My Animals

[nanna 0]

Well the puppies have reached 7 weeks on monday.They all love their food i give them puppy dry complete food which i moisten with warm water i did try them on it dry but they prefer it moist.They have all taken to weaning very well mum dont feed them no more she hasnt for about two weeks now.All the puppies have names now we have : Buster-Shaz-Buddy-Redgy-Vinnie and Princess.We sold the last two puppies today.Three of the puppies are going to their new homes next week.Buster is going to his new home tomorrow ( Sunday ).Vinnie is going to his new home on Monday and Princess is going to her new home Wednesday.The last three puppies are going to their new homes on the 27/12/11.I think it is going to be a sad moment when the puppies leave as we have grown very attached to them.I will post recent photos of all the puppies in the week.

[velma 6]

I've been wanting to reply to this topic for WEEKS!!!!

 

Firstly, How is Dido now that she isn't suckling puppies? I am hoping both Ebony and Dido are doing better.. Waiitng ever so eagerly for the promised pictures...

 

I know, Sheepdog.

I have seen quite a few vets in my time, good and bad ones.

I was fortunate enough to work for a very competent one (f only he had been as good a human being as he was a vet, things would have been great, but that is a different story).

 

Anyhow, I found it quite surprising about the new heat cycle, but did not really to question the vet's judgement (yet).

 

I sadly have to agree with Sheepdog too, the crowd going into the college is a sucky one so they come out sucky too. Like I said in another post, the good ones go ahead to open their own clinics and become more focused on the money while the rotten ones decide to stick around at places where they do some serious damage. If you have never had a bad experience with your vet, I would not ask you to doubt him now BUT if you feel something does not feel right, don't hesitate to question him.

 

 

 

However, as I mentioned before, my dog is NOT going on that tbale until I am sure she is strong enough to survive the anaesthetic.

 

You are correct here, you shouldn't rush into anything if you feel she isn't strong enough to handle it since all three phases of surgery (pre,surgery & post surgery) is a very taxing thing on the animal.

 

And, once again, Sheepdog, thank you so much for all your wonderful help and advice.

(By the way, I shall be posting links to a few videos of the puppies).

Here is one: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

This is about the puppies eating by themselves.

 

And this one: /V/?_fb_noscript=1

 

This one is where the puppies are walking around.

 

Sadly this one is private, could you please make it public.. And greedy puppies are always the best thing to watch, did you notice the one little rugrat sneaking from under the others to get to the bowl.. Makes me want to get another baby animal >_<

 

 

 

 

Well people you are not going to believe this our cat Ebony gave birth to 5 kittens this afternoon.

We didnt suspect Ebony being pregnant until about 2 weeks ago this is her 2nd litter and will be her last litter.

This afternoon mrdee and i had a nap with our eldest grandaughter who is staying over till tuesday.

Upon waking up i went to the kitchen followed by lucky and dido on entering the kitchen i heard what i thought was tiny meows i looked to where Ebony was laying and i could see a kitten so i quickly cleared lucky and dido out of the kitchen before they had chance to bark at Ebony as they usually do.

I went back to the kitchen not just one kitten but three kittens were on the bench so Ebony had decided to have her kittens on the kitchen work bench instead of the laundry basket i had made up for her and showed her a couple of times.

I called mrdee to the kitchen i placed the laundry basket on the work bench and mrdee placed Ebony and the three kittens in it and i went and prepared one of the spare bedrooms to put Ebony and her kittens in i put a litter tray in there for Ebony water and food.I went down to the kitchen and carried Ebony and the three kittens in the laundry basket to the spare room.

I then went and scrubbed the kitchen work bench clean and sterelized it.

I went upstairs a little while later before i got dinner and there was five kittens with Ebony in the basket all cleaned up and feeding.

An hour ago i went to check on Ebony and the kittens there were still only five kittens but Ebony had been and eaten and drunk some water.

And it looks like three have got new homes already.

OMG Kittens and puppies!!!!! You are so lucky. At my birth home, all of our cats were mostly outside cats who used to come home only for food or if it was raining/cold. They used to often disappear for weeks on end or sometimes months.. Most of the toms stayed at home (protecting their territory I suppose) but the girls hardly stayed at home. The only time they'd come home is when the stork would come to them

 

We once had three girls bring back half a dozen each, my mother almost cried(I think she did cry).

 

Well the puppies have reached 7 weeks on monday.

They all love their food i give them puppy dry complete food which i moisten with warm water i did try them on it dry but they prefer it moist.They have all taken to weaning very well mum dont feed them no more she hasnt for about two weeks now.

All the puppies have names now we have : Buster-Shaz-Buddy-Redgy-Vinnie and Princess.

We sold the last two puppies today.

Three of the puppies are going to their new homes next week.

