SoftMaple 2004 litter

SoftMaple 2004 litter

Week Four (Days 22-28)
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PUPPIES

+ Begin to eat food
+ Begin to bark, wag tails, bite, paw, bare teeth, growl and chase
+ Use legs well
+ Tire easily
+ Depth perception starts

Day 22
September 30th

Morning pictures

Every few days I weigh the pups to make sure they are all gaining. This is very important in the first few days, but is a good idea after that to track growth. Where all the pups started out within an ounce or two of each other, now they are distinct sizes. The yellow collar girl is the smallest at just over 2 1/2 lbs. The Green collar boy is the largest at just over 3 lbs. They all feel solid and healthy.

One thing I find handy with keeping a picture puppy diary online, is I can go back through other litters and see what the pups were doing on specific days. I noticed with my 2002 litter between Jet and Seger (CH SoftMaple's O'Dark Thirty JH,SH,MH WCQ CD CGC TT HOF and CH SoftMaple's International Fling CGC) that I introduced them to puppy mash on Day 23

With my 2003 litter Frankie and Seger (CH Aberbran Bar Von Bern WC, WCX, JH X CH SoftMaple's International Fling CGC) the pups started on puppy mash on Day 22

In both those litters, at least one pup had made it out of the whelping box.
With my Ripple X Tarras litter, (SUCH Ringlets Constant Wind X CH SoftMaple's Fairway Explorer CGC) I introduced puppy mash on Day 26. Those pups weren't too keen on diving in, but then again, there were only 5 pups, so they had plenty to eat from mom. In the other two litters there were 10 and 11 pups.

How the pups look, act and gain weight all play a part in when you start to wean them. If they were crying and acting hungry, then you should start earlier. If the mom starts looking like she can't handle them, or starts getting worn down by the drain on her body, then wean earlier. KC has plenty of milk, is eating a ton of food. Right now I am putting a couple of scoops of yogurt in her food. Its a natural source of calcium, and has the live cultures to help digestion. I also put prozyme enzymes in her food. She gets as much to eat as she wants, and a constant supply of fresh water.

Day 23
October 1st

Day 24
October 2nd

The pups catch a quick meal as KC walks thrugh the box.

2:00pm, the first pup makes it out of the whelping box! Bad news is, I don't know who it was...since Mark was the one to scoop him back up and put him back in!

Day 25
October 3rd

We tried the pups on puppy mash this morning

They all catch on quick!

KC goes in and cleans up the mess!

There are a lot of commercial puppy milk replacers on the marked. There are also many homemade formulas of milk replacer for puppies.

1 x 8 oz. carton of yogurt
1 x can of evaporated milk (not low fat)
6 oz boiled cooled water
2 x egg yolks

So when you start feeding the puppies, you can use a combination of a milk replacer, mixed with rice baby cereal, or ground up puppy food.

I am feeding the pups a can of evaporated milk, yogurt, prozyme, and ground up puppy food.

Day 26
October 4

Day 27
October 5

Day 28
October 6

Future agility dog?
Blue boy walks on the pig rail

Messy morning pictures

The pups got wormed for the second time this morning. Even if the bitch is wormed prior to breeding, most puppies are born with worms, and should be treated.

Roundworm larvae will encyst in body tissue of adult bitches and activate during the last stages of pregnancy to infest puppies. So even though KC did not have worms, and the pups have not been around any other dogs, they have a good chance of having worms. Since KC cleans up after the puppies, she also must be treated.

Worming should start at 2 weeks. Worming needs to be repeated at 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks. . The first treatment kills any adult worms. The second treatment kills any new worms that may have hatched after the initial treatment. Once the puppies go to their new homes, the pups new veterinarian will take over the worming schedule. It may be necessary at this time to bring in stool samples for analysis.