Puppy Diary continued - Page 2
A short video of Lily with the new puppies
12th March, 2008
Well I cant believe the first week has gone by already. The puppies are moving aound much more. They still have their eyes closed and they look like little seals when they move about in the welping box. Their dark pigment is very pronounced now. They seem to have got themselves into a routine with their feeding and some of the time after they have been fed, and she has given them a wash, Lily comes to find us and is now happy to leave them for short spells. She even lets Zak have a look at them at a distance. I dont think he dare get too close or he will get one of her glares!!
Each puppy has now doubled its birthweight. One is bigger than all the rest, he was the first to be born and we have nicknamed him 'Buster'. All the family can pick him out at a glance. He is almost but not quite l00g bigger than his smallest brother.
Their next big milestone will be when their eyes open, then the fun starts.
I
'Buster'
16th March, 2008
The puppies are now 12 days old and moving around a lot more. They are getting stronger and are more active, they are standing on their legs now and sometimes almost walking, a little bit wobbly though. They still have their eyes shut but some of them are already moving away from the bed when they need the toilet. They are still feeding several times a day, but Lily is able to feed and clean them and spend some time away from them. Zak sometimes ventures in the welping box to have a look and Lily does not object. If I go out I still shut Zak in another room, not taking any chances just yet. I have put coloured collars on the puppies today so that I can be sure of which one is which. Their weights range from 491g to 558g. They each gain on average between 20g and 40g each day.
17th March, 2008
Zak was a naughty boy last night, he went in the welping box and cocked his leg. I am still sleeping next to the box and there was me at 2.00am changing the newspaper and disinfecting the wood. This morning I found one of his old toys in there. I dont know quite what that means in doggy language, anyone with any ideas, please let me know!!
Now that we have colour coded the puppies we have given them all nicknames while they are with us. Buster of course, then there's Tiny Tot or TT for short, Cheeky, Tinker and Paws. All but one of the puppies eyes opened today. They seem to have their own personalities now instantly.
Lily relaxing with her babies
Lily asleep with the puppies at the weekend just before I put their coloured collars on.
Zaki relaxing with his new ball
'Checking out' the new baby
Zak on the right having a look at one of the pups under the watchful eye of Lily.
"Being a Mum to five is so tiring"
Lily climbed in Zaks bed
'Snoozing'
18th March, 2008
One of Lily and Zak's little girls.
'What a life'
All five together, a quiet time.
19th March, 2008
Eyes open at last, what a sweetie!!
A short video of the puppies on 19th March, 2008
Aged 2 weeks 1 day old
21st March, 2008
Puppies now aged two weeks and three days old. Its been quite an eventful and worrying week. Zak caught a cough. I am not sure how as both dogs have been confined to barracks only going into the garden although Zak escaped when getting into the car on one occasion and took himself for a walk. Consequently he had a bath when I managed to track him down as he had rolled in something horrible and smelly also he goes to obedience classes once a week. When he gets home he is disinfected before he goes near Lily but anyhow he ended up with a cough. Subsequently Lily caught the cough and then one of the puppies developed the snuffles on Thursday. Lily and Zak have had antibiotics and Zak has had benylin cough syrup for children (childs dose on the advice of the vet - apparently you should never give any other cough syrup to dogs) thankfully Zak is now better and Lily seems to be on the mend. The medication does go through the milk to the puppies and so far the little pup is holding his own. Feeding is ok, weight gain is ok and he is still doing everything he should be. I have been keeping an extra special eye on him and am in contact with the vet regularly.
Have you heard the saying "Feed a Cold and Starve a Fever", well Lily is definitely feeding hers, she is eating like a horse. She has about six small meals a day at the moment. She starts off in the morning with chicken, vegetables, pasta and rice, then about two hours after this she has some cereals made with diluted puppy milk and a teaspoon of natural yoghurt, for lunch she has some boiled fish and small bite mixer, her afternoon snack is usually something like half a scrambled egg with a teaspoon of cottage cheese and then she has minced beef, rice, pasta and vegetables for dinner. She also has a supply of puppy biscuit available all the time to snack on if she is hungry after all this. I also add some supplements to one of her meals to ensure she gets all the nutrients and calcium for herself and the puppies. During the day she has diluted puppy milk and water to drink. Zak thinks its wonderful, he hoovers round after her and finishes off any leavings. We are going to have to be careful and watch he doesn't get too fat, I dont want him turning into a Great Dane. Not that I have anything against Great Danes they are lovely dogs, I just prefer my Westies!!
