Day 3 — Eat! Please!!
MUNI, the girl seen here on the left, is gaining weight. The boy is losing weight and not staying well latched on.
The Midday Report today has to focus on getting nourishment to the boy.
The first week of their lives puppies aren’t very interesting, anyway. They eat and sleep. They crawl over mother to find a dining spot, but they don’t play, open their eyes, or generally act much more than consumers of milk. That’s ideally.
The girl, who we are tentatively calling MUNI, is doing okay. She is constantly on a nipple and sucking. She’s gained weight.
Since yesterday’s report Mother Zenith has started eating more (but not a lot), drinking some water, and peeing some. She likes cottage cheese the best, will eat a couple pieces of kibble mixed in.
Yesterday, Zenith was agitated much of the day. We believe she was in pain from the day-before surgery and the lack of pain pills available. (The universal wisdom in 2018 is to not give pain meds to nursing mothers unless it is absolutely necessary. This suggestion is endorsed by female vets, not just males on some Senate panel.)
But, today she is on the upswing. She seems to be gradually recovering from surgery.
Our third patient, however, is not following an ideal path. Metro, the boy, is lively and seemingly strong as he crawls along his mother. But, even when we lead him to a nipple, he will nurse for a very brief period of time before wandering off. He has actually lost weight in the last 24 hours. Losing weight in the first 24 hours is normal. Continued weight loss is not normal nor healthy.
We have armed ourselves with powered canine mother’s milk, pet bottles, and suitable sucking devices. Our local vet is coming over at 2:30 to show us how to get him eating from the bottles. If he doesn’t do that well, we have feeding tubes ready.
That’s all for the 2:15 report. Stay tuned!
