3/16 ... Ann & I drove to Blackwell, OK to pick up 9 puppies from Jodi Dotson & Judy Sparks.

Puppies were born 3/13 on some training farm in Oklahoma and four days on Mom was all they would consider since Mom was "showing potential".

We took the puppies directly to Kathy Hastings of Heartland Kennel. She volunteered to care for them around-the-clock until she needed help when they get older.

3/26 ... Monday - Kathy needed a break from the rigors of bottle babies, so she sent four to me. I set up a little incubator in my office and fed them every four hours. What I learned today ... never, never, never feed puppies while they are on their backs. It seems natural (sort of like feeding a baby), but it makes it much easier for them to aspirate the formula. Feed them on their stomachs or, like these guys, standing on their back legs.

Here are their weights over the first week that I had them. After this, I didn't weigh them every day.
Puppy 1 ... Spot Monday - 1lb, 4 oz Tuesday - 1lb, 5 oz (+1oz) Wednesday - 1lb, 8 oz (+3oz) Thursday - 1lb, 11 oz (+3oz) Friday - 1lb, 13 oz (+2oz) Saturday - 1lb, 14 oz (+1oz) Sunday - 1lb, 13.5 oz (-1/2oz) Monday - 1lb, 15.5 oz (+2oz) weight increase since 3/26 noon - 11.5 ounces	Puppy 2 ... Ringer Monday - 1lb, 3 oz Tuesday - 1lb, 6 oz (+3 oz) Wednesday - 1lb, 8 oz (+2 oz) Thursday - 1lb, 9.5 oz (+1.5 oz) Friday - 1lb, 13 oz (+3.5 oz) Saturday - 1lb, 15 oz (+2 oz) Sunday - 1lb, 14.5 oz (-1/2oz) Monday - 1lb, 15 oz (+1/2oz) Wednesday - 2lb, 2oz (+3 oz) weight increase since 3/26 noon - 15 ounces
Puppy 3 ... Ducky Monday - 1lb, 5.5 oz Tuesday - 1lb, 7 oz (+1.5 oz) Wednesday - 1lb, 8 oz (+1 oz) Thursday - 1lb, 9.5 oz (+1.5 oz) Friday - 1lb, 12 oz (+2.5 oz) Saturday - 1lb, 12 oz ... no gain from yesterday Sunday - 1lb, 13 oz (+1oz) Monday - 1lb, 14 oz (+1oz) Wednesday - 2lb, 2oz (+4 oz) weight increase since 3/26 noon - 12.5 ounces	Puppy 4 ... Andre Monday - 1lb, 13 oz Tuesday - 2lb, 1 oz (+4 oz) Wednesday - 2lb, 3 oz (+2 oz) Thursday - 2lb, 6 oz (+3 oz) Friday - 2lb, 10 oz (+4 oz) Saturday - 2lb, 11 oz (+1 oz) Sunday - 2lb, 13 oz (+2oz) Monday - 2lb, 13 oz ... no gain Wednesday - 3lb, 2oz (+5 oz) weight increase since 3/26 noon - 1 lb, 6 oz

And here is a record of their food intake during the first week:
3/27 ... Tuesday Spot - 110ml Ringer - 145ml Ducky - 105ml Andre - 250ml ... LOL	3/30 ... Friday Spot - 215ml Ringer - 180ml Ducky - 175ml Andre - 230ml
3/28 ... Wednesday Spot - 210ml Ringer - 175ml Ducky - 180ml Andre - 225ml (ok, his didn't increase, but he didn't need to )	3/31 ... Saturday ... cereal added to 2PM & 8PM feedings Spot - 155ml Ringer - 170ml - not so good with licking up the cereal yet Ducky - 135ml - loves the cereal, ate about 2 Tbl at 8PM Andre - 180ml
3/29 ...Thursday Spot - 230ml Ringer - 235ml Ducky - 180ml Andre - 325ml (apparently he made for yesterday's slacking off) *See Note in 3/30 Diary	4/1 ... Sunday Spot - 160ml - plus about 1 Tbl cereal at each meal Ringer - 160ml - plus about 1.5 Tbl cereal at each meal Ducky - 160ml - plus about 1.5 Tbl cereal at each meal (prefers cereal to formula) Andre - 180ml - plus about 1.5 Tbl cereal at each meal

3/29 ... Thursday Ann came over and bathed the pups, she also had the privilege of feeding them ... and, Ann, you probably won't want Andre suckling at your chin again ... he's cutting teeth.

Three puppies went to John Swanson for intensive care:

Poof - White & Brindle Female ... fever, x-ray showed a pneumonia and she lost one ounce previous 24 hours
Whitey - White & Blue Brindle Female ... fever, possible pneumonia
Bear - White & Blue Brindle Male ... actually seems to be holding his own

3/30 ... what I learned today ... I am feeding them too much ... I thought that they had to have a "minimum requirement" but that they could eat all they wanted ... not so much! After they "hit their goal" for the day, I'm now cutting the formula with water or Pedialyte (2/3 formula to 1/3 water) and starting them on rice cereal. Intake rule of thumb ... 2 oz (60ml) per lb. per day
they began licking yogurt off a spoon ... trying them on rice cereal tomorrow - wish me luck!
ICU Update 3/30 ... Poof, Whitey & Bear are still alive and John is "guardedly optimistic"

3/31 ... Saturday ... cereal added to 2PM & 8PM feedings
all got baths and tomorrow, they move into a bigger apartment (48" crate)
what I learned today ... puppies don't get stop eating because they're full, they stop eating when they get tired
ICU Update 3/31 ... John has upgraded all puppies to "pretty optimistic"

4/01 ... Sunday - April Fool's Day ... don't I wish! LOL
babies slept for 8 hours last night, which meant - I slept for 7 of them! Life is good.
They love to toddle around the big, new crate ... Andre is such a good boy, he toddles up to the potty pad to pee and poop, then toddles back to sleep.

