August 18,
2005: Everyone has teeth and we've started the weaning process.
Currently the puppies nurse and then we offer a mixture of goat milk/egg
yolk/cooked hamburger/bonemeal. It's still very soupy, but we'll be
increasing the hamburger over the next few days to make it more like a paste.
Yummy, huh??? You all know that my preference is raw food, but because most
of these puppies won't be going to raw feeding homes, I'm going to wean them
onto kibble (probably California Natural for it's one protein and one grain
formula plus, it's widely available across the country). We'll be adding
fresh foods as we go along, all according to the balanced puppy diet
formulated by Monica Segal. This will be
one less transition for them when they go home - if you choose to feed kibble,
they'll already be used to it. If you choose home cooked or raw, there won't
be much of a transition since the puppies will have had both added to their
kibble meals. You all also know that I'm a nut on making sure the dog is
getting all nutrient/mineral requirements met - this is where Monica comes in
for me. Since kibble is balanced nutrient wise, she will tell us what we can
add and in what amounts so as not to throw off the nutrient/vitamin/mineral
values for a growing puppy.
The puppies have learned to lap water from a pan, although they prefer to
play in it instead of drinking it. Must be Flatcoats.......
They've all started to play with each other - occasionally growling and
barking while playing. Very cute! We've started to let them spend time out
of the whelping box in a big ex pen set up around the box. There's an area
with newspapers and many of them go to the papers when they have to "go" I'll
see if I can have Les re-aim the puppy cam so that the "playpen" area is
visible - I'm sure you've all seen enough of them sleeping in the box! Of
course the real trick is convincing them that sleeping in the box is still a
good idea - WHY? they say, when there's a whole 'nother world out there!!
We've had to put a foam pad outside the entrance/exit area of the box as
they 're all acrobats and seem to think it's fun to tumble head first out of
the box when they hear anyone come into the room! I figure they're crazy
enough ;-)) - no sense to let them knock themselves crazier!!! <VBG>
