Archive for the ‘nutrition’ Category
So little time, so much to do
I can’t believe it, it is almost over. It is so abrupt; one day you are scrambling to find time to sit down and the next day they are gone and there is this huge hole in your life. But now is the busy time, where they are needing SO much and I have so little left to give. Plus, I am letting go, spending far less time with them so it doesn’t hurt so much when they leave. I am up late at night, reviewing the adoption decisions I’ve made, hoping the families will be good matches. I can only do so much and then I have to just let it go. Let it be what it will be. This is difficult work. Remember when I was saying that I would be happy to see them go? Well, I will be happy to have my house back and my time back and my dogs and family back but I will miss their little fuzzy bodies and puppy breath (what makes is stink so?) and their growing personalities. But (more…)
Adoption Process Underway
Annie and her no-nursing shirt
Yesterday was a busy busy day for everyone. We had numerous viewings of the puppies as well as a few families who came by to play with and cuddle their new family members. The puppies are now 7 weeks old and aren’t ready to leave just yet. I like to wait until closer to 8 weeks to give them as long as possible with their littermates and mama. Annie continues to be a stellar mother, nursing them whenever they ask for it. I have to keep chasing her out of the puppy room to stop that as she will be leaving soon. I was up until 11:30 last night sewing her a little shirt to keep her teats in and away from the puppies. I was using an old t-shirt but the pups were climbing into the shirt through the arm (more…)
8 Pups Romp in the Yard
Yesterday was chilly but a good enough day for the puppies to romp in the yard. I took Annie and her eight pups out in the yard for about 20 minutes of high energy play time. We have been trying to help Annie ween her pups but they are determined to nurse. Much of the time I was throwing a stick for Annie just to keep her moving – a moving mama is hard to nurse!
Heavy Workload
Bless this mess.
It feels like I am constantly going now. Once I feed the pups then I have to take care of Annie’s food. Then I have to clean up the food bowls and let Annie out. Then I play with the pups to give them some stimulation and get them used to being handled and of course Annie’s right there needing some attention too. Then I have to clean up the wet papers, mop the floors and put down new papers. Hopefully at this point the pups are starting to fall asleep. Before they do I have to change their bedding, put the soiled bedding into the washer after taking out the wet bedding and putting it into the dryer after taking out the cleaned and dried bedding and folding it. Once the bedding is laid one pup invariably walks on it and pees. I try to pretend that it doesn’t happen. You can’t ever get the room cleaned – you just try to keep (more…)
Fat and Happy
Weaning is going well, Annie’s milk production seems to be going down and the pups are eating well on their own more and more frequently. They are fat and happy. When I walk into the room they gather around me and bite (hard) on my legs, ankles and feet. I have to really control myself so I don’t kick out reflexively and send one of the sailing! Today I imagined their first time outside in the snow and got really excited. Of course that will have to wait until they are a bit older and hopefully the weather will cooperate. In the summer I’d have had them outside by now, but they are just too small and it is just too cold and so my instinct is to wait.
Read on for more photos! (more…)
Puppies everywhere
Puppies puppies everywhere! They all walk around the room now, exploring, playing and peeing. Every time I enter the room I have to laugh as they all stop and look, just like little kids you burst in on and startle. They look like they’ve been caught doing something wrong.
They are well into the solid food now and are taking more and more from me, and less from Annie. This is good as she wants less and less to do with them. Tonight, for an hour during feeding time, they had a babysitter! My friend, Maria, came by and played, fussed, and held them all. When I came down to clean up the meal mess they were all zonked out. They continue to enjoy human contact, wagging and crawling over one another to get to the people who visit them. There are going to be a lot of visitors soon. We plan to post their pictures on Petfinder next week. Look for them either by going directly to Petfinder or through the HELP website . They will be named after Santa’s eight reindeer – Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comit, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen. The brown one is Blitzen.
