These puppies are now exploding in curiosity and energy! They are typically now either in full motion, or asleep; there is not a whole lot in between. The warmer weather has given the opportunity to spend hours a day playing outside. In turn, I take a couple of puppies out of the enclosed pen to explore around the yard with Maya. Exploring is something they all love doing now. They still wrestle and play almost constantly, but there aren’t many yelps heard anymore, as they’ve learned how hard is too hard to bite their litter mates. They bite and chew everything and will likely continue to for months until their puppy teeth fall out and their adult teeth are established. Their favorite chew toys are spiked plastic ball toys, and rope toys. Many of them have taken a liking to playing tug of war with rope toys. A couple of puppies have started initiating the quintessential play bow, inviting their littermates to play which looks absolutely adorable!
Nutrition: They are now getting 100% of their nutrition from kibble and milk replacer. For a long time I pulverized and then softened their food with goats milk. That was to help transition them from nursing through the weaning period with Maya, which ended a few days ago. Their chew and swallow is coordinated and mature enough now to eat whole puppy kibble which is smaller than adult kibble and has a different nutrient profile. I still give them a milk replacer to satisfy their milk fix, but that is waning too. The goal is to have them fully on dry kibble, eating 3x/day when they go to their new homes In a couple of weeks. The puppies are eating almost 2 cups of food each per day which is about 20 cups a day for the litter. Nom nom nom.
Growing: The puppies today on their 6 week birthday weigh 8- 10 1/4 pounds.
Potty training. Inside their indoor pen where their litter box is only a few steps away, the puppies have about a 90%+ success rate, which is awesome for them and for us 😂. Outdoors where they are playing in a relatively big area, it’s more like 50-70% success.
Protecting: mcrochipped, dewormed and vaccinated. Puppies were microchipped this week. Puppies and Maya were dewormed again today as a preventative measure. They will be dewormed once more right before going to their new homes, In compliance with the 2, 4, 6, & 8 week recommendations. Puppies also received NeoPar this week as a bonus to our puppy families. NeoPar is a parvovirus-only vaccine that can be given very early. Parvovirus is highly contagious and has a high mortality rate: as high as 50-90% mortality From what I’ve read online. This AKC article states that when vet care is sought early with parvovirus, the survival rate can be 68-92%. That may require hospitalizing your dog for several days. Bloody diarrhea would be the massive tip-off; many of the other symptoms would be relatively normal to see in a puppy under stress or exposed to something relatively minor. If you are one of our puppy families, please read this article! I desire you to be armed with information in making all of your decisions https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/what-every-puppy-owner-needs-to-know-about-parvo-in-puppies/
Anyways, the puppies got a bonus parvovirus vaccine this past week. If you have read the post on immunology and vaccines, I would say I kind of handed the puppies a pop gun In giving that vaccine. It’s not going to do much besides prime things up; but I’m hoping when they get their first round of vaccines right before they go home, that they will have a good first response to those.
Socialization: For the past week and a half, the puppies have gotten to meet their families and get smothered with their kisses and attention, which has been so fun to watch. These puppies are well loved already❣️ most of them are named, and it’s fun to call them by name when we are talking to them and handling them. Besides meeting their families, we‘ve additionally introduced them to babies through seniors, handicapped, & various ethnicities. Since they could walk, we’ve sought to give them new experiences each day: maybe a new toy for the litter, sometimes changes to their environment, or new surfaces to walk on or sleep on, new barriers to conquer, new textures to chew, new sounds to hear. There is so much of life for them to experience!
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