Archive for the ‘health’ Category
Sweet William is growing into a big boy
We have an update from Sweet William of Chloe’s litter…
Here’s William! He’s 25 pounds now, and while the biting is still much more than we would like, the trainer gave us some great tips, and we have seen improvement since Tuesday. One persistent problem has been diarrhea. The vet suggests that he could have a grain allergy. So we’re trying grain-free food, and hoping for the best.
Pups on the mend
Well, things are a little less messy over here these days, thanks to the marvels of modern medicine. I don’t remember if I wrote about how the pups and Willow ALL came down with a nasty case of squirting diarrhea over the weekend but they did….yikes. The vet, as you can imagine, wanted to see the whole group and I simply said I would not do that. I said, “We have to figure something else out, I am not willing to bring the entire litter to the vet’s office again.” Yeah for me!
So, I compromised and brought the sickest pup, the smallest, and the largest (to get a weight range) and I was surprised to find out that the range went from 7 to 10 pounds at only 5 weeks!!! These pups are big ones! Anyway, the nice people at Meadow View Veterinary Clinic (Geneva, IL) fixed the group right up and now, just two days later, things are looking up. In fact, I am just now going to go into the room for the final clean of the evening…wish me luck.
Puppies plump and getting named
The puppies are HUGE. Really, I can’t remember a group being so heavy and big at such a young age. They aren’t yet 5 weeks old and already they are topping 6 pounds. I tried to weigh them on the little food scale I have and failed – they kept error-ing it out because they were too heavy. So, I stood on my scale and then stood on it while holding them and subtracted my weight and basically ended up with just a general weight for all of them of about 6 pounds. It was stressful for someone like me who likes precision, especially when it comes to measurement and administering of medication (I had to weigh them in order to dose them correctly with their roundworm medication). Add to that the fact that the majority of them look so similar I can’t tell them apart!! I wasn’t exactly sure if I gave everyone the medication…did someone get two doses? Yikes. It was a stressful event.
I think I have 4 of them identified as individuals…there’s a red one with a red nose (got pics of her under the chair, a series of them) who I LOVE and I’m calling her Red Bud. There’s a male who is white with BLUE beautiful eyes, what a pretty boy he is! I’m calling him Oak. The only other male is also white but smaller and I’m calling him Ash. Then there is a small, white, (whiney) female with a red nose I’m calling Birch (notice the name theme?). The remainder are all female, all roughly a whitish/reddish color and all with a black nose…I think. It is so confusing! I am going to have to get a hold of some fingernail polish and paint their toe nails so I can tell them apart! Crazy.
Does anyone have any fingernail polish I can borrow?? Sadly I am not a girly girl.
The pups are eating about 3 times a day – moistened food with formula, and free eating dry food all day/night. Willow, the mama is learning how to jump up onto the platform to get outside and how to jump back in. That’s a relief. And she is finally got a cleanish bill of health…has roundworms (yuck) but that’s it. So, she can finally spend time outside with the pups in the play area. Life is getting a little easier…a calm before the storm of puppy applications/interviews. I have to get these girls and boys posted on Petfinder!
Kennel Cough
I was at the vet (again) with another one of my dogs who has caught Williow‘s kennel cough. Now, I am embarrassed to admit this but I have not had my dogs vaccinated for kennel cough. I feel stupid now but had my dogs not gotten it (like they haven’t for the last few times mamas with kennel cough have lived with us) I would be feeling validated. I guess I always knew I was taking a risk but it seemed worth it to avoid over vaccinating them. Anyway, I have changed my mind. I will now vaccinate Hermes and Bella routinely, every 6 months like recommended. They are the two who go everywhere with me and it seems only fair. As for the other two, I may vaccinate them again when we are preparing for another mama. But since I am greatly anticipating a break from puppy rearing that can wait a bit.
Poor dogs, everyone is hacking up a lung over here. All except for Lollie…hmm. She has such a strong immune system I wonder if she’ll succumb? As a puppy, she lived with a littler mate who had Parvo (a very serious case of it, requiring 16 days in intensive care in the hospital to overcome it) and she was fine. Never caught it. We will see.
Puppies start to walk and open eyes
Well tonight (Monday) it was clear that these pups are out of the woods. And I am relieved. I noticed two days ago that some of them had little slits opening in their eye lids and today about half of them have their eyes almost completely open. We won’t be having photos for a week as the flash is harmful to their developing eye tissue. I may try on a sunny day to get some but not tonight. In addition to their eye development, they are starting to walk! It is only for a few steps, and they are very wobbly, but they are walking!! They seem to be right on schedule, so their bout of kennel cough didn’t set them back, developmentally, at all. In fact, as I watched them nurse tonight I was struck by how vigorous they all are. I think they are really hungry now, and I’ve noticed Daisy‘s food intake increasing (finally). Yes, it seems the consensus is for the name Daisy so Daisy it is. I may be supplementing their nursing sooner than I had planned…I usually wait until they can stand (duh) to introduce them to lapping formula from a bowl and that usually happens after week 3…but here we are at 2 weeks plus one day and already they seem ravenous. If Daisy can keep up, then I’ll let her.
I also gave them their first worming today and from about 1.5 pounds at day 3 they are up to 4 pounds!! Yeah. I am really proud of this group. Also, I cut toenails tonight. They were crazy long and really scratchy. You are welcome, Daisy.
Mama dog gets a bath
Well, today was SO hot that I figured if I bathed Sandy? Daisy? Angie? (still haven’t found a name right for her) outside she wouldn’t mind the cold water and she’d dry off in a snap. Plus I figured she’d like the time outside. Boy was she freaked out by the water! It could be that it was spraying at her from the hose (I tried to be gentle but there isn’t that gentle a way for one to spray another with a hose) or that it was cold, or that she’s never had a bath or a hose bath before – I’m not sure which it is. But once she realized that all I was doing was hosing her down and that she couldn’t get away from me, she submitted. It sort of was humbling to me, how dogs let us submit our will on them rather easily. Now I know what I was doing was for her own good and she ultimately seemed to really enjoy being clean (you know how dogs do that rubbing thing on the carpet once they’re clean? She was rubbing herself along the garage door!!) but it sort of hit me how I could have been doing anything to her and she would eventually give in. How trusting, and how sad that so many people betray that trust. It just really hit me today for some reason.
But anyway, hopefully she will be ok with her next bath and hopefully I didn’t teach her to be deathly afraid of them…I think not as, like I said, she clearly got into it after a bit. And it is nice to have her clean!! Birth is a yucky business and that first week continues to be a bit yucky. Add to that her bout of whipworm and the poop that goes a long with that, and her pups crawling all over her and THEIR loose stool and… well, you get the picture. The dog needed a bath. (more…)
