Yawning for the good old days...

Since the puppies have grown up a bit more, they don't need to be fed lactol anymore. I donated the rest of the tub to the shelter a few minutes away, as it goes off after a little while. It might as well be used by some 'in need' baby animals. Without the 4 slip up hours of feeding a day, it's been boring and uneventful. Annie has a huge personality, already yapping (for no reason!) and running around- yes, running around. Apollo is the smallest, but also the loudest. Little Alfie Moon is not so little anymore, being the biggest out of all of them. From behind he looks like a Newfoundland. Perhaps that could be the mix. Who knows? They're all one solid base colour with tan markings now. I never posted that picture of Angelus (UTB Aero) and his white patch. I'll have to upload it to my computer. Pictures coming soon.

Re: re: Names galore!

Aero – Black – male – White & Red

Alfie Moon – Brown – male – Green

Annie – Black – female – Pink & White

Angelus – Brown – male – Black

Apollo – Black – male - Black

Angel – Black – female - Pink

Ajax – Black – male – White & Black

Axel – Black – male - Green

Axel name change. Uncle didn't like the idea of it being spelt with an L E. He didn't realise that it was part of a car. =/ Pfft.

Today, I went out and bought some cat collars. After waking up and finding 8 little ribbons chewed up in the pen, I decided to just go ahead with some actual collars. Because there is are two Black and tan pups, one Brown and Tan and one Brown, white and Tan, I only needed 6 collar colours.

Annie started eating today. From Lactol baby animal formula, to Premium Supermeat from Tesco's.
Protein, 7.0%, Moisture, 82.0%, Oils and fats are 6.3% which is good, Ash is 2.4%, Fibre 0.2%. It took me ages to choose between Supermeat and Standard. I wasn't sure if I wanted more protein, but it was fine. Plus, Vitamin A 1000iu/kg, Vitamin D3 100iu.kg and Vitamin E 10mg/kg was better than Vitamin A 100iu/kg and Vitamin  D3 100iu/kg.  Ajax was just like original Jack. Dim. I put him near the food, put some food in his mouth, and he fell face first into the 3mm. tub of food. xD Before I gave him food, he was sitting, staring at the box walls as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. =P

Annie does not like Uncle. Everytime she sees him, she starts screaming really loudly. XD Pictures coming soon.

Re: Names galore!

Aero – Black – male - Red

Alfie Moon – Brown – male – Light blue

Annie – Black – female – Dark green

Angelus – Brown – male – Light Green

Apollo – Black – male - Yellow

Angel – Black – female - Orange

Ajax – Black – male – Dark Blue

Axle – Black – male - Silver

Phew. Just finished re-ribboning them. Pictures will be coming tomorrow...Obviously...So, Rebecca and Charlotte (and Tom, obviously) you can stop begging me for recent pictures. I'll send them to you via e-mail, as well. So blah. ^_^

Pic Heavy - slow working computers, BEWARE! (that's for you, Rebecca ^_^)

Alfie Moon and his Powder Sky Blue collar, made from 6 inches of ribbon, cut down to size. He's being held by my cousin. :] Taken 08-Nov-'10

This is Angelus, with his Forest Green ribbon, cut from 6in., again, my cousin is the one who owns the hands. On Angelus, you can just see the remaining white on the opposite side. I'll be posting a few pictures of his left side later on.

 Angel and her Red Rose Red ribbon, cut from 6in. She and Annie are fiesty ones, and two people (Cousin and mother) needed to hold them still. O_O But how adorable is she? ;-)

Annie and her Tangerine Orange ribbon, but from 6in. Excuse the way she was being held; everytime her paws touched land, she'd try to run away. :-P

Ajax and his Royal Blue ribbon, cut from 6in. Yes, he is trying to gum us to death!

Apollo and his Sunny Lime Yellow ribbon, cut from 6in.

 This would be Axle and his Frost Silver ribbon, cut from 12in. Can't see the ribbon, can you? That would be because my mum was smart enough to put her hand in the way. Axle was trying to gum her to death. I still blame her. xD

Another picture of Axle, where you can see his collar, just not very well because of the blur. I wasn't on the camera, note how I'm holding Axle. :/

This would be Aero and his Tea Tree Leaf Green ribbon, cut from 12in.

All the Gremlins!

