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Day 12 — MUNI Naps and Zenith Has Her Stitches Removed

We blew it! The stitches from Zenith’s C-Section were supposed to be removed on Day 9 or 10, according to the discharge instructions I re-read this morning.

Ooops.  Fortunately, our SF vet, Dr. Jill Chase, changed her schedule and came by about 6. She checked Zenith out, removed the stitches, said Zenith’s weight was fine (I was worried Zenith’s picky eating were making her thin), and wasn’t worried about the probably-cottage-cheese-caused diarrhea. More importantly,  Dr. Chase marveled happily at MUNI’s size and healthy look.

Here’s MUNI modeling chunky good health in the whelping box:

Day 12 -- MUNI sleeping in the whelping box. Still no eyes!

Day 12 — MUNI sleeping in the whelping box. Still no eyes!
Click on the picture for a larger, clearer version.

MUNI gained only an ounce in the last day from 16.4 to 17.4. But, Geoffrey said that MUNI was wiggling in the scale so the needle was bouncing around. It went up to 17.9 at one point, but Geoffrey decided to record this more modest weight.

Dr. Chase did send me to Petco before she came to get wet puppy food to tempt Zenith with. Zenith has been going on and off particular food so quickly, that I bought one can of four different brands. Tonight she ate 1/2 of a small can of Hill’s Science Diet Puppy Food (chicken & something). Dr. Chase said that was plenty for a dinner!

So, I think we have to keep our alert status low. Ever vigilant, but I have cause to practice being a non-anxious presence.

By |2018-10-05T18:57:22-07:00October 5, 2018|dachshunds|0 Comments

Day 11 — Picture Perfect

There has been so much more to write about than I expected when I started chronicling our new relationship with Zenith’s puppies… now puppy.

I’d expected that most posts would be pictures, with a some comments about weights or behaviors. At least until the puppies started crawling a moving around a bit.

Today has been one of the days I expected. Not much going on on the puppy front. I have just been going into the room and looking adoringly at the girl.

Here are a couple photos from today.  As always, please click on a picture to see a larger and clearer version!

Day 11 -- Meeting a Grandparent

Day 11 — Meeting a Grandparent

Day 11 - MUNI in the Box

Day 11 – MUNI in the Box

 

By |2018-10-04T18:02:13-07:00October 4, 2018|dachshunds|0 Comments

Day 10 — Peaceful Growth

It’s nice to post predictable puppy progress. We are all happy with a few days of quiet normality!

MUNI skipped the 14 oz level and showed up in the scale at 15.38 oz this morning! Good, steady gain.

I dug out our guides and confirmed that I need to put away the flash for a while. MUNI’s eyes should be opening any time now, and a bright flash could injure a young eye.

So, please forgive the photos for a while. They’re going to be grainy (because of the fast ISO we need for low light), with a small area of focus (because of the aperture setting for the dim light), and possible have movement (because of the longer shutter speeds for the light).

Still, I think MUNI’s adorableness will come through.

Day 10 - Mother and Daugher

Day 10 – Mother and Daughter
Click on the picture to see a full-size version.

Zenith is getting her digestion under control, agreeing to eat boiled chicken and egg, but foregoing the cottage cheese. She’ll be offered rice at dinner with the chicken, too. But, who knows if that will meet with her approval.

MUNI is moving some on her own and is taking some of her naps a few inches away from mom in the box.

There are a few rose-colored glasses online sites that say the first three week’s of a puppy’s life are the easiest because the mother does all the real work. It’s nice to have a few days where these cock-eyed optimists are correct!

Day 10 - Daughter, Mother, and Human

Day 10 – Daughter, Mother, and Human
Click on the picture for a larger, clearer version.

By |2018-10-04T17:07:24-07:00October 3, 2018|dachshunds|0 Comments

Day 9 — Weighing In

MUNI is continuing to grow at a satisfyingly fast rate. Yay!

In addition to looking at her chubby, wriggling body and healthy, shiny coat, Geoffrey weighs her every morning to make sure our subjective observations match objective measures.

MUNI’s day starts with an after breakfast (or after her 8th breakfast at 8 am) weighing in.

Day 9 - Weighing In

MUNI  at her weigh in on the towels lining the bowl that’s on top of the food scale.
CLICK on the picture for a larger, clearer version!

This morning at 8:10 MUNI was 13.89 oz, up from 12.52 yesterday at 7:25. She is growing at a good clip!

MUNI’s low weight was recorded a week ago, Tuesday, September 25. That morning at 7:30 she weighed 6.77 oz.

Depending on which who you listen to, puppies are supposed to double their weight in either 10 or 14 days.  MUNI made it in 7. Puppies are also supposed to gain 10% of their weight daily for the first 10 days. She is on track by this measure, too.

We are happy with MUNI’s gusto for food and life. We hope it continues!

About the only issue we have right now is Zenith’s picky eating. It’s not that she’s not eating. Rather, she is very fussy and changes her tastes from meal to meal.

For breakfast today she ate some boiled chicken, cottage cheese, and 1/4 of a raw egg. She didn’t want the wet Science Diet food that she gobbled down for a few meals a couple days ago. She doesn’t want kibble, of course.

The cottage cheese finally gave her diarrhea around noon (as predicted by the vet), and she also spit up a small portion of her breakfast on that trip outside.

Midafternoon I thought I’d replace the missing upchucked calories by giving her more egg… and I decided to lay off the cottage cheese for a bit.

Well! She didn’t want the raw egg!  It was only after I heated it like a scrambled egg, cooled it, and brought to her in a new plate did she decide she would eat the 1/2 egg.

For dinner, she still wanted no wet Science Diet or kibble. But, she ate a whole heated scrambled egg and over 1/2 of a small boiled chicken breast.  And, raw carrots and Zuke treats are back on her approved list.

Good thing Zenith is very cute and being a very good mother to MUNI! And, let’s hope that her pickiness is the worst problem we have in the coming weeks.

Paws crossed!

By |2018-10-02T20:15:26-07:00October 2, 2018|dachshunds|0 Comments

Day 8 — MUNI is Measuring Up

I’m knocking on wood as I write this. We don’t have a life-threatening crisis in the pack at the moment. Knock, knock!

Zenith and MUNI have been comfortable spending the day together in the whelping box. Zenith will come out and greet the rest of the pack and go out back to do doggie things in the backyard (or not). She’s eaten reasonable a reasonable breakfast and dinner. She makes gruntled noises when you reach in and pet her while she’s nursing.

MUNI is doing her part, too. She’s eating, sleeping, and growing. This morning, a 1/4 day short of her one-week milestone, she weighed in at 12.51 oz. That’s nearly the goal of double her low weight of 6.77 oz last Tuesday. Maybe by 2 this afternoon she’d hit double… I hope so!

Day 8 - An Inch a Day MUNI

Day 8 – An Inch a Day MUNI
Go ahead. Click on the picture to see a bigger version.

Our local vet assured me today that if mother and daughter were peaceful, it’d be okay for me to take Paris to get a shot (for yet another UTI). The girls seemed to have no signs of neglect after being on their own for 70-or-so minutes.

MUNI also is doing small amounts of crawling in the box. Over to my stretched-out arm and back over to Mother Zenith.

Normal, happy puppy things… for a welcome change.

By |2018-10-01T18:51:31-07:00October 1, 2018|dachshunds|0 Comments
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