Day 102: Dog Milk Part II

Ongoing care of the puppies continues to consume our lives. Thankfully, it is the weekend, and we were able to sleep (in two hour intervals) until noon.

We have developed a system. I feed the puppies. Nathan stimulates them to go potty. And we can usually hit the hay after three quarters of an hour.

But there are all the other little things that still need to be done.

1. Puppy weighing.
2. Puppy nail-clipping.
3. Making sure the milk is safe for puppies to drink.

1. We are weighing the pups every other evening. They are squirmy and growing quickly. They body-surf around the whelping box on their fat little bellies - which has the added benefit of stimulating them to put out big ole nasty poos and pees that we have to wipe up before they try to eat it (or swim in it). Today is day 6, and they can barely fit into the scale we bought. When we weigh them, we also check to make sure their embroidery thread necklaces aren't too tight.

2. We are clipping their nails weekly. Usually, you do this to keep the mom comfy, as their little claws grow like mad. We are doing it to keep us comfy. I have tiny scratches on the inside of my forearms from hungry puppies kneading me as they suckle. To clip puppy claws, first you insert your left pinky into the puppy's mouth for it to suck on. You hold the puppy's paw in your left hand and clip with your right, using baby nail clippers and making sure not to go down to the quick or clip any skin because the puppy is wriggling the entire time.

3. Yesterday, Nate was worried because he thought that he may have left some traces of soap in the bottom of the jug we are using to mix the formula. He wasn't sure whether to use it or throw it out. Formula is expensive - but not so expensive that we're willing to gamble little puppy lives on it.

"Why don't you smell it?" I suggested.

He did. Nothing. He stared at the jug for a while.

"Well, there's only one way I'm going to know for sure," he said.

I cringed.

He touched his pinky to the formula so there was the tiniest drop on the end of his finger. Very, very, very slowly he brought his finger to his mouth.

He licked it.

"So? Did you taste anything?" I asked.
His reply frightened me.

"I didn't get enough to know."

This time, he dipped his entire index finger in the formula until it was soaked. A few clumpy bits of white goo adhered to his nail. He put his whole finger in his mouth, and sucked it dry.

I almost gagged.

"No soap!" he declared brightly.
And we went on with our day.

Hoping your weekend is less eventful than mine...