Le Weekend

It's a sad fact, but we're pleased that it's the weekend because that means all the neighbours will be having lots of newspapers which will replenish our dwindling supplies. We have lots of visitors at the weekend: the puppies have just been cleaned by a 'giggle' of teenage girls. All we could hear was 'they're sooooo cute'. We've now decided that the collective noun for the puppies is a 'puddle of puppies' due to the mess they're creating. The puppies are now enjoying longer periods of play and love cuddly toys. Molly is also spending more time with them now she's feeling better, but she likes to help herself to their toys! She went for a short walk today for the first time in 6 weeks which really pleased her (and us).

Molly in a T-shirt

I went on an expedition to Turkey last year; we were given some free T-Shirts which were at least 10 sizes to big for me, but fit Molly perfectly. She now has stitches and a wonky boob and random tubes sticking out of her chest, she is a bit like Frankenstein. If she doesn't wear a T shirt, it is the dreaded buster collar, which we ALL HATE!

Anna x

It's a hard life

Our day starts at 6.30am when we hear the big people making coffee and our mum comes in to see us. We get really excited because that means it's breaky time. Whilst we chomp on our meat then lap our milk, big dad cleans up our mess. We're tired again after our food and have a nap, then a little play, another nap, then it's lunch. That's usually rice pudding and we need a good wash afterwards, then a nap again and perhaps play for a little. At 4pm we have more meat then milk and our living area is cleaned again. We often have visitors then as they like to see us being busy and can help to clean us. Sometimes we play then, but we often sleep until our friends come home from school and want to know what we've been doing. Mum is always excited to see them too. In the evening we get weetabix which is really messy so our friends have to clean us, then finally at 11pm we have milk then it's bedtime.....

Newspapers!

Thanks to all the neighbours who have been supplying us with newspapers. We're glad to inform everyone that the puppies are a very well educated lot are enjoying their reading matter. We are trying to provide a range of opinions for them, with broadsheets and tabloids. From the human's point of view, we have started to favour the Guardian. It's page size is in between broadsheet and tabloid and is just right and it also seems to have good absorbancy!

No Rest for the Wicked!

Today I had a day off school ill. Now my plan was to relax and sleep all day. But the puppies didn't seem to understand this plan! They decided to spend the whole day squeaking, squarking, growling and barking, which left my plan in tatters. By the end of the day I had come to the conlcusion that it would have been more relaxing at school rather than at home. Although they are very sweet and cute, I never thought that such a small animal could make such a large noise. Ali

And now for something completely different.....

In a state of shock here as we had an evening out (Ali & Anna left in charge). Went to see a completely hilarious male ballet troupe. Swan Lake will never be the same again! It's well worth seeing if they are on tour near you. Saw two lots of friends who made the mistake of asking 'How are you and the puppies?' A theatre interval isn't long enough to re-tell our last two weeks.

The Great Escape

The time had come to allow our puppies more freedom so the bed has now been enclosed in a heavy duty pen. They had been desperate to escape from the box, but when faced with freedom they were reluctant at first. The puppies are eating really well, but what goes in has to come out, so there is a lot of cleaning up to do. Molly is recovering well, but has no idea whether it is day or night. We're at the vets daily to dress the wound over the next few days.

Molly home to her pups!!!

** STOP PRESS **
As you will see we were delighted that Molly could return home to her pups this afternoon and she was straight in to sort them out!!! She is modelling a lovely pink bandage and needs to go back to the vets again probably daily for the next few days to have her wound packed and dressed!!

Feeding without humans....

As you will see the pups are growing very quickly; they have put on about 12% weight in last 36 hours! In addition they are now allowed to try and eat on their own; occasionally:). Many of them are very good at it but others simply prefer to bathe in it.... We still worry about Molly but know she is in the right place to speed her recovery.

'It's lovely rice pudding for dinner again!'

