PTL! Clint is off call until next Monday morning. My tired husband is upstairs catching up on his rest. He had 7 call-ins and 3 phone consultations last week. Most of the call-ins were in the middle of the night, so we are both pretty tired.
The housework got very behind last week, so I'll spend the better part of today trying to catch it up.
For Valentine's Day tomorrow, we are going to make chocolate covered peanuts as a family. It will be fun to have all seven of us in the kitchen together.
Here's a free online textbook on the digestive system in humans: http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/index.html
Peanut, the tiny puppy, is holding his own. We are still concerned for him because of his size, but he's gaining weight. He is about 1/3 the size of the other two. We are not sure if he is a true runt or just was conceived later in Shysie's fertile week and born earlier. A true runt is a puppy of the same size and gestational age of the rest of the litter that does not thrive well. In other words, he may just be a preemie.
We tried supplementing him, but he turned his nose up at the commercial formula. Today, I am going to try a homemade recipe that I have had good success with in the past. The commercial formula has the advantage of giving them colostrumm, but if they will not drink it, it doesn't benefit them one bit.
Kitten/Bunny/Puppy Formula
1 can evaporated milk
1 tsp corn syrup
1 egg yolk (remove stringy thing for ease of swallowing and to keep bottle nipple clear)
1 can water (same can as evap milk)
Now, if you use this, you need to remember to make sure the little one you are feeding is eliminating their bowels and bladder. If you do not have the mother to do this for you, you can use a moistened q-tip to rub gently over both areas until you reach the desired results. Little animals like this can not go on their own and need the stimulation. If you don't do it, their bowels will become impacted and they will die. Puppies and kittens will usually make noise when they need to use the bathroom, which triggers their mothers to cleanse them.
