Mastitis

Fern woke us up Friday morning at 2am - which isn't unusual as she has to go out several times a night since becoming a mom. When it was time for her to come back in Scott noticed she was acting funny. He woke me up and I noticed she was kind of hunched over and very still. I took a closer look and noticed her front mammary was very swollen and hot to the touch. I immediately figured it was mastitis, which I had read about on the internet.
Mastitis, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is an infection in the mammary glands. I am certain that this occurred because that particular nipple was an "innie." The puppies tore it up these last 5 weeks because she only has 9 nipples.
We called the emergency vet at 2am and he left it up to us whether or not to come in. We thought about our options and decided to wait until morning. We got Fern to the vet first thing in the morning and they confirmed that she had mastitis. They prescribed several antibiotics and instructed us that we were not to let the puppies nurse anymore. So, the puppies are now fully weaned. They are now eating only puppy food. However, we didn't want to separate the puppies and Fern completely because her presence is still important to their development. As you can see we decided to dress her in clothes to prevent the puppies from nursing. It works really well. The only fault is when Fern is outside she pees in the shorts and looks quite ridiculous.
Fern is still sore from her engorged breast but she definitely feels much better today. Hopefully her milk starts to dry up soon so I don't have to continue to share my clothes with her.

Arrow

Indy

Iris

Monkey

Lark

Sunny

Phloxy

Arnie aka Haas

Belle

Boys

Arrow, Monkey, Lark, Haas, Indy
















Indy, Haas, Lark, Monkey, Arrow

















Indy, Arrow, Monkey, Lark, Haas
















Indy, Haas, Lark, Monkey, Arrow

Girls

The latest pictures of the girls!











Sunny, Belle, Iris, Phloxy













Iris, Phloxy, Belle, Sunny













Phloxy, Iris, Belle, Sunny

Stand still so I can take your picture!!

So I take these pictures and my camera, pardon my frankness, SUCKS! I got it for Christmas as an impulse buy for myself. Whenever I am about to capture the moment, my camera is two moments behind. I have been trying to get good representative body shots of the puppies but before I know it they are headed right at me and my camera finally snaps the picture. I don't know their little faces well enough to be sure which picture is who, so this is my best guess. I am sure Scott will come home and set me straight. Aaaahhh, life was so much easier when they were liver and white....















Belle
















Lark
















Monkey











Indy











Lark and Fern ( not sharing)











Sunny & Arrow (?)
















Iris (?)
















Haas
















Pholxy

Puppy Paradise

This week was crazy busy for me traveling for work, coaching lacrosse,and 10 highly efficient poop and pee machines to tend to. The puppies are developing at an incredible rate, many of them have discovered that they don't want to be couped up in the kitchen and escape regularly around the barricade. Their little nails are sharp as razor blades and thus Fern has begun weening them. Their teeth are becoming equally as sharp as their nails. I love laying on their bed and getting overwhelmed by little puppy bodies. Despite the war wounds and "cat scratch fever" I get from the little tykes, the puppy pig pile is so worth it.
They are already developing little beards and eyebrow furnishings. Everyday their coats look different. I have a hard time telling who is who sometimes. Scott, even though he is around less is better at telling them apart.

4 weeks old

Today is the 4 week birthday for our little guys and girls. They are starting to get a little rambunctious so I took them out for a little play time in the warm sun. We will post some pictures of individuals soon.