A little bit about Momma and pups...
We don't have much information about where Momma came from. She was picked up by an animal control officer and placed into a shelter until a very dedicated local rescue group and employee from the shelter put out a '911 call for help' for her and all 10 of her newborn pups. The pups had been born on New Year's Day and Momma (who is only a pup herself - we think she's about 2 years old) and pups arrived here for us to foster on Jan 5th. She arrived here very skinny - likely from being a stray for an unknown amount of time along with the demand on her body from 10 new nursing pups. Each day there is more demand on her body so we're trying to be as proactive as possible about her protein, caloric, fat and vitamin intake so she will continue to nurse the pups. The alternative of having to bottle feed 10 pups frightens the you know what out of us. She has a long way to go to regain appropriate weight for a dog nursing 10 pups. Taking it all day by day... We're in the process of switching from the regular dog food she had at the shelter to high quality puppy food (as recommended by other foster families) and she's just started some recommended liquid supplements (at $7 per can). She and pups are worth EVERY penny even though our personal supply of pennies is very low right now.
When Momma arrived, her submissive and fearful behavior toward just our typical body movements led us to believe that she did not lead a very happy life prior to being rescued. We're making progress toward helping her to understand that she is loved and does not have to fear anything or anyone, anymore. Each day we earn a little bit more of her trust and have been allowed to pet her, handle the pups, etc. She is very calm and enjoys attention. She actually leaned into one of us today when we were petting her which we were thrilled about and then later in the day, she gave us a short little tail wag. YAY! We have a long way to go, but each little bit of progress feels great and is a building block to the next step for her.
She is a great Momma with the exception that we do have to pay close attention to when she moves and lays back down to nurse as a few of the pups have ended up under her. She starting to put her paws under her when she starts to lay down so we think this is going to resolve itself soon. She's a cleaning machine with regards to herself and her pups so that's been a big relief to us.
The 10 pups are doing very well despite Momma's low weight. There are only two in the litter that we're intervening with right now every few hours to do some special management with their teet-time. These 2 pups are solid and well hydrated like the rest of the pups. They're just not growing as well as their brothers and sisters. With the added teet-time along with some supplemental bottle feeding, all should be fine. Several of the pups are showing their personalities already and we expect some extra challenges with a few of them when their eyes begin to open in the next several days.
We'll post new pics and updates soon. There's a 'subscribe to posts' button at the end of the right hand column of this page if you'd like to automatically receive our new posts as they are posted here. Again, it's really going to 'take a village' for this foster to be a success given our household's less than healthy current economic state and we'd like to say thank you so much to those who have sent contributions and other help. If you or someone you know would like to help out in either gift cards to Petsmart, Petco or Walmart or donations, please send to us via: Kurt Schlough, PO Box 25661, Albuquerque, NM 87125. We can also accept your help in the form of an online contribution by clicking here. (These are not tax-deductible.) Any gift cards or monetary gifts that we receive and do not need to use by the end of our fostering time will be given to another foster family or animal rescue group. Thank you for helping us to help Momma and her pups.
- The Animal Foster Newbies
When Momma arrived, her submissive and fearful behavior toward just our typical body movements led us to believe that she did not lead a very happy life prior to being rescued. We're making progress toward helping her to understand that she is loved and does not have to fear anything or anyone, anymore. Each day we earn a little bit more of her trust and have been allowed to pet her, handle the pups, etc. She is very calm and enjoys attention. She actually leaned into one of us today when we were petting her which we were thrilled about and then later in the day, she gave us a short little tail wag. YAY! We have a long way to go, but each little bit of progress feels great and is a building block to the next step for her.
She is a great Momma with the exception that we do have to pay close attention to when she moves and lays back down to nurse as a few of the pups have ended up under her. She starting to put her paws under her when she starts to lay down so we think this is going to resolve itself soon. She's a cleaning machine with regards to herself and her pups so that's been a big relief to us.
The 10 pups are doing very well despite Momma's low weight. There are only two in the litter that we're intervening with right now every few hours to do some special management with their teet-time. These 2 pups are solid and well hydrated like the rest of the pups. They're just not growing as well as their brothers and sisters. With the added teet-time along with some supplemental bottle feeding, all should be fine. Several of the pups are showing their personalities already and we expect some extra challenges with a few of them when their eyes begin to open in the next several days.
We'll post new pics and updates soon. There's a 'subscribe to posts' button at the end of the right hand column of this page if you'd like to automatically receive our new posts as they are posted here. Again, it's really going to 'take a village' for this foster to be a success given our household's less than healthy current economic state and we'd like to say thank you so much to those who have sent contributions and other help. If you or someone you know would like to help out in either gift cards to Petsmart, Petco or Walmart or donations, please send to us via: Kurt Schlough, PO Box 25661, Albuquerque, NM 87125. We can also accept your help in the form of an online contribution by clicking here. (These are not tax-deductible.) Any gift cards or monetary gifts that we receive and do not need to use by the end of our fostering time will be given to another foster family or animal rescue group. Thank you for helping us to help Momma and her pups.
- The Animal Foster Newbies
posted by Animal Foster Newbies at
8:02 PM
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