22nd March, 2008
Well the puppies are now on the move. When its feeding time they are like hooligans. They venture out and about on their own within their welping box and explore. They do all their wees and poos on the paper now. Lily still cleans up after them, we call this "Doing her Housework". The little one with the snuffles is still a little bit snuffly today but so far he is doing ok. I have put some toys in their box for them to explore and they nose the balls around and fight with each other. They are walking now not crawling but still a bit wobbly and fall over often. They have now all tripled their birthweight. They all had their three day course of puppy wormer at two weeks and didn't like it one bit.
"Bundle"
25th March, 2008
Well, where do I start, the last few days have disappeared in a whirl. The second puppy became unwell on Saturday night and was so poorly that I stayed up all night with her. She was very feverish all night long, shivering and lethargic with a snotty nose and a cough. She would not feed at all from Lily, so I supplemented her feeding with puppy formula milk every two hours using a 1ml syringe. I started off with just a few drops on her tongue until she got used to it and then by the early hours of the morning she was taking about 3ml/4ml at each feed. She was very snuffly and I tried to keep her nose clear by putting a small amount of vicks vapour rub on a tissue and pinning it to my shoulder. This did make her breathing easier and so occasionally I also put a small amount of vicks into boiling water for her to inhale and this helped keep her nose clear as well. It was a long night.
I rang the emergency vet at 6.45am and took all the dogs down to the animal hospital for 8.30am. It was snowing hard all the way there and did someone say Sunday was Easter Day. It sure didn't feel like it to me! The vet checked the puppies over, the little girl had been really poorly overnight her weight had dropped but she had managed to have a feed from Lily and was now improving. I came away with more antibiotics for Lily and antibiotic drops for the two pups, the vet did say be prepared for them all to catch it and the prescription included enough drops just in case the others also became ill. For this I was grateful as by Easter Monday, two more had caught the lergy and they now needed the medication as well. This left one pup who seemed to have escaped but by today, Tuesday he too is snuffly and coughing. On the positive side, Lily is now fully recovered and the first two are now on the mend, their feeding is back to normal and they are beginning to start playing again. They have both gained loads of weight today too.
I am now in the middle of my fourth week off work and so for anyone out there contemplating breeding their dog and having puppies in the near future, this message is for you. 'Be prepared for the unexpected and make sure you have a very understanding boss and a healthy bank balance.
26th March, 2008
Today is a new day and everything seems a little brighter. Once again, the little 'munchkins' are all feeding from Lily by themselves and even lapping a few drops of milk from a puppy bowl. This will be the first stages of their weaning. They have all put on some weight since yesterday so that is promising news. One thing I cant quite believe is how they have paper trained themselves so quickly. Even when they were really poorly they did all their 'wees and poos' on the paper and not in their bed.
29th March,2008
All the puppies are now better at last. Antibiotics finished and no more coughing, snuffling, wheezing and sneezing. They are all feeding well and have had their first taste of baby rice and puppy milk this week. Lily still feeds them regularly and her appetite is still really good. They are going much longer between feeds and there are no more night time feeds for poor old Lily. As soon as they hear us get up in the morning they are all scrabbling around for breakfast. They seem to have a wakeful hour where they feed get washed by Lil then have a play. Then its all back to sleep for another couple of hours. Then the whole regime starts all over again.
They are really cheeky now and are beginning to develop their own personalities. One is quite vocal often if you hear them making a noise, you can guarantee he is instigating it. Another little boy is very soppy and loves a cuddly, often going to sleep in your arms. One little girl is very curious and is always the first to explore any new toys. Lily often tells her off because she has a habit of trying to paw Lily's nose and Lil's not too keen, especially in the morning, she really doesn't do mornings our Lily.
Feeding Time at 'Lil's cafe'
The smallest of the girls is really sweet and quiet, quite shy and always in the background. The last boy is a piggy, this is Buster, he's not the heaviest now but he loves his food, dont you always get a piggy. He reminds me of Zak when he was tiny.
When they are sleeping they are moving and twitching all the time, They also make little barking noises and have started to growl. None of them have any teeth yet, I think that's the next thing to start looking out for.
All tucking into Baby Rice and puppy milk for breakfast
