The Evening Report - First Draft

This post has obviously been overtaken by events (since the first puppy has been born). It's included for your information.

The Whelping Box. My basement will be ground zero for the birth of Deca’s puppies. I did look around for “puppy birthing centers,” but I didn’t find anything practical. So ground zero will be in Silver Spring.

The whelping box has been set up. It arrived a few days ago from a company in Idaho, recommended by John Henkel. As advertised, it was very easy to assemble. It’s made of corrugated plastic, with four rails to protect the puppies from their mom squashing them. Deca seems quite comfortable in it, although, if given a choice, she would rather be in her crate.

The DVD. The company that provided the whelping box also has everything else you might need for whelping puppies. Including a DVD for first-timers like me! The video “Special Delivery” is hosted by a vet who explains what she thinks you need to know about assisting a bitch in the delivery of her puppies. Unfortunately, they don’t provide her address and telephone number, so you can call her at 3 a.m. when it’s time for the puppies.

The Puppy Warming System. According the video, the puppies must be kept warm—at a temperature of 90 degrees for weeks! So I’ll need a heating source to keep the puppies warm. Of course, the company that sells the whelping box also sells a Therma Whelp Puppy Warming System. I’ve got to get that too! (Update: Since I only the system ordered yesterday, it’s coming UPS-SDE. That would be UPS Super Duper Express, to get here in time, hopefully for the puppies.)

Since the last post, Deca’s appetite has returned, suggesting that the whelping won’t happen in the next few minutes. Thank God. I need to watch the DVD again.

The Big Bad Woof and more. My errands this morning were quite interesting. I started off in Takoma Park, at one of our favorite pet stores, the Big Bad Woof, stocking up on some dog food. The Big bad Woof provides “Essentials for the Socially Conscious Pet.” http://www.thebigbadwoof.com/ for more information.

Deca’s vet had suggested putting her on a puppy formula, chock full of carbs and protein, and recommended Science Diet Puppy. To my surprise, she likes it, so we’ll stay with that for a while. But no Science Diet at the BBW, presumably because the manufacturer doesn’t adhere to “fair trade and econ-friendly ideals in the marketplace.”

The Big Bad Woof had an in-store lecture on raw food—“the call of the raw”—so I asked about the pluses and minuses of feeding raw food to a lactating bitch. Perhaps not surprisingly, both of the raw food reps said that raw food was the best food that a lactating bitch could eat. I need to do more research on that. They did offer some free samples, and now I have raw food samples in the following flavors—lamb, beef, chicken and duck! I saw rabbit and venison too. I’m trying hard to stay focused.

Then, it was off to another dog supply store—Petsmart—to get puppy whelping supplies. Now I could have ordered this from the Idaho merchant, who provided the whelping box, the DVD and the thermal warning system. And it would have been cheaper. But nooooo, I had to search around for my own sources of supply. Nothing at Petsmart. That’s not true. I did get some puppy feeding bottles and some mother’s milk supplement, just in case.

Subsequently, I found myself in Babies R Us, for the first time in my life, looking for a heating pad and a scale to weigh the puppies. Of course, Babies R Us, didn’t have heating pads or scales to weigh the puppies. They did have a nifty digital scale for baby weighing, but I passed on that. You have to draw the line somewhere.

Then it was on to Target for warming pads and scales. Not there, either. Off to Home Depot. Not the right season for warming pads, she said. It’s a seasonal item. She advised me to go to Walmart because “They have everything at Walmart.” We’ll see about that!