The puppies are now two weeks old. For those not on Facebook to know this update, we had another loss yesterday. The tiny girl died early in the morning. I'm not sure what caused it, but she was not gaining as quickly as her bigger siblings. Often in the last week and a half, I'd find Jewel feeding her separately from the others so I didn't think I needed to supplement her. She was moving well, trying to stand and was almost the first to scoot to Jewel when it was feeding time for the whole crew. Friday morning, I found her and Jewel outside the box. I think she was still nursing when Jewel left the box and being tiny, Jewel must not have realized she was still hanging on. Perhaps when the pup fell off the nipple and hit the floor she was injured? The heat lamp also burned out during the night on Saturday and the room was cool when I discovered it. I got the tiny pup warmed up and started to supplement as she wouldn't nurse anymore. At first it seemed she was responding, but while she would swallow the formula, she wouldn't suckle. She would still scoot over to Jewel but wouldn't try to nurse. It seemed she was behaving by instinct and had lost ground developmentally. When I went into the nursery first thing yesterday morning, I knew she was gone. Jewel was laying in the box, puzzled by her still baby but still wanting to mother her. Jewel's been good with her smaller family and was not distressed when I took away the little pup.
The remaining six puppies are fat and active. Jewel is not nursing them continuously but she still needs a lot to eat to keep up with their demands. She's eating about six cups of food a day! I'm sure she'll be glad when it's time to introduce cereal.
Here are some birthday pictures:
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