Day 89: Dog Milk

Brushing milk out of a pregnant dog's coat is like shoveling the driveway during a blizzard.
White stuff just keeps coming down.

Ain't nobody got time for that!

I gave Kia a (bad) pregnancy haircut in an attempt to keep the leakage under control.
The hairs on her belly were sticky and yellow with dried milk that turned to powder when I brushed it out.
But I definitely felt puppies moving!

Nathan and I have purchased all of the items in our whelping kit. We stole our list from a crazily perfectionist lady online. We figured if we even bought half of what she buys we'd be set for life.

And broke.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but we now have the following in stock:

- Heat lamp and bulb
- Homemade whelping box (courtesy of Nate)
- Digital thermometer (hehehe)
- Terrarium thermometer (to measure the temperature inside the whelping box)
- Blankets (seriously, Value Village, how can you charge $7 for an old blanket?)
- Kitchen scale (I almost bought a meat hook and a bucket instead, but the scale was cheaper.)
- Towels (we just bought two new ones for and gave all the old ones to the dogs)
- Latex-free disposable gloves
- Flashlight and extra battteries
- Vanilla ice-cream (for extra calcium and to keep Kia hydrated)
- Scissors
- Vaseline
- KY Jelly (hehehe ... never using that bottle again)
- Paper (to make & label collars so we can tell the pups apart)
- Newspaper
- Dental floss
- Rubbermaid container (to hold puppies if we need to remove them for cleaning the bedding)
- Some random ear thing that I don't know what it's called, but it has a small opening and a suction bulb to suck mucus out of puppy mouths and noses if necessary

Granted, we did cheat a little.

We bought "waxed" dental floss instead of "unwaxed" dental floss.
Apparently, Walmart only carries the "waxed" variety.
And I'm more than halfway through the vanilla ice-cream.
Nate says they just put it on the list to keep the owners calm while they wait.

But I did boil the scissors.

Kia is getting big and slow. Except when there's food involved.
She was getting picky so we mixed canned food into the dry stuff.
She's not picky anymore.
She keeps getting her head stuck in the door before I can even get it open.

In other news, Sam's ears got the all-clear from the vet - and he is finally vaccinated!
His training continues.
Some days, I'm over the moon about his good behavior.
Other days ... not so much.

Let's just say that Dave is the only one trying to cuddle with him on those days.

I'm also struggling to balance art, writing, and life.
On one hand, writing is something I can't not do.
So is art.

But it's hard to focus on a painting or a book when the laundry needs to be done, supper needs to be made, the house needs to be cleaned, bills need to be paid, and tax season is just around the corner.

So is the book fair.
So is my book review.

But if I can't be creative amid the joys, distractions, and stresses of everyday life, I can't be creative, period.

They say that unhappiness is equal to the distance between reality and your expectations.
And that you have two choices:

A. Lower your expectations.
B. Raise your reality.

And despite the plethora of towels in our house ... I'm not ready to throw mine in yet.

T minus 1 day.

Pray for me.
And if you've had puppies before ... feel free to let me know what I've missed!

Grumpy Cat? Meet Grumpy Dog. 

Christening the whelping box:
I'm so excited ... it just squirted right out!