Buster is going to his new home tomorrow ( Sunday ).Vinnie is going to his new home on Monday and Princess is going to her new home Wednesday.

The last three puppies are going to their new homes on the 27/12/11.

I think it is going to be a sad moment when the puppies leave as we have grown very attached to them.

I will post recent photos of all the puppies in the week.

I am so sad for you, I had a really tough time letting go of my pups, I cried so much. Shaz and Vinnie are just funny names, they must be nice and big now that they are 7 weeks old.. big tummies, those frownie faces and the hyperactivity... **sigh** Which is the puppy you guys planned on keeping? Or are all of them going to new homes?

[nanna 0]

Well this is late in coming but here is an update on the puppies.I Cant believe the puppies are 18 weeks old today where has the time gone it has flown by.And like we said we would do we kept 2 of the puppies Gaston and Marley.Vinnie,Buster,Shaz,Buddy,Redge,and Holly all went to their new homes before the 27/12/11.I must admit it was sad seeing the group going down gradually we are lucky we have had updates on how all 6 puppies are doing.Marley and Gaston have the run of the house now and they love it in the the evening we put them in their play pen for the night.Once the morning arrives the jump out of the play pen them boys can really jump.I had the boys on puppy biscuits which i moistened with tepid what but their little poos were strange they were a greeny black colour and like a cow pat so i put them on dog meat and mixer and their poos went to looking normal.And you can imagine they love meal times they get so excited they jump up and dog the bowls out of your hand.So we are learning them the sit command so when i give them their food they have to sit before i put the bowls on the floor.We dont regrette one minute keeping 2 puppies it is hard training 2 puppies at one time buts its fun too.And mum Dido loves playing with the puppies dad Lucky can get a bit grumpy with them maybe because he is older.And Dido still tells them off when she sees in her eyes that they are being naughty.I am going upload a few photos of Gaston and Marley enjoy them.

Edited March 5, 2012 by nanna (see edit history)

[nanna 0]

Well here we are nearly 5 months since the puppies were born.And Dido has come into season for the first time since giving birth to the puppies.What fun and games we are having NOT keeping Lucky and Dido away from one another.As we dont want Dido getting pregnant again after such a short time.

[velma 6]

Hi Nanna,I am so sorry for not replying to your earlier post early enough but I did see the pictures when you had posted them. I must admit, those pups are incredibly handsome and I hope they are bred in the future.. What beautiful puppies! **sigh** I wish I could take them home :)And I know the pain of trying to keep animals in season from following Mother Nature's commands >_< . We had resorted to tying a bell around the neck of our oldest so that we would know where she was at every given second.. Of course that idea failed when my brother accidentally let her out...Well keep us posted on the puppies and maybe a pic of Dido now

[nanna 0]

I come bearing very sad news we had to have our Mozart put to sleep today. :(Mozart had reached the grand old age of 16 years and 2 months old we had had him from 7 weeks old i had chosen him out of a litter of 10 puppies when he was 4 weeks old i had chosen the best puppie out of the litter too.In his 16 years we had a lot of love and affection from our dear Mozart.One thing no one can ever take from us are the wonderful mememories and the lovely photos we have of Mozart,Its strange without Mozart we miss him so much :(R.I.P Mozart 28/3/96 - 31/5/12

[mrdee 1]

Above is a picture of our dear friend Mozart.Like Nanna said, we have had a lot of unconditional love, loyalty and affection from him, and although it was on the cards, given his age, and given the fact that he was deteriorating rapidly the last few weeks, it is still so hard to take it in.What had began to happen was: he had started to get very weak in his hind legs, he often had difficulty staying upright for longer periods of time.We had began to get used to that and hence tried to make him as comfortable as possible, and tried to help him to take things easy as much as we could.However, lately, he started to get slower and slower, and he even left most of his food on many occasions (of course, our labrador Lucky was always ready to help him solve that problem).The last few days, however, the decline went very quick, Mozart often had trouble getting in and out of his basket without help, he would sometimes lie down practically motionless so we often thought he was dead, and it also looked like he had hardly any eyesight left.The last two days, he would also lie in his basket, half in it, half out of it, being almost motionless, so, he onc again looked dead on occasions.We thought (and hoped) the decline was due (at least to some extent) to the changes in the weather and the heat we have been experiencing recently, as some dogs can be very sensitive to weather changes.However, today, some things began to become obvious.He had hardly any strength left in his hind legs, he dragged himself around with not going anywhere really, as if he did not realise where he was going.He needed help getting in or out of his basket, and he had even wet his basket and pooped in his basket, most probably without realising it, or because of his muscles getting so weak things just came out.He also cried a few times, as if he was in pain, so that was the final straw, Nanna decided there might be one option left, after all, you can't be cruel to be kind and let an animal suffer because of your own pleasure, so Nanna took our little boy to the vet, where they said he had the look of an animal on his way out, and if we did not have him put to sleep we would probably find him dead the same day or the day after.If that had happened, it would have made things even worse, imagine getting up in the morning and finding your beloved animal dead on the floor or in his basket.....So, Nanna decided it was better to go for the most humane solution.Unfortunately I had to stay behind to look after the puppies, but Nanna stayed with him until it was all over (I admire her courage), and that was the right thing to do, instead of running away from having to say goodbye, his mummy stayed with him until the end so he died peacefully thinking "everything is all right, my owner is here with me".A big thank you to Nanna for doing it like that, and to my beloved dog: Rest In Peace, my dear Mozart. We will meet again some day.

