So starting last Saturday we had a flurry of activity as we said farewell to Silver now known as Ruger, Yellow now known as Browning, Blue now known as Stanley and Orange now known as Gunnar. And then on Sunday our fifth puppy, Red now known as Tig went off with his forever family. For all our new families, I am sure they have forgotten already our colour names, but in our hearts they always stay as the little guys who stole a piece of our heart and at the same time made them bigger.
Sarah and I took the opportunity of having only three pups, to make a road trip to PetSmart for a little socialization and show-off. It was a blast. The pups had fun. Met lots of new people and dogs and got to smell a whole new world. They were exhausted on the drive home and all evening. I think it kind of helped them adjust to the almost empty kennel.
The hardest thing of the past week has been Maggie becoming severely ill with Mastitis. Hard to believe as she had almost got those pups totally weaned. I didn't even think she was feeding anymore, although I knew there was still some milk production, especially in those big hind teats. And of course it was in one of those teats that the infection set in. High fever, vomiting, and an emergency trip to the vet on Monday for intervenous antibiotic treatment. They sent her home with us so that we could continue to apply warm compresses to the affected teat throughout the evening. And in the morning all seemed well, so much so, that when we took her back to the vets for continued treatment they felt we could just do an oral anti-biotic at home. Unfortunately she took a turn for the worse on Tuesday evening and it was almost another trip into emergency. However, Dr. Cindy guided through treatment options at home and I was able to get Maggie's temperature out of the danger zone. By Wednesday morning it had remained relatively low and by evening she was back to her old self. This morning the red is almost gone from that teat and she is once again telling those puppies they can play with her but no stealing.
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