Busy Week

Kaisa and pups at 2.5 weeks

Well its been a busy week for the pups, first they had to suffer worming!  Three daily doses of Panacur 10% syringed into their mouths - definitely feel quite mean for doing it - well actually Pia did the syringing I just held them LOL.  There is often a stigma attached to puppies with worms, people thinking its a sign of bad breeders - FACT - all puppies are likely to have round worms - though yes the pot bellied poor doer puppies of years gone by are hopefully no longer seen unless puppies bought from puppy farms!  Looking at the science - actually no matter how many times you worm a bitch throughout her life - you cannot have any impact on the cysts which lie dormant (don't read if squeamish or eating).  Kaisa had her first worming at two weeks of age and has been regularly wormed since then, but as you will see from the link we have to assume the pups have worms. They will be wormed again at 5 weeks of age and possibly again before leaving home, then I advise monthly worming till six months of age.

More pleasant subject - weaning - Kaisa is definitely doing a great job as a mum, feeding the pups well and they grow daily - easy to see - just compare this picture taken by Pia today with one from when they were born, see how huge they are already.

In my experience lappy puppies are very forward compared to other breeds I have bred - and they are not slow to try out semi solid food - so yesterday they were given the chance to try Royal Canin Puppy Mousse a highly palatable soft food which was quickly eaten, today they were quick again to take advantage of the mousse and later in the day they tried rice pudding!  Both were well appreciated and Kaisa got the treat of cleaning both the puppy food bowl and the puppies after they had stood and laid in the food!!!

When weaning puppies we use a special bowl - which is designed to stop the puppies standing in the bowl - but if you catch sight of them as they grow you will see the more adventuress of them soon learn to climb on the centre of the feeder anyway!  Which of course reminds me to let you know that during daylight hours we normally have two web cams running,  check out the overhead view or the view at lower level especially late morning when you might see the feeding time!

Now the pups have their eyes opened its incredible how quickly they develop, they now play with each other - trying to bite and even interact with Kaisa, trying to stimulate her to regurgitate food (by licking at her muzzle).  They have started to bark, and definitely move more intentionally - though at present are not that steady on their feet.