Since the puppies were born, the last two weeks have seemed an age! Sleep deprived is an understatement, but the fun of watching the puppies has been immense. We have watched them grow from small rat-like animals into cute puppies that can't quite sit up yet, and can't quite manage to stumble all the way across the whelping pen without tumbling over. They are now beginning to grow into their faces, and less resemble a "bulldog chewing a wasp" and more resemble a cute puppy-like face. They have opened their eyes (at Day 14) and now stare at you with sleepy looking eyes most of the time.
We have also completed the first toe nail cutting exercise! That was an experience! This will have to be done again very shortly, as their toenails are razor sharp and would do some serious damage to the skin on Tilly's underbelly if they were left without trimming.
Another drama underfolded earlier in the week, when Tilly's face suddenly started to swell and she came up in all sorts of lumps and bumps around her muzzle. It turned out, she had been stung, either by nettles or otherwise and had suffered a bit of a reaction. The vet was not overly concerned about the swelIing, as it had already started to reduce in size within an hour of it happening, but I took the opportunity whilst there, to get the worming solution necessary for both the pups and Tilly. It was also a good chance for the vet to give Tilly a check over.
It turned out that the worming solution had to be given by mouth, and since they were still feeding from mum, we needed to use a syringe to administer it! To complicate things further, in order to give them correct dosage, we needed to weigh the puppies and give them the correct proportion of worming solution for their weight.
One of our neighbours rigged up a brilliant weighing machine, using a luggage weighing device and a handy storage box, and we were able to easily weigh the pups, tag them and then administer the worming solution. All this was done without any fuss on behalf of the pups. I think they are starting to get used to being handled. The toe nail cutting was a bit traumatic for them, but the worming was a breeze, which is just as well, since we need to do it again in three weeks time.
Here's a picture of one of the pups, looking less than impressed with worming solution all over it's chops!
The benefit of having tagged the pups, is that we can now identify them and notice particular characteristics. For example, one of the bitches is so laid back, she is almost horizontal. I think she thought she was at the manicurist when her nails were being cut, she was not bothered in the slightest! I don't think she even woke up when we weighed her. That said, she is not backward about feeding, she is by far the greediest pup but very content once fed…. It's going to be interesting watching them as we move into the third week. We are going to start the process of weaning them, and already have ten little bowls lined up for them to use, once they are able to take milk from a bowl rather than from mum.
Here's a picture of our laid back girl pup….
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