Browsing Archive: September, 2014
Posted by Delores Smith on Monday, September 29, 2014,
Big week for the Love Litter. They said goodbye to their sister; their living area was expanded in a big way; and they were started on softened puppyfood. That's lot of change in one week. They are loving their extra space...they are now very steady on their feet. They loved the food the second their noses dipped in to try it..a little tentative at first but all it needed was one taste! They aren't drinking as much water as I would like...they seem to be a bit wary of the big silver shi...
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Posted by Delores Smith on Friday, September 26, 2014,
This is a tough post to write....it's not the way I had envisioned for Hope. 4 weeks of nurturing around the clock and needed to make the decision today to say goodbye to Hope. She had a 4 week assessment today and she still had no eyesight. Highly likely she was born with no eyes. There was also strong suspicion that she also had hydrocephalus...with all these things against her, it was obvious she would not have quality of life. It did not make sense to keep sustaining her life with a ...
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Posted by Delores Smith on Thursday, September 25, 2014,
Almost halfway there! The Love litter is turning 4 weeks in two days.
Puppies are very receptive to me and my favorite place in the world right now is to sit in their box and let them crawl all over me...nibble at my shoelaces, pantlegs and of course fingers. What a nice litter of pups - very even tempered...playful...gentle. Little Ms Blue picks her fights and is quite feisty...growl and squeals come out of her when she's trying to hold her own with her brothers and sisters. Weight gain...
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Posted by Delores Smith on Saturday, September 20, 2014,
The journey of hope continues...our special girl Ms. Blue had a 3 week evaluation yesterday. She was a hit at the vet office. Two vets examined her...cleft lip/palette has grown some but was still deemed repairable. Neurologically she checked out perfectly....the concern is her eyes that haven't opened. The vets couldn't make a satisfactory assessment as it was hard to check the closed eyes...because she was thriving in every other way they asked me to give her another week and bring her ba...
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Posted by Delores Smith on Thursday, September 18, 2014,
What changes happen in a puppy's life with each week! A week ago puppies mainly slept, ate and pooped, not necessarily in that order! There periods of wakefulness are longer and there is definitely some playing going on...mainly trying to fit an entire mouth or jaw in another puppy's mouth...no teeth yet but they will appear in the next few days. They are also more vocal...cry when they think their mom should be feeding them. They are growing steadily and all but Ms Blue have tripled thei...
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Posted by Delores Smith on Sunday, September 14, 2014,
We're at 17 days and now the fun begins. Eyes opened a few days ago, with the exception of Ms Blue, the cleft palette girl. They are starting too...she needs a bit more time. With the eyes opening, they start reacting to things they are seeing...they look up at me in puzzlement and probably wonder what planet did I come from. They seem to be a gentle group so far...a few of them seem to play the role of protector/big brother by wrapping themselves around Ms Blue - quite tender to watch - ...
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Posted by Delores Smith on Monday, September 8, 2014,
We're at day 9 in the lives of the Love litter. In some ways it seems like a long time and in other ways I blinked and now here we are. Puppies are gaining weight steadily...some more than others...but all in all I'm happy with how things are progressing. The eyes are becoming slits that will open soon. They are sensitive to light...I take many pictures and they react to my camera flash. By Wednesday I expect the eyes will be open.
Today's weights:
Ms Fushia 926 grams; Ms Purple 890 gram...
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Posted by Delores Smith on Thursday, September 4, 2014,
It's been a quick 5 days since the birth of the Love Litter. My days are divided into 4 hour intervals...every four hours around the clock, I hand feed Hope, our cleft lip/palette girl...it's been a bit of trial and error as to how fast/how slow I should feed her..how much is enough and how much is too much. Have found the right formula/method. Syringe feeding is slow but by using it I don't get formula in her nasal cavity..she is very squirmy and impatient as I have to reload the 9mml sy...
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