Aristotle is desperate to meet his siblings. He spent part of yesterday lying on the floor outside the utility with his nose against the door, even when our Mistress was not in there. He was great with them last year, but my Mistress has told him he has to wait until they are three weeks old, particularly as he spent some time in kennels. She just wants to make sure there are no infections lurking anywhere.
There really is no room for complacency this year. Every time we have a minor celebration that Shadow’s
milk has come back, it goes again. It is playing hide and seek. For two feeds yesterday she fed them on her own. Given that they are feeding every 2 hours round the clock that means for 10 feeds they needed help. At one point we got them to 2 ¼ hour gaps between feeds, but when the milk went again it came back down to 2 hours. My Mistress is counting the days down until they are likely to be able to start lapping food so she can move them onto feeding for themselves rather than being bottle fed. That way, all 6 puppies can eat at the same time which is much quicker than having to feed them all one at a time.
They do seem to be doing well, so she is getting something right, but it is hard work and not something she would recommend having to do. Shadow seems perfectly well in herself so the whole process doesn’t seem to make any sense. Her milk was much better in the years she was on puppy food but that led to pancreatitis so maybe she needs higher protein in her diet or something. My Mistress is going to talk to the vet today.
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