Poochini and Tosca have now been here five days, so they are a week old today. They haven't changed too much from when they first arrived. They still look like little rats, though their fur is more pronouncedly (is that a word?) curly. And they are a lot more active, though their eyes still aren't opened. I was sorry I didn't have a camera all set up yesterday to catch the sight of Tosca sticking halfway out of the cage before I rescued her. She had wiggled around so much that she'd stuck her head and front feet through the wire and probably could have ended up on the floor if she had moved much farther. In fact, she did it twice. The first, time when I moved her back to the middle of the cage, again and then seconds later when I went back, Poochini in hand, to feed him. This time she was sticking out of the other side of the cage.
I immediately picked her up and put her in the playpen, which also happened to be set up, until I'd finished feeding her brother, then I went and got a plastic box to put the two of them in. With two puppies and a mama teddy bear, there isn't a lot of room, but at least I'm not going to walk into the family room some day and find a dead puppy on the floor, with a broken neck from falling out of the cage!
(I could just put them in the playpen and be done with it, but I can't run a heating pad from the playpen, which has mesh sides and they are too little not to have a little extra warmth in their bed.)
The one thing I haven't had around here with other puppies I've bottlefed is a scale so I can chart their progress. Ashley had one and brought it for these little guys. Big mistake. In the past, I judged how well the puppies were doing by whether they were getting more active, if they were peeing and if they were pooping. But now I have a scale. And I don't like what the scale tells me. Neither pup has really gone up in weight, and depending on when I weigh them, they are either 3-1/2 or 4 oz. So now I'm tempted to give them more formula than I might otherwise, though I read that one of the dangers with newborns is overfeeding. Fortunately they seem to have very strong jaws that clamp shut when they don't want anything else to eat!
Lizzie still isn't sure what to make of them, though she certainly has seen her share of puppies. Sheila could care less, but Lizzie is very interested and oversees everything I do with the puppies, especially if I leave one alone for a couple of seconds to grab a towel or something.
As for our Big puppy, Nicki is off at UCD being spayed. They didn't give us any lead time. I just got a call from Ashley asking if we could get Nicki to the thrift store (which is the drop-off point for dogs going and coming to various medical appointments) within the next couple of hours. They usually keep them for a few days when they take them, and give the vet students time to do exams.
Nicki was sound asleep when the call came and, having just gone through one of her freak-outs at Petco because of all the confusion, Walt and I stood there looking at her, both of us feeling like we were getting ready to send our child into slavery. But she's been gone for two days now and I'm hoping she'll be OK when she gets home. (I'm also hoping that maybe some vet student will have fallen in love with her and want to adopt her.)
I do have to admit, though, that it's nice to be able to walk barefoot through the house without fear of stepping in a puddle...or worse!
Yesterday I reconnected with two friends from my old days, working in Women's Health. It was so good to see them. I hadn't seen either of them in at least two years. We had a lovely lunch and lingered for two hours getting caught up on their grandkids and our grandkid and people we once worked with and the indignities of getting older.
Just really a very special day.
And then, just because it never rains but what it pours, tomorrow I'm having lunch with another former co-worker whom I also haven't visited with in two or three years. I'm having to learn the art of polite conversation all over again, what with all these social engagements!
I love it!
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