4/02 ... Monday - what I learned at noon today ... babies can crash really fast. After oversleeping and not having time to feed the babies before leaving for work to open the warehouse, I went home at 7:30 to feed them and everyone ate normally. When I came home at noon, Spot was in distress. I called Coral and said "Something's wrong with Spot. I don't know what to do. What do I do." Coral said to take her to John's clinic. I asked if I should feed the other three first and she said yes. She called back to say that Whitey was also in distress and she was taking her and that she would pick up Spot on the way.
Spot and Whitey spent the afternoon in an oxygen incubator and they will let Coral take the incubator home for the night to keep them in. Whitey never recovered sufficiently and was euthanized around 5PM
It just never occurred to me that they could possibly crash in just a few hours.
On a more upbeat note, I am hopelessly smitten with Andre!!

4/03 ... Spot spent the morning in the oxygen incubator, but was healthy enough to spend the afternoon in a plain cage. She came home at 4:30 and, hopefully, will not need to go back.

4/04 ... Wednesday. Did I mention that they have become "Little Dogs"? Their ears opened over the weekend, so they look different now. Then I noticed it when Andre stood on his four little legs to lap his cereal. He was a just a "Big Dog in a tiny body" LOL
I didn't weigh them yesterday, so I brought the postage scale home and all have kept on gaining.
And Ducky has decided that bottles are for babies, she much prefers cereal over formula now.
While Ringer is not so happy with the cereal thing, too much trouble really.
Only six more days until the window of survival opens ... from everything I've read, and everyone I've talked to ... four weeks is the magic number.

4/05 ... Thursday. I noticed that they are beginning to play! Ducky was even "nesting". Apparently, her towel wasn't quite to her liking, so she was trying to pile it up a little. She's adorable. She now eats her cereal without putting her hands in it. Up on all fours, just lapping like a big dog! Andre went over and stumbled across a sleeping Ringer, who woke up and growled at him ... She is as serious about her sleep as Ducky is about her cereal!! Coral came over and trimmed their nails ... Not sure which is sharper ... their sharp little teeth or their sharp little nails ...

4/09 ... Monday. It's been several days since my last update. But everyone is doing fine and tomorrow they will be FOUR WEEKS!!! On Wednesday, I'll have all six for the day and they will be going on a little visit to Dr. Sparks. It'll be his first day back from vacation, and last week he asked if we would bring them in to everyone can see "little Greyhounds". They have lots of retired Greyhounds, but (as with most vets) they never see them when they're babies. So, off they will go. I hope he will let me weigh them all and I'll report back how big they are now.

Ringer ... yesterday, she finally got the hang of licking up cereal, although I think she still prefers her bottle.
Ducky ... a serious cereal girl. Not much use for the bottle anymore.
Andre ... he doesn't care, he'll eat anything!

They have several toys in their crate now and seem to enjoy climbing over them and laying on them.

4/10 ... Tuesday. They are FOUR WEEKS old!!! Finally! Since Coral typically has a rough Wednesday, I brought her puppies back home to babysit for a few days.

4/11 ... Wednesday. All six got to visit Dr. Sparks. They were weighed for the first time in about a week:

Spot - 2lb, 10oz
Bear - 3lb, 7.5oz
Ringer - 2lb, 11.5oz
Ducky - 2lb, 9oz
Andre - 4lb, 3oz
Poof - 2lb, 14oz

Everyone is active and gaining weight nicely. We're probably going to wean them off their bottles over the next several days. They really are becoming big dogs.

4/12 ... Thursday. Coral and Sara came over tonight to help feed, cut nails and bathe all the pups. Sara has been a great help with the pups. She has spent about an hour every weekday and probably 2-3 hours per day each weekend. Thanks, Sara!!!

4/13 ... Friday, the 13th. Today they took a big step. Puppies began their diet of Wellness Puppy Kibble, sopped up with Esbilac. They completely demolished the sheetpan of kibble gruel. Afterwards, they weren't really interested in bottles.
6PM feeding ... they ate the kibble gruel with gusto!! and then lapped formula out of a bowl. ... so, they're weaned!!

4/14 ... Saturday. Today the puppies will have several visitors then they will go to Coral's for a "play date" this evening (she has a bigger area to let them run amok). Ann and Dr. Bridget will be coming over around noon to microchip them. Reina will be stopping by to see them around 1. I hope to bathe them all this afternoon, too. Tomorrow ... they will return to Heartland Farm and Kathy. It will be sad to not see them every day, but they need more room to run and play than I can provide.