After the vet visit, Miss B and Mr. C needed time to recuperate, so we finally had an excuse not to go anywhere for the weekend and just chilled out at home. This is mostly a picture post.
This weekend, Miss B and Mr. C got their attitude adjustments. While they were busy at the vet, we visited Grandma and Grandpa's house. Miss S and Mr. M enjoyed the visit and got to meet all kinds of people. Miss S discovered that she could fit under the coffee table. After the vet visit, Miss B and Mr. C needed time to recuperate, so we finally had an excuse not to go anywhere for the weekend and just chilled out at home. This is mostly a picture post. It's amazing how fast puppies' health can deteriorate if there is a problem and how fast they bounce back when you catch it in time. They are so fragile when they are small that you have to really make quick decisions on whether or not what you are seeing is worthy of a vet visit. On Saturday, Miss S started having diarrhea- the extremely liquid, fire hose shooting style. Many things can cause this in a puppy including change of diet and moving them to a new home. Usually though, these clear up fairly quickly. If you start seeing blood in it, you need to consider getting to a vet as soon as you can. She had the watery poop for 6 or 7 bowel movements during the night. We were very worried that she would get dehydrated and tried giving her water, which she was not interested in at all. In the middle of the night, she woke up and needed to use the restroom, but her back legs were too weak for her to stand up well. We had a can of goat's milk in the back of our cabinet, and decided to try mixing it with water to see if we could get some liquid in her. They both went nuts over the goat's milk and drank quite a bit. Within a few minutes, she was walking like a champ looking for more goat milk. The next morning, we decided to go ahead and take them to the Petsmart vet to have them checked out and were glad that we did. They had a really bad case of several worms- very similar to Popcorn. In fact, they were prescribed some of the same things. In addition to the medicines, the vet prescribed a special gentle food for them to eat for a week until their tummies were calmed back down. By the afternoon, they were bouncing around all over the place, growling at and playing with Miss B and Mr. C and pouncing on each other. By Monday, you wouldn't even know they were ever sick. So, what have we learned from dealing with 4 week old puppies, you ask? The difference between full out running, jumping playtime and a solid nap is about 2 seconds flat.
A while back when we were first debating on whether or not to crate train Miss B and Mr. C, we found pop-up crates at Bed Bath and Beyond. We went to the store to look at them, but they didn't have them in stock. We ended up ordering two of them. When they arrived, we looked at them once and then put them aside thinking that they would not contain the puppies at all.
The last time we visited Grandma and Grandpa's house after a vet visit, we noticed that after a while, the puppies were really tired but having a hard time staying asleep for a nap because there weren't any little safe hiding spots. Most of the napping spots were in the middle of the floor in the living room, out in the open. This time, we got smart and brought the pop-up crates. After we had been there a little while and when B&C started looking sleepy, we brought out the crates. They instantly recognized them as puppy caves and went right in. We set them up out of the way of everyone, in a slightly darker area of the room and left the door unzipped so that they could go in and out as they pleased. They both ran in before I could even put the blanket in. The puppies loved the crates and after playing with each other in one for a while, Mr. C plopped himself down on the blanket inside and went right to sleep for about an hour's worth of good, solid nap-time. These pop-up crates are excellent. I don't think they would really contain a pitbull for any length of time if they wanted out, but what they do is they give your puppy a safe spot to rest when you are not at home. Even though it isn't solid, it makes them feel protected. We plan on using these when we take the puppies camping. They don't sleep in their crates at night when we are home, but our walls are solid and not made of tent material. In a tent where everything is louder and unfamiliar, I think that the pop-up crates will make them feel like they can relax enough to sleep. So the answer to the question is... Friend. The pop-up crates are definitely your friend. So are the crates by the way. The crates give them a sfe place to go when they need one and also make separating them easier. The crates also help when they get a little too wound up before bedtime. As an aside, Mr. C doesn't really like the crate when treats are involved because it keeps him from stealing Miss B's treat away from her. Miss B loves the crate when it is time for treats because then she gets to take her time and enjoy the whole treat in peace without worrying about Mr. C taking it. He definitely lives up to the nickname Lunchbox. The blog posts have been a little slow lately. So here is an update. We took Bonnie and Clyde for their second set of shots. In the 4 weeks since last visiting the vet, Clyde gained a little over 10 pounds and Bonnie gained 7. They were once again the stars of the vet's office. I am pretty sure that they think that the vet's office is where they go to get to see all kinds of other dogs that they want to play with. They can't play with them yet because their shots aren't finished, but they really really want to.
After the vet visit, we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's house for a while. B & C remembered them instantly. Grandma immediately got to work fixing scrambled eggs for the furry grandkids, who think she is the best grandma ever. (They haven't met Dad's mom yet, so right now she's the only grandma they know). Grandpa let them jump up on his legs when he sat down and then petted them. Bonnie still thinks she needs to be friends with their cat. The cat still disagreed. He swatted her on the head and she yelped like she was in pain- which was actually kind of funny because he is declawed. I think it was just the idea of being swatted. It has been getting hotter here, and playtime in the yard mostly happens under the shade of a tree these days. |
AuthorFirst time pitbull owners who found two pitbull puppies abandoned on the side of the road and decided to adopt them...And then loved them so much, they decided to get two wonderful mastiffs. Archives
March 2024
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