Grace and Ellie Update

Hello All!

Things are progressing very well with Grace and Ellie!

There is Ellie, this morning weighing in at just under a pound and a half–Yahoo! I have increased her bottle feedings to four to five times a day, using smaller amounts and I’ve added a bit more water to the formula as I felt she was becoming a bit constipated last night. She is still nursing from Shay as well. She is looking and acting fantastic. May the blessings continue!

She is getting around very well and this morning was up on all four legs trying to walk around. She did quite well AND she successfully went potty all on her own (without stimulation from Shay and up on all four legs). Her nose is filling-in with black and while I still cannot see any ticking on her at all, the orange hairs in her ear have darkened. Her eyelids are beginning to separate just a bit, so I think they will open completely in a few days.

Gracie, oh my gosh, what a cutie pie and a butterball! Her eyes are about half-way open and I expect by tomorrow they will be fully open. I love when they open their eyes! If a pup can be ornery at 12 days old, she is! Not really ornery, but definitely wants her way with her momma. Shay actually pushes her away at times and gets a bit stern with her (holding Gracie down or away with her paw so she can clean her or pushing her away and not allowing her to nurse). One thing I love about Shay is that I feel she is an excellent mother this way. Other mommas will just get out of the box if they don’t want a pup to nurse. But Shay is (in my opinion) disciplining a bit and teaching restraint. Not harshly at all–but firmly. I find that Shay’s pups take to early training easier and I believe it is because of this.

Shay seems to actually be telling Gracie that she doesn’t need to nurse every single time Shay is in the box. Gracie gets mad! Oh my gosh, it’s really quite funny. Gracie does give up the fight after some firm nudges from Shay and settles for some cuddling. What a little pistol she is, though!

We had a visit to the vet this morning, where Shay had her stitches removed. Shay was fantastic and very friendly. I wondered if she would be hesitant about going in, but she was just fine. Her tail wagging, happy to see everyone. She was a perfect lady and let the vet examine her and remove the stitches.

I like the new vet, but I got into a bit of a disagreement over dog food! The vet asked how Shay was eating and I mentioned that she’s been picky but eating much better. The vet mentioned eventually getting her back on a good puppy kibble such as “Iams or Eukanuba” and of course you can just imagine (if you know me at all) what happened after that! My blood boiled! I went off on my tangent about garbage foods filled with corn-based fillers, using my favorite line about how you would never see a dog in the wild raiding a corn field. Corn, it’s just garbage filler and causes allergies and behavioral issues and would you give your child cotton candy every day? I went on about the pet food companies just being garbage dumps for the left-over human food companies and that I would not ever buy dog food that is owned by a human food manufacturer (Iams and Eukanuba are both owned by Proctor & Gamble, Nestle owns Purina, Colgate-Palmolive own Hill’s Science Diet–all crap and dumping grounds for what they can’t use in their human food products ). Well, you know, on and on and  I’m sure you know the rest of the story… I just can’t keep my mouth shut about it and find it outrageous that vets recommend this crap!

Oh, I have added a new page with some extra photos of Grace and Ellie. It is accessible via the menu at the top of the page or here. I think I will eventually have all the photos and updates on that page.

Well, I’ve got to get my tail in gear and get some work done. Talk to you, soon.