The puppies are now 10 days old. This is the day we do a “milestone weight gain evaluation”. Ideally puppies should double their birth weight at the 10-day point. We had one puppy reach this milestone at nine days. Two more puppies achieved this goal today.
Previously with a large litter (more than 8), I have notice it takes a day or two extra to reach this milestone of doubling their birth weight. All of our puppies have been gaining weight daily and are progressing well to achieve this goal in the next couple days.
Ruska has the ability to feed eight puppies at the same time, leaving three puppies “waiting their turn”. During the day at feeding time, I have been rotating the six larger puppies through this “waiting” by putting them in a “waiting box”in the whelping area – three on one feeding, the other three on the next feeding. This was easily done when they were first born but now that they have become more mobile, they have less patients to wait their turn and climb out of the “waiting box” trying to sneak in for a snack! So, I have had to remove them from the whelping box all together and contained them in a larger “Waiting Box” until it is their turn to nurse.
Adorable Faces
