02/10/2024
Day four of puppydom and everyone is thriving and gaining weight. We have been giving the four smaller ones some goats milk. Although we know they are all getting their fair share as they sleep regularly (a sign of nice full tummies).
Milly is now able to leave them for long enough to play stick for five minutes with us, which is so good for her to be able to stretch her legs and have a break. She is also eating downstairs again whereas we have sometimes been hand feeding her in the whelping bed.
We are feeding her sardines and tuna and cottage cheese and puppy kibble and goats milk. But she doesn’t like everything all the time so we have learned to put a small bit in a bowl to see if that is what she wants at that moment.
They are bundles of adorableness - teeny little pink noses and paws, little tails that sometimes stick straight up if they are eating and already wag, tiny ears that mostly are still flat against their heads but occasionally flap out, and the cutest tongues that start to go in and out if they are hungry.
And the noises! There is the shrill “I’m squished”, the angry “this is not a teat”, the insistent “feed me NOW”, the indignant “mum stop licking me, I’m clean enough” and the bleat of “my belly is full and I’m nice and warm”.
They shudder and shiver and twitch in their sleep, climb over each other with paws pushing and scrambling (survival of the fittest in action), and they are starting to travel a little using their front legs.
The maternal wards nurses have relaxed somewhat and can now sleep for multiple hours at a stretch and have learned to distinguish the noises enough to know when to leap out of bed.
We change the 4 puppy pads about three times a day and all the bed linen every two days. We often have to play “where is the poop?”, as it seems to show up on clothing and floors and walls and door handles!
As requested - videos!!!
