Thursday, May 22, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Lauren Update
Lauren had septic mastitis which resulted in a double mastectomy. She spent the week-end in the animal hospital but we got to bring her home Sunday night. Lauren is on a slew of medicines and has staples running along the one side of her tummy so no more nursing. Sunday night was rather hard as she wanted to be with her puppies, they were crying for her and I was already missing sleep from the week-end. But, by yesterday afternoon, Lauren started to lose interest in the cries from the next room and the puppies are more eager to see me than their mom--probably because I'm almost always carrying a bowl of food! Everything seems to be on the upswing now though--I got 5 (five!) straight hours of sleep last night before the puppies wanted a night time snack.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Small Setback
I was in NC for two days for work and everything went smoothly at home while I was gone. But what big puppy changes in so short a time! Lauren was happy to have me back and everything seemed fine. I had planned that Friday would be half day working from home and half day at the library, but it wasn't to be. David checked on everyone at 3:30 a.m. and all was normal and good. When I went downstairs at 7:30, Lauren had had several accidents (not that unexpected, I usually have her outside by 7) but she was listless and had vomited her dinner from Thursday night. A quick check of her temp showed a fever of 104.5--off to the vet's we went! Lauren has mastitis and it was treated aggressively (and expensively) with surgery at the Leesburg animal hospital.
I had planned on starting to supplement the puppies this week-end anyway with goat's milk and baby cereal in conjunction with the move to bigger quarters, but now we've gone to complete weaning. I was surprised to find out the puppies have teeth! (they didn't before I went to NC) They are chewing on every nipple I try on a bottle (perhaps that explains the mastitis?) so I dug out the "flying saucer" bowl and they've quickly learned to lap up their gruel. The only silver lining in today is that Lauren sailed through surgery and the two smooth girls can now eat their fill. Dot and the boys had surged ahead in growth in the last couple of days, I think they were pushing the two little smooths out of their way. Now, I can feed them first and after just one day, they seem bigger! The pups seem to miss mom so I'm spending lots of cuddling time with them.
I had planned on starting to supplement the puppies this week-end anyway with goat's milk and baby cereal in conjunction with the move to bigger quarters, but now we've gone to complete weaning. I was surprised to find out the puppies have teeth! (they didn't before I went to NC) They are chewing on every nipple I try on a bottle (perhaps that explains the mastitis?) so I dug out the "flying saucer" bowl and they've quickly learned to lap up their gruel. The only silver lining in today is that Lauren sailed through surgery and the two smooth girls can now eat their fill. Dot and the boys had surged ahead in growth in the last couple of days, I think they were pushing the two little smooths out of their way. Now, I can feed them first and after just one day, they seem bigger! The pups seem to miss mom so I'm spending lots of cuddling time with them.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Monday Update
Big changes for these pups! Everyone has been walking for the last couple of days--not always steady on their feet but they never mind taking a tumble! Eyes started to open late last week and everyone had their eyes full open by Sunday. The tri girl (who we are calling Dot because of the black dot on her white tummy) was quite unique on Saturday--one eye open, one eye still closed so she looked like she was winking as she stumbled about the box. This morning, the puppies are trying out their fierce growling abilities and attempting to play with one another but since they can't judge distance yet, usually end up missing their intended target when they try to jump!
When I came home from work this evening, I found the rough mahogany male (he doesn't have a name yet!) wandering about the nursery--looking for mom, checking out her food bowl and having quite the exhausting adventure. When I put him back in the whelping box, he just fell asleep in a heap and didn't even stir when his sibling started chewing on his head and foot! So, another board has been added to the box opening and definitely the crew will be moving this week-end to bigger quarters!
The puppies had some visitors on Sunday. Work mate Susan came with her daughter, son-in-law and grandsons. Susan's deciding between a puppy and our young adult boy, Dylan (please choose Dylan, it's a perfect fit!) Jonathan and Nathaniel had never seen puppies so young and thoroughly enjoyed the visit--which included puppy pooping, what could be better! They are coming back in a couple of weeks to be "official" visitors for the puppy socialization.
When I came home from work this evening, I found the rough mahogany male (he doesn't have a name yet!) wandering about the nursery--looking for mom, checking out her food bowl and having quite the exhausting adventure. When I put him back in the whelping box, he just fell asleep in a heap and didn't even stir when his sibling started chewing on his head and foot! So, another board has been added to the box opening and definitely the crew will be moving this week-end to bigger quarters!
The puppies had some visitors on Sunday. Work mate Susan came with her daughter, son-in-law and grandsons. Susan's deciding between a puppy and our young adult boy, Dylan (please choose Dylan, it's a perfect fit!) Jonathan and Nathaniel had never seen puppies so young and thoroughly enjoyed the visit--which included puppy pooping, what could be better! They are coming back in a couple of weeks to be "official" visitors for the puppy socialization.
Friday, May 2, 2008
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