The next and fantastically messy part of the weaning is liquidised rice pudding. Of course, getting them to lap it is the hard part. Some are better than others, but all of them had their feet in it and needed a wash down afterwards. Molly is helping to clean them up and then feeding them in between. They're getting a lot of hands on attention by weaning them this way so they are getting used to being handled.

Back Home

I'm very rarely ill but I've had 5 days in hospital with 5 different IV antibiotics. Ian has coped remarkably this week, and half term is starting here now so at least we have extra helpers on hand. A fantastic sight to see these little faces, well it's also great to see Molly, Ali and Anna of course!
Lizzy x

Friday 13th Part Two!

We're not a superstitious family, but it has definitely been a Friday 13th to forget. Alongside Lizzy still being in hospital, one of the cats needed vet attention this morning then Molly developed mastitis. Another trip to the vet but this time at 10pm! She's been feeling very sorry for herself and on advice we have given her a break from feeding with the pups being topped up with bottles. Weaning is ongoing so once we are through the next few days, life will be easier. You will be pleased to hear they're enjoying their mincemeat balls.

And we started weaning today.....

We also started weaning the pups today which meant giving them each a marble size of mince which I have to say they absolutely wolfed down. In the case of Brutus I think it had disappeared in two "bites"! I promise more photos over the weekend

We have puppies with open eyes!

Breaking news..... The pups fully opened their eyes today!!!

Two little boys had two little toys !!

Pups starting to really develop independence from mum and for the first time seem to be young dogs for the first time....

Normal service will be resumed asap

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last couple of days but Lizzy was admitted to hospital on Monday night. You will be pleased to hear that she is well on the road to recovery but finding time for blogging (is that really a word?) has proved a challenge. However the good news is that the pups are fine and this morning we had the first tentative signs that one or two of the pups are trying to open their eyes. Dont worry I will upload photos asap and you will be the first to know when they do..... well that's not strictly true as I had better tell Lizzy first!

A familiar pose 10 days on....

As you can see a lot has changed in 10 days! The pups have now more than doubled their birth weight which might explain why Molly is eating us out of house and home! They are all strong and highly mobile within the whelping box! We are also starting to see some aspects of their personality but it is early day.

'Lies, damn lies and statistics.....'

We had a weighing session again last night and made the mistake of weighing Brutus first. (Someone suggested he has his own blog)! From then on we were convinced that the others had put on no weight. There are a couple of smaller ones that we are keeping an eye on, making sure they get to the bar before the others but all of the pups have now doubled their birth weight. Molly is eating 4 big meals a day, with rice pudding snacks in between. We're trimming their nails today so they don't scratch Mum's undercarriage too much. A real benefit of doing this blog has been learning how to produce graphs on the computer and it's put my Open University maths to use - I can even bore you with standard deviations but I won't! Lizzy x

I do love my sister!

We see differences in the pups every day now. They all seem well fed as evidenced by the weight gain :) and we are now in the market for bigger scales! Molly is being brilliant with the pups and whilst we knew she would be a good mum, she is exceeding our expectations. The last two nights have been bliss with only a brief foray downstairs at 2.30am to check all is well and give Mum a snack. We hope the next photo will have pups with eyes open so watch this space…..

Contented? Moi!

The puppies are starting to look more like labs than chocolate blobs. Their muzzles are lengthening, they still have little Dr Spock ears and we can't wait for their eyes to open. They seem to now have a favourite spot at the milk bar and then they huddle in small groups. First full night in over a week in a proper bed for the humans, hooray!

Make way at the bar!

Who's next for a pint? Any room for a little one :-)

Who's been eating all the Pies?

Think we need a puppy dummy for our monster pup who we've named Brutus. As Ali commented (and he should know) he has the appetite of a teenage boy. His belly looks as if he's been out for 10 pints then a kebab on the way home!

Feeding going to plan....

Still time to play!

Just to show that despite being a really diligent and caring mum, Molly still likes to play ball!