The puppies are all looking pretty crusty these days and their new pictures may look like they are wet or having some serious bad hair days. Well they are. It is amazing what a couple of weeks worth of puppy mush does to the coat and how crusty they can become. I wash them with a wash cloth after each meal but it doesn't get it all out. So with some help of friends we are having a big old fashioned puppy washing session on Sunday morning.
I have my first 10 pound puppy in Vegas' litter and 6 pound puppy in Kenya's litter this morning. Man do they love their food and are packing it away. Normally I have what is called Weaner Feeders that isolates each puppy so that I can monitor how much food they are getting. But it is impossible to do this with this many puppies. So I am using the round bowls - two big bowls and two little bowls for the big puppies and the two round bowls for the big puppies. It is quite the production 4 x a day. I have to soak kibble for an hour before meal time. Then I mix up the puppy formula with water first in the blender so it is good and mixed up. With the little pups I add the kibble and mix it really good so it is a gruel. With the bigger puppies since they have bigger teeth, I add some soaked kibble to the bottom of the food bowls and then slightly mix the kibble in with the formula and pour it over the kibble in the pan. We are going through close to 18 cups of kibble a day for the puppies and lets not forget the formula. But as they are growing I will start to incorporate some other things into their meals if they allow me the time to do it.
As I am making their food, they are screaming their fool heads off, anyone driving by would seriously think I was killing a puppy the way they are hollering. I put the food back in the whelping boxes as it is easier to keep those clean and it keeps the big pups away from the little pups so they have a fair shake at eating their food. I pick up the little pups and put them back first. Then I open up one corner of the pen and call puppy puppy to see the pitter patter of little feet following me down the hall to the pen. I then pick them up put them in and within minutes it is all gone. Sometimes the little ones don't eat all of their food, so I will put the puppy that is scrambling for that last morsel of Kibble that is hidden somewhere on the bowl and let them into the other whelping box to clean up the little pups bowls.
Then it is a wash cloth in hand and carrying each puppy back to the living room as I wash their feet, belly and faces on the way. Hey who needs a gym membership, I have the Susan Parr Puppy plan going. Lifting, carrying, bending over, it is working wonders and I will say that I no longer dare to carry more than one big puppy at a time, they are just getting too big.
Today Susan and her friend Linda came to watch so I could attend my office Christmas Party, Tis the season or so everyone says. Me, I am just trying to stay upright for another day. I will save my conversation with Linda for tomorrow's blog. Enjoy the Pictures
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