Puppy Play Pen

Tomorrow is the day the puppies turn three weeks! Reba is doing much better and I'm only feeding the pups around three times a day to help her (and them) out. They had become rather adept at escaping from their whelping bed to chase Reba down for food this week that I had to get creative and develop a new pen. Ideally, the pups would have been moved outside this weekend but with daytime temperatures hovering around 13 degrees Celsius, and night time temps hitting the freezing mark, the pups remain inside until developmentally they are able to regulate their internal temperatures.

The picture is of the "final" modifications I made to their pen. I'm using a tall dog play pen, and have attached two panels from a wire shelving unit. This enables Reba to hop in and out to feed and clean but keeps the pups contained. I had been trying to get the pups to differentiate between potty and sleep areas with little success. So I thought I'd move a crate in with the hope it creates a clear difference of space for the pups. On the floor I have puppy pee pads (hate the concept but ran out of newspaper), part of which are covered by my foamy bath mats.

I also hate being able to see the pee mess. The obsessive compulsive parts of me want to clean it immediately - even though I know to encourage peeing in a specific area you're supposed to leave it, and keep the sleep area clean. The pen still gets a major clean in the morning and before bed. But I may be moving that to just in the morning - If, and big if - the pups keep the crate area clean. We'll see how it goes. This theory is supposed to speed up house training and crate training. (According to Cesar.)

It amazes me how quickly they learn. The crates been in there for about five hours and they're already starting to sleep in it. It helps that Reba loves the crate and feeds in there. On my list of things to do is to buy a larger crate to help Reba spread out when it's meal time.

Thank God for Good Family

I am blessed with my family and the way they are willing to support me emotionally and with time when it comes to my animal obsession.  Wednesday night the puppies were very loud.  I chalked it up to Reba not wanting to nurse (she had an ouchy on one of her teats).  Thursday I came home to chaos.  

Reba was limping and had one massive teat (or boob as I've been calling them).  Walking through the door and straight to the phone I immediately called the vet.  Of course at this point in time it was 5:30 meaning we were wracking up ANOTHER emergency vet call.  Sigh.  Sam asked us to meet her at the clinic.  Where she was kind enough to confirm my fear.  Mastitis had struck!  Mastitis is basically an infection in a teat.  While not overly severe it is extremely painful for the dog and can progress into the potentially fatal milk fever if left untreated.  My poor Reba received shots of pain killers, anti-inflammatory, and antibiotics.  Because she is nursing we had to take great care to ensure everything she received was safe for the puppies.  Not that it mattered because she was in so much pain she wasn't expressing any milk.

Armed with antibiotics, probiotics, pain meds and milk replacer we headed home.  And I turned into Not The Mommy.  Mixing the milk replacer I sat with a pup on my lap and fed them.  Poor little farts were hungry!  I fed at 10:30, 1:30 and again at 3:30 all before I got up for work (and feeding again) at 6:00.  My father stepped up to the plate while I was up at work.  Carefully he measured and mixed and made sure everyone was safe and fed.  When I returned home I found a much happier Reba and content pups.  

It's going to be a battle but these pups will be cared for.  Reba is feeding more but still not enough to keep them satisfied.  At three weeks we have one week of milk before we can start working at moving them onto food.  To help stretch the milk we had been mixing some Cream of Wheat porridge in which they seem to like.  I also inadvertently discovered just how sharp their little teeth are when one latched onto a finger.  I learned at G & E Pharmacy (vet/animal superstore) when I was picking up more milk replacer that I can feed baby rice porridge and the pups will have less chances of upset tummy because it's easy to digest.

So far all my babies are healthy.  And I plan to keep it that way!  ...I just may be a wee bit sleep deprived while I do it...

The Poop Mat

Louise, the puppies sire's owner had suggested using foamy bath mats in the whelping bed.  She said they helped keep the puppies clean.  

She was right.  However, with growth comes poop - and lot's of it!  The puppies are starting to defecate on their own, even doing a crab walk squat.  While a lovely developmental milestone it means that there is poop everywhere.  Rather than a localized spot that is easy for Reba to clean up, there is poop spread from one end of the bed to the other.  As the pups grow I'll plan to have a toilet area and a sleep area in their pen.  But we're not there yet.

Where we are is me having a battle to keep things clean.  Every second day I take the mats out, lay down extra thick newspaper, and spray the mats off.  I follow this with a wash using an antibacterial dish soap and then hang the mats out to dry.  

I'm sure I'll soon lose the battle but I plan to keep trying!

PUPPIES: Here, There, Everywhere!!

Here are the first pictures of Reba's puppies.  They are devilishly difficult to take pictures of - but I promise better pics will be coming soon.  

Pups were born August 15, 2010.  The final count - Seven!  That's three more than I thought we'd have based on the vet check/x-ray.

Puppy 1 - born about 11:30 am, Female.  Weighing 323g. 

Puppy Two - born 15 minutes later.  Female. 290 g.

Puppy three - born 15 minutes later. Male. 340 g.

Puppy Four - another 15 minutes later - Female. 304 g.

Puppy Five - born 1.5 hours later, Female, 238 g.

Puppy Six - born 30 minutes later, Male. 330 g.

Puppy Seven - a surprising final addition - we didn't actually find him until morning but figure he was born at about 10:00 pm.  She seemed more restless and there was some fresh blood at that time.  And Male.  (On the left.)  And he's the biggest of them all at 407 g.

Reba's Nest

We're approaching Reba's due date which means it's time for Reba to bond with her new house.  I've created a whelping crate using a plastic swimming pool, newspaper lining, and for now an old quilt and towels.  Using a portable run fence she now has an extra large "crate" to live in.

Once we reach her whelping day, (I'll know by taking her temperature daily, when it drops she'll whelp within 24 hours.) I'll pull out the blankets and towels to prevent any accidental suffocation of pups.

As she whelps I'll add in layers of fresh newspaper.  When she's finished I'll pull all the newspaper out.  Put in a fresh layer and top it off with a foamy bath mat (the kind that keeps you from slipping in the bathtub).  The bath mat will help keep the puppies clean and will be easy to rinse any waste material off, helping keep their area clean. 

Reba seems pleased with her new space which is good as she'll be spending nights in there until she whelps.  (She still has run of the lower level of the house and outside during the day.)