They were tired out after having their collars fitted. It took a while with most of them, as I couldn't stop doing slip-knots. O_O I almost choked a few...heheheh.

Now, the ribbon colour may change as Ladybug keeps taking them off! >:[ I'll try to keep it all in order - blue on Ajax, yellow of Apollo - but I tend to get confused. ^_^

The names of the colours the ribbons are, are not made up! I was given a list of the colours when I purchased them last week. Basically, green, yellow, blue, silver, orange and red. That's all you have to remember. ;-)

Just a tribute to lil' Ayer, seeing as I saw these pictures when I uploaded this lot.

Names galore!

Aero – Black – male

Alfie Moon – Brown – male

Annie – Black – female

Angelus – Brown – male

Apollo – Black – male

Angel – Black - female

Ajax – Black – male

Axle – Black - male

They are now named! Alfie Moon has always been named, Angelus and Angel were named by my sister, Ajax was named in memory of a friends dog (Jack), Apollo, named after one of the Doberman in a TV series, Annie, named after my aunt's dog, Aero, named for his light colour, weight, and, well, I want to name a puppy from the next litter of puppies I meet Bubbles. B) And of course Axle. Just because! I do believe these are mostly Doberman or Rottweiler. The light markings have all but left the puppies' faces now, so they resemble a Doberman. They're obviously mixes, as Ladybug is a mongrel herself.

I'll be uploading pictures of the Gremlins later on.

And then there were 8

There's a reason I've been lagging with posts. Little Ayer passed away. Now, one of the un-named puppies has started showing the same signs Ayer showed just before dying. Ayer vomited up milk, and so is said un-named puppy. Hopefully, because no name is larger, healthier and still happy to drink, he'll be OK, but because my uncle is refusing to pay for vet treatment for the mother or litter, there's not much else to do but wait. I'm hoping to return home sometime this week, but I'm not sure what will be happening with the puppies. I have, and excuse my for sounding poofy, 'mixed feelings' about them being re-homed. Do I want to have a say in their new homes? Do I want to choose their new homes? Do I just want to let my uncle do all the work? Who knows. It's just after 4AM, so perhaps I'll have a better idea in the morning.

I'll keep this updated for Deb, Tom and Samuel back home.

Mission Accomplished...

Hallelujah. Done.

Ayer is now weighing 13 ounces, and is eating on her own, though I still have to take the other 7 puppies out (leaving Ayer nd Alfie Moon) for 2.30hr. every 4 hours, just to make sure those two are getting enough milk. Little Apollo, who's not so little anymore, has his eyes open! Adorable. B)

Adios, Icecream van

Vanilla icecream is officially off the menu. Lactol is not a nice smell. I used to be able to stomach vanilla -- not anymore! Ayer isn't keen on it either. Last night I was able to put her back with Lady. I had to take out the other 7 puppies - I left Alfie Moon with Lady and Ayer - though; or else Ayer couldn't fight her way in. But, she drank and drank and drank. Three hours later and the box in the corner of the whelping box started screaming, so I had to take Ayer out and bottle feed her again, while the other Gremlins devoured as much as they could. She hasn't put on any weight yet, but she's drinking a lot, and she looks a lot better.

They're officially 10 days old. It's been a fun ten days...Yawn.

CRISES, CRISES, CRISES!

This morning at 10AM I went upstairs to get a jumper on. I was up there for about 30-50 seconds. When I came down, Lady had chewed the Lactol feeding bottle! O_O She;s taken it off of the kitchen counter top, eaten the lid of it and completely wrecked the bottle bladder. :{ It was panic this morning. Drove into town, checked in four pet shops, two closed pet shops, Wilkinson's, and then, finally, Tesco's. I found an exact replicate of the first bottle. I'll have to get a picture of the chewed one. It's amazing Lady could chew that quickly. I can't believe she got on the side for it. It wasn't exactly a low side. It was a cooking counter top, the same height as an electric cooker top. Ayer seems so much happier. I gave her 7ml. of milk when I finally got a new bottle, and when she point-blank refused it, I made up a new water bottle and blanket for her to sleep in. She's currently on my lap, in her blanket, snoozing with her water bottle. Lady isn't happy. I don't think she appreciated the yelling and nose-shoving when I saw she'd chewed it.
"You bad girl!!" *Shoves nose on side* "What is this?!!" *Shakes nose*
"You are a bad girl! Get in with your puppies, you bad girl!!!"

