 Update on Bonnie & pups
It's been a trying last few days. Bonnie had her pups 3 days earlier than expected. They seemed fully formed but a bit premature. Some had less hair than they should have had and 4 of them were tiny. Also, Bonnie's milk was late in coming in. They were born Wed. night and by Thursday morning I started supplementing. Bonnie had some milk but not nearly enough and the pups had all dropped a little weight. This was the first time I ever had to supplement and I had 6 pups to deal with. By Friday evening, her milk had come in better and the 2 bigger ones were able to get enough milk. They've been feeding on their own since then but I'm still feeding the 4 smaller ones. They're not showing much weight gain yet but are more vigorous so I feel we've turned the corner on them. They're all strong enough now to latch on and are getting some of Mom's milk so I've been able to back off the frequency of the feedings a little. Bonnie is eating well but is very picky about what she eats. She'll only eat canned food, some meat and her whelping pudding. She was picky the whole last month of her pregnancy and I had a hard time getting enough food in her. I've scheduled an appointment for tomorrow to get the pups tails and dew claws done. I usually get it done on day 3 but waited this time for the pups to get stronger. Hopefully, we're over the hump with these babies. They're so tiny and helpless but, by the grace of God, they're hanging in there. I haven't relaxed about it all yet but now feel they may all make it. For a while, I wasn't so sure but every day (actually every hour) that passes makes me feel a little better about them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes well with the tail docking tomorrow. |