altering her balance instead of puppies. But it’s enough for Bee because she senses the shift and is obviously happy to have this much of her playmate back.
A whole other aspect of the role hormones play in reproduction is the relationship Frica now has with certain toys that she’s ignored in the past. This is such an on-going saga that I’m posting updates regarding it in my blog in the category, Frica and the Aliens. Here again, her behavior reminds me of how little we know about the role hormones play in mindbody interactions. But no matter how I cut it, each little bit of evidence I see of this is nothing short of miraculous.
This month I’m going share some thoughts about hormones as they relate to an on-going miracle that so struck me as so amazing, it was impossible not to write about it. Can you guess what that miracle was and is?
Against that backdrop, any pregnancy that progresses flawlessly and ends in the birth of healthy young is truly a miracle. As I observed how all those seemingly unrelated aspects of physiology and behavior come together in a mind-boggling energy-efficient display that results in the creation of new life, it seems as if all but the most jaded would be awestruck.
To describe the role Frica’s hormones played in the whole process from start to finish would take volumes. Even if such were possible, the material would almost surely be out-dated as soon as written because science has barely begun to unlock the secrets of these extraordinary substances. Throughout the heat cycle, mating, fetal development, birth, nursing, and weaning, various hormone levels rise and fall singularly or in interdependent duets, trios, quartets and other combinations that participate in changes throughout her body. Even when science can tell us something about what hormone level may rise or fall when and how this affects physiology and behavior on average, like all of us, Fric is a unique being who may or may not fit that average mold.
One thing I do know is that something caused and is causing Frica to behave differently with this litter compared to her first. Age and experience surely play a role. Instead of the many hours of restlessness that preceded her first contractions the first time, this time the entire process from start to finish took about 4 hours. On the other hand, I was a lot calmer this time so I wasn’t feeding any stress hormones into the process that might have inhibited her.
But during this pregnancy and her behavior since the puppies were born, Frica has made it quite clear how the term “bitch” has come to mean a nasty, snappy female. She isn’t that way to me or any humans or Watson the hound or Whit the cat. But BeeBee, the 8 ½ month old female corgi, will experience the full mother grizzly routine if she gets anywhere near the pen with the puppies, or rather Fric’s food in the pen with the puppies. BeeBee’s ultra-nose makes the food her first priority and she inevitably makes a, if you’ll pardon the pun, beeline for it to the exclusion of everything else.
Frica considers Bee a sufficient threat that she’s caching her food, which she didn’t do the last time either. I go to all the trouble of spiffing up the maternity suite with clean papers under the box and the next thing I know, Fric is pulling them up and piling them on top of her food bowls in an attempt to hide them. Needless to say, BeeBee doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about, but she’s usually smart enough to stay out of the way. When she crosses the line, Fric is sufficiently bitchy that even deaf and brain-damaged Bee gets the message. Unfortunately, Bee’s response to even the most obviously ritualistic canine discipline is to act like she’s being killed. She screams and carries on as if Frica has stretched her on a rack and is tightening thumb screws into her four fat little feet rather than yelling at her for albeit indirectly, but nonetheless rudely, stealing food from babies.
Thus we can say that the hormones that are governing Frica’s behavior put her in that mental state familiar to all good mothers: even when she’s sleeping, part of her is always alert to her pups, ready to viciously protect them or gently nurse or snuggle with them in an instant. But when the puppies are at peace and the dogs are downstairs away from the pen or outside, the grumpy “Keep away from me” message she broadcast to Bee during the final days of her pregnancy is fast fading. Rather than refusing to play with the exuberant Bee, she now responds to the younger dog’s foolishness. Not as much as in the past because she now has those mammary glands weighing her down and altering her balance instead of puppies. But it’s enough for Bee because she senses the shift and is obviously happy to have this much of her playmate back.
A whole other aspect of the role hormones play in reproduction is the relationship Frica now has with certain toys that she’s ignored in the past. This is such an on-going saga that I’m posting updates regarding it in my blog in the category, Frica and the Aliens. Here again, her behavior reminds me of how little we know about the role hormones play in mindbody interactions. But no matter how I cut it, each little bit of evidence I see of this is nothing short of miraculous.