B) Ii'm fairly certain she keeps giving me the evils from the kitchen.

Ayer and the bottle

Yes, you are seeing correctly! Ayer is drinking from the bottle. She's actually enjoying it now. Well, right now she's sleeping -- not drinking...But you get the message. It only took me a day and a half to get her enjoying the bottle. She's now perfectly fine, and I don't need to use The Way on her anymore. Considering my lovely father was seriously talking about "just donking her and binning her" this morning (or rather, this afternoon) I've very happy, proud and smug that she's brighter, warmer and accepting the gross smelling milk. Although I wasn't quick enough with Ascot, I have a feeling little Ayer is going to be A-OK. B) She's whinging and moving about a lot, which is a really good sign, and she's also generating her own heat, so it's incredibly good. My dad is certain that she's going to die. I, however, believe there is a 50/50 chance. And that makes me beam. My first litter of puppies (as in, the first litter I've cared for from day 1) didn't go so well...But now it's getting better! I have this thing, where I flap my hands around as if I'm shaking off water. I do it when I'm really excited for something, or really happy. I keep doing it. B) Still 12 ounces. Her weight shot up yesterday, but it's at a stand still today. I've decided to get a picture of each puppies paws before they die...What I mean is, if the weigh rockets south, I'll get a picture of his/her paw and label it, just in case s/he dies. :-) Not that I'm praying for them to die! 9 is a handful, but when they're 6-10 weeks old, they'll be adorable, and then they'll go to new homes and be adorable forever. B)

I'll be posting some information on what I've done with Ayer to keep her alive these passed few days, with some pictures, just to clear up any confusion. Because I don't want to halt the feeding of any of the other puppies, there won't be much information on them unless they begin to loose weight -- if this happens, I'll be bottle feeding them, just like Ayer. But until then, it's just Ayer and Aero -- mainly Ayer. Aero's 16 ounces, Ayer's 12. It's not hard to see who needs more attention!

Ayer, Air, Prayer

Annie has been renamed to Ayer, pronounced Air- short for Prayer. Annie seemed to suit her less and less, and Prayer describes her perfectly. Seeing as her name had to begin with A, I simply shortened it.

Connection, perhaps?

Funny. Exercise eases your hunger. As does feeding something else. Ever since I emerged from my pit at 2PM, I've been feeding, caring for and keeping Annie warm. I've had nothing to eat or drink all day. I've just had a glass of water now, as I forget to drink quite a lot, but my dad's talking about Pizza for dinner, and I just realised how not hungry I am. There must be a connection between caring for something, and hunger.

Anyway, Annie is now accepting the Lactol without much protest. I'm meant to be going down to my nan's soon, I'm worried about how well the puppies will be?...Not even sure when we're going, but I can still panic, lol.

From 35ml. to 30ml in an hour and a half. Not bad, eh? Well, I'm happy. B)

Alfie Moon and Annie

Just fed Alfie Moon and Annie a quarter of an ounce of Lactol baby animal formula each. In the space of five minutes, they both drank the same amount. Annie is getting better, and Alfie is back with Lady. Here's a picture of Annie, for all those who haven't seen her.

Coke bottles, baby bottles and milk

Yes, you read correctly.

I'm sitting at my laptop, with a partially squished Coca Cola bottle, filled with 2lb. of boiling water. It's wrapped in a cut apart dog bed covering to stop Annie, the now 12oz puppy, from burning herself. And there is A LOT of milk. She drank 10oz. of Lactol baby animal formula this morning, but most of it went on the blanket. The blanket being my fleece jumper. I was finally smart enough to change the then-blanket into an actual blanket, so that I wouldn't ruin the remaining try spots on my jumper. Not that I'm wearing it before it's washed.

I'm sad to say that Annie seems to be doing worse. Lady keeps pushing her away, and I've had to ask my mum to bring one of my dogs down so that Annie will be cleaned properly. A damp wash cloth and warm tea-towel only goes so far. Yesterday, Lady was being a good 'mumma dog' and cleaning Annie whenever I put her back, but it didn't last. *Sigh* Thankfully Marco is a very interested dog. He wasn't at all aggressive toward the puppy, thankfully, and, although he was on a lead and being watched the entire time, actually snuggled up to Annie and kept her warm while I fixed up her "Hot coke bottle".

