We have made monumentous steps forward with the weaning. I was getting rather fed of of soaking the kibbles overnight and then having to liquidise them and it was proving rather messy on the floor of the puppy play pen.
Here's the new recipe for puppy food:
1. Soak kibbles overnight to soften them, but not lose their shape. Adding a dash of puppy milk as well as water.
2. When ready to serve, do not liquidise the kibble but add some gravy (made by adding a small amount of wet puppy food to hot water.) This has the effect of increasing the taste, adding a few small chunks of meat and also getting them used to more solid food.
Everything appeared to be going swimmingly well until we heard some rather loud windy noises coming from one of the puppies, followed by a spurt of liquid puppy pooh! The new recipe had obviously proved a step too far. The mixture must have been a bit too rich and we had several bouts of puppy diarrohea, which is not pleasant to clean up! Especially when the pups walk in it and then jump up at you leaving puppy pooh trails all down your sleeves! I'm not quite so bothered as I work from home and regularly live in my scruffs, however it didn't go down too well with my husband and his freshly laundered shirt prior to going to work in the morning. Pale pink with a hint of brown, did not go down too well!
I have now adapted the puppy recipe to dry kibbles mixed with hot water to create a gravy and then serving straight away. There is no soaking, so the puppies are having to chew their food. This is proving to be a popular choice and the puppies devoured the first batch that was prepared this way. I am now having to experiment with quantities so that I can be sure that the pups are getting the right amount of food – although you can usually tell when their hungry, due to increased noise levels! We are on our fourth sack of puppy kibbles!
The date has been set to take the pups to the vets for their first set of immunisations, so it is going to be a military task involving the transportation of 10 pups in several crates. We have already proved that our large crates are not really big enough to house 5 chunky pups comfortably. The crate would resemble a tin of sardines, rather than puppies. In order to prepare for the event and also on the request of some of our new puppy owners who have further to travel with their new pups, we are starting to take them out on short car journeys to get them used to the sensation of movement. I did this with Tilly from 8 weeks old and she is fantastic in the car and very rarely gets car sick.
At the beginning of this week, I took some advice as to how often Tilly should be with the pups. She has been spending more and more time away from them, but whenever she hears a noise she goes running to check them, which results in a cacophony of noise as the pups see her and begin crying. She starts whining because she can't get to them, (but when offered the chance to, politely declines due to the imminent mobbing that she would recieve should she decide to venture into the pen). This is all very well during the day time, but when it happens at 1am in the morning it is not quite so amusing!
The veterinary nurse that I spoke to, advised me that I should try and keep them apart, as the pups nolonger required feeding from mum. It would also help dry up Tilly's milk supply, which is so big, she could supply milk to the whole village! I should also start to wean Tilly off the puppy food that she has been eating and increase the amount of exercise that she is having. This is easier said than done, when you don't particularly want to leave the pups for prolonged periods of time. Whilst they are safe in the puppy pen, they do still manage to get their limbs caught in the bars and catch their teeth on the bars when chewing. They scream as though someone is attempting to kill them, but jump free with a look of surprise as you come running!
We have also completed the second set of worming solution. This proved interesting, as you have to give them an increased amount from last time, depending on their weights. We are now giving them 3 ml of solution via syringe instead of 1 ml as done the last time. Trying to push 3ml of liquid solution that a puupy does not want into it's mouth is a recipe for disaster and a very messy business. Usually we get covered in more of the solution than the puppy gets, as he or she violently shakes their head from side to side in an effort to rid themselves of the apparent horrible taste in their mouths. Coming home from work one night, my husband thought I'd been painting, not simply worming the pups!
We have also fitted the pups with new collars. The paper collars were proving to be too flimsy and were getting too tight for some of the pups. My husband went onto Amazon and purchased some bright webbed collars which look great on the pups and should last a while too. There seems to be plenty of growing room for them!
We look forward to our trip to the vets, which could well prove a noisy business!
Speak Your Mind