Well it was all going just too well. Everyone had been gaining weight and everyone was content and happy. Then the problems began. My Mistress noticed that Beethoven wasn’t himself and then as I told you he weighed a bit less yesterday. The day went downhill from there really. Shadow was being sick an hour after eating and couldn’t keep anything down which in turn meant she didn’t have a lot of milk. Some but not a lot. A mass exercise began in supplementing the puppies. Formula milk was prepared in a big batch to feed a hungry bundle of urchins and the bottles were out and ready. The smallest took a little from the bottle, but then with the larger ones my Mistress tried to get them to lap some milk from a saucer. It went well. Bossanova got the whole lapping thing immediately. One lap for him, one lap over my Mistress’s trousers. Bumble was good at lapping too and even little Boadicea was prepared to give it a go. Beethoven said he wasn’t ready and Britannia said she was too lazy, so would we kindly point a bottle into her mouth and squeeze gently. It’s a messy process feeding puppies. It’s hard work making Shadow lie down to let them try to get the milk she has got too. Shadow went to the vet and had an injection to stop her being sick and while we were there the vet checked all of Beethoven’s vital signs and he seemed ok. So now we have to be patient and try to get them back to feeding from Shadow with a little helping hand from the supplement. It’s going to be a long night for my Mistress!
My Mistress weighed them all at 8 last night, just to make sure things weren’t too bad. Bossanova was doing fine, Beethoven was a little better than in the morning as were the girls, but Bumble had dropped slightly. She has to get them to keep trying to feed from Shadow to stimulate the milk, but will try to give them all an extra meal every four hours too. So she’ll be doing that at 10pm, 2am, and 6am. She’s hoping as long as Shadow starts keeping food down and drinking plenty that by tomorrow the milk should be improving again. It’s a shame for Shadow too. She’s been enjoying the whole thing so far. It’s a pity she’s having a rough time. We’re just hoping the problems are short lived as both Shadow and my Mistress are very stressed about it all right now.
I took a photo of little Beethoven trying to get a head start on the others. That was before we realised it was a problem for all of them.
Alfie Dog with a little help from Rosemary J Kind alfie@alfiedog.me.uk
Alfie’s Diary – the Book is available at Amazon UK –https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00583ZGSA
You can find short stories to read at www.alfiedog.com
Come on “The famous Five” we are all routing for you. Hope you are feeling better Shadow – it is hard work being a Mum. You are doing a fantastic job Rosemary – Alfie is a brilliant helper. Love from us all Sheila and Mark x
Oh Alfie, please give Shadow, the pups and your mistress some extra love today. Sounds like they’ll all be a bit worn out. Hopefully, with a bit of Alfie TLC, everything will be back to normal. *wag wag wag*