One Week Old - Status Report

The last of Deca's six pups was born one week ago this morning.

She and her pups are doing fine. This morning I noticed that all of the pups are stretching more and yawning more in a manner that you would associate with older dogs. They also seem to be using their tongues more and more, sometimes licking each other, when they bump into one of their brothers or sisters.

Deca's appetite is excellent. After experimenting with "free feeding" as opposed to measured portions, I've had good results with controlled feeding. Like most things involving dogs (in fact, like most things involving everything), there are a myriad of opinions about what to feed, how much to feed, when to feed, etc. Ask three people who are involved in breeding, you're likely to get three different and well considered opinions.

Currently, Deca's eating three times a day, totally consuming each meal. She's being fed a combination of Science Diet puppy formula and Canidae All-Stages dry food, mixed with some beef and egg. Along with fresh water, it seems to be a good combination at this point. Her consumption is likely to increase as the pups get older and their demand for milk increases.