The Way didn't last long, either. Instead of sucking on my finger, she's now just resting it in her mouth, so I've had to just shove the bottle in there and let the milk trickle out slowly, or else she'll choke. **Sigh** The good thing is, after an hour of bottle feeding (I managed to empty a 3oz bottle in that hour- she drank it all!) Annie actually went back with lady and started drinking properly. It didn't last even five minutes, but she was getting more milk while I was re-filling her hot coke bottle.

Marco has now headed home with mum, and I've decided that I won't be leaving anyone down to keep an eye on the puppies at night anymore. I know that my dad probably did all he could to keep Annie fed and warm, but I'd rather look after the puppies at night. Annie started getting better, and then dad stayed down, and she went poof. Not that I'm blaming. I'm actually grateful for the lie in. I stayed in bed until 2PM. My cousin, Samuel, woke me. It was amusing. A series of "F*ck off"s and half-asleep punches took place before I decided to get up.

For the passed 9 days, my life has revolved around the 8 day old puppies. I went down when Lady was whelping, and then at 3:35AM the same morning, she had the first puppy, which was, oddly, the runt, who is Annie. So I've been at my uncles house just off of Yorkshire for 9 days now. I haven't seen friends, I've only seen my mum twice; once to walk the dogs, and once so she could bring Marco down to be 'mum' to Annie. I've been getting constant E-mails from 'Kelly' who is my "mentor". She's been helping me with the puppies, telling me what to do and what not to do. I was worried about using a hot water bottle, because you can't really feel exactly how hot it is, so she suggested an empty plastic drink bottle, not completely full. It worked perfectly.

Anyway, two other puppies are skinner than the other 6, but not half as skinny as Annie. They weigh just over a pound at 17 and 18 ounces, and Annie weighs 4 ounces under a pound. When I remove the six "Gremlins" from Lady in an hour, I'll have to bring one of the two under weight puppies in and feed him at the same time as I feed Annie, and then switch. That way, all underweight puppies will be getting enough milk daily to keep them alive, and the fat ones will be put in a small warm box (washing up bowl with hot water bottle and thick wool blanket...) to sleep. Hopefully it will work.

Sadly, the clocks go back tonight, so I'll be up an extra hour than I would have been yesterday night.

I'll be updating again sometime this evening, of course...Until then,

Eli & Annie, of course...

20 minus 15

Hooray! Little Annie, the 10 ounce puppy, drank 15ml. of Lactol this evening. From 11:10PM to 12:20AM she was drinking non-stop. I'm rather glad that she taught me the easiest way to bottle feed...She hasn't drunk this much milk in the 7 days she's been alive! Now that she's all full up, I shall be heading to bed. Thankfully my dad has volunteered to stay down with them today, so he can do the hourly swap for me. Until tomorrow,

Eli

Lactol-intolerant

So.
I'm currently sitting at my laptop. At my uncles house. With a 7 day old puppy, wrapped in a warmed up dog blanket. On my lap. A 1.2oz/35ml. bottle of Lactol baby animal formula sitting at the counter. Two bottle teats; one with pin holes, and one with a cut off tip. And a very sticky finger.

Yes, I have found The Way! Bottle feeding puppies couldn't be easier. Apparently, all puppies are Lactol-intolerant. Or rather, just Lactol haters. I don't blame them; it stinks. Vanilla? Bleh. Anyway. Who wants to go through the trouble of shoving the teat in the pups mouth and waiting for it to start sucking before squeezing and giving the skinny puppy a drink? Not me...Especially at 5AM. Although it isn't 5AM right now, I don't like bottle-shoving any better at 11:10PM.

It just came to me when I was picking up the 'easy-flow' teat from the kitchen counter. Annie starting suckling on my index finger as I was walking back into the living room. It was so simple. I mean, everyone who has to hand feed puppies complains that the puppies are always suckling their fingers because they're hungry, but refuse any puppy formula.

Solution:
Let the puppy suckle your finger, and then, using your dominant hand, put the teat of the bottle in it's mouth, and squeeze. You're not at danger of choking the pup, because it's suckling, so it's swallowing. It was so easy...And now Annie is sleeping, and I have another puppy to feed.

Until next time,

Eli