[sheepdog 10]

So very sorry to hear about Mozart. It is so hard to loose one after that many years of their company. But you did what had to be done, and you did the right and kind thing. The vet was right, he would not of lasted much longer anyway, and I'm sure he was suffering by that point. Enjoy your memories of him. I'm sure you have many of those. It will be hard at first. I remember it was weeks and weeks before I stopped looking down at my feet and for just a second found myself wondering where Ebony was, my last pet. She had been stuck to me like glue for several years, though not nearly as long as your Mozart was with you, so I can imagine how miserable you are right now.

[mrdee 1]

Yes, Sheepdog, it was indeed the right thing to do (let us not forget, had our dear Mozart been human, he would have been 112 years old).What I mentioned in my previous post about him going round in circles and dragging himself along without really getting anywhere, I think he was looking for a place where he could die in peace.Although I know we did him a favour, and we put him out of his misery (no use letting your beloved animal suffer), it does not mean that we do not miss our old boy.The place seems so quiet and empty without him, even though we have four other dogs around the place, also four animals full of love, friendship and loyalty, and two of them being puppies who are very playful.It does, of course help a lot having their company and friendship, but it will take time to get over our Mozart, I clearly remember the days when we just had them and he was still a puppy, our children were very young too at the time, and they used to throw the washing basket over him, and he was running around with it over him, quite a sight that was.I am so glad I can still think about those happy memories our beloved animal left us with, but they also keep reminding me of the emptiness without him.Just goes to show, I thought I was tough (and in many respects I am), but I could not help crying over the loss of my best friend, and doing it more than once.Anyway, sorry if anyone feels I keep going on, but posting about my beautiful friend does make me feel somewhat better, just like talking about his memory does.

[sheepdog 10]

I don't think you are going on at all. And it doesn't mean you aren't tough either. Since I do raise pups I see a lot of people going threw exactly what you are going threw. It is a lot more common than you think. And it's not even a man/woman thing, men are sometimes worse at grieving over a lost pet than woman are. My sister in law had to give her hubby some tranquilizers when they lost their pug awhile back. It is good that you have other pets in the house to fill in some of that painful void you feel now. But I know you still miss that one that is gone now. And you will for quite some time to come. Just don't let your grief be a cause for concern about your own mental health. What you are going threw is quite normal.

[mrdee 1]

Thank you for those soothing words, Sheepdog.It has not gone as far as having to take tranquilisers to overcome my grief (thank goodness), but, the death of a pet you have loved and especially one you have had for so long (I don't think there are that many people who have been fortunate to have had an animal from puppy-hood until he was sixteen years old) does hurt a lot.And, as you say, it is a comfort that we still have animals around the house, and maybe even more so that two of the dogs (do not forget we also have four cats too) are still loveable, friendly and playful puppies themselves.I still think the fact that Mozart was a cross-breed rather than a pedigree dog might have contributed towards his longevity, it is a well-known and partly medically proven fact that dogs, stemming from different breeds might have blood inside them from dogs which spent a part of their lives on the street (I obviously do not know in how far that was the case for our Mozart), and that life on the street makes them stronger and more immune to certain infections than pedigree dogs, due to the fact they are more prone to come into contact with certain germs/infections than pedigree dogs would.And, (although this is a bit of a guess), the fact that Mozart had Staffordshire terrier in him might also have played a part in it, as that kind of breed is known to be tough and strong.Believe it or not, but not once in his life has Mozart needed the help of a vet, as he has never been ill at all in those sixteen years (apart maybe from the odd innocent stomach upset).We always got him through the odd minor ailment by slightly adjusting his food for a short while.And I also think he partly owed his long life (even if I say so myself) to the way he was looked after by us.Anyway, Sheepdog, thank you again for our kind words, they do manage to bring some comfort to us,and now we have to concentrate on Dad Lucky, Mum Dido and the two sons Gaston (the chocolate labrador) and Marley (the golden labrador) and try to make them as happy as we did their uncle Mozart.