September 23, 2012

               The puppies are making Tribble noises now and at least one of them was doing something remarkably akin to barking.  Most of the time,  they sound like cats and kittens so maybe that is why I have that nightmare every time we are having puppies.

               I think Doodlebug might be spoiled.  I have been feeding her in the puppy pool while she nurses the puppies.  She  reclines for the most part (occasionally she sits up to let them nurse now), I spread a cloth over her front legs (so that they aren’t covered in food since she isn’t having daily baths) and feed her with a spoon from the bowl (I hold the food on the spoon, she eats it).  I’ve been doing this because so much of her time is spent nursing the puppies and it seemed reasonable.  Plus, she ate well the whole pregnancy with the exception of the day she went into labor.  (So many people have to resort to special food to entice pregnant bitches to eat, I was happy for every day she happily scarfed down her raw food.)

               Yesterday, I noticed she was out of the pool so I went in to prepare her another meal/snack (she eats so many times a day, I don’t even have names for them anymore.)   She came to see what I was doing and then got in with the puppies.  I fed her.  She did it again at midnight snack time.  Since she is leaving the pool a little more, I left dish of food out in case she got hungry in the night.  (I’ve been feeding her in the night as well, she’s making a lot of milk you know.)  I was actually sleeping all night in my bed, the MSU was on duty.  She didn’t eat ANY of it.  I came down about 8 am and she hadn’t touched it.  Very soon thereafter, though, she proceeded to puke up yellow bile – the sign of a dog that needs to eat. I get her a bowl of dog food soaked in goat milk and added some yogurt and she didn’t want to eat that.  (We actually call this feeding “good morning don’t throw up” because they need a cookie or something before it’s time for real breakfast)I primed the pump (put some food in her mouth for a few seconds.  They usually spit it out and then start eating.  I have no idea why but they all do.) She ate a little yogurt.  I finally had to let Jack stand nearby to get her to eat some (competition eating is always good, too.)  She didn’t eat all of it but enough that I wasn’t worried.

               Real breakfast time rolls around.  I go out to prepare bites, Jack and Jill come to supervise (I rarely prepare a meal without supervision, I might do something incorrectly) and MamaBug gets in the pool.  She was served breakfast in bed again!  I don’t know if I am going to have to get up in the middle of the night to serve her or if I just need to leave out something better than kibble.

               Puppy yoga went well but several of the puppies (eyes still closed) are mobile enough to walk/crawl off of the cool damp cloth.  By the time I get to the last couple of puppies, Sammie feels that she needs to supervise closely and I have to keep her from licking the puppy while we are doing their exercises.

               I hope this morning isn’t an indication of the weather we are going to have this fall.  It was cold.  The puppies won’t get to swim in the pond if it isn’t warmer than this.  They can swim in the pool but it’s not as easy to have a good experience because they have to come out the steps.  The pond is more gradual so they can do it without as much intervention.

               Dog Cindi is going to puppysit  tomorrow while I go get my next set of Botox for migraine injections.  Maybe she’ll write a guest post…