Sheerah's 2019 Puppies ~ 1 Week Old

Our little pumpkins...

Click on the puppies' pictures above for more photos!

​Sheerah and the puppies are doing fabulous.  Sheerah, a first-time Mama, is mothering them well – feeding them, cleaning them, and keeping them snuggled together.  Though the puppies may look helpless with their eyes and ears closed and their lack of ability to walk, they are born with several instincts that help them thrive.  They are driven to food and warmth.  Healthy, happy puppies sleep in a twitching pile.  Yes, twitching!  Researchers think healthy puppies twitch due to activated sleep that helps with their muscle tone and brain connections.  Whatever the reason, we know that twitching while sleeping is a good sign.

These two photos (above) sum up the puppies' lives at this stage - eating and sleeping!  It is literally all they do.  ​They don’t play with each other or people.  My husband and I handle the puppies to weigh them twice a day, but we don’t allow our children to hold them until their eyes open up.  This is due to how fragile they are at this age and their need for sleeping and eating.

The puppies are weighed in the morning and evening.  We do this to ensure that each puppy is thriving and getting enough nourishment.  Sheerah's been feeding them well!  Their weights at one week are as follows: Thomas, Annie, and Shadow - 1lb, 1oz; Rex - 1lb; Elsa - 15oz; and Clarabelle - 14oz.  They have all met (or are on track to meet) our goal of having them double their birth weight in 7-10 days.

Our care for the puppies at this stage focuses on care for Sheerah.  We feed her as much as she’ll eat of Life’s Abundance All Stage food and add Life’s Abundance Wellness supplement for an extra boost while her system is working hard to provide food for her babies.  We keep her and the whelping area as clean as possible.  We change the bedding in the puppies’ area several times daily.

A big event in the puppies’ lives this week was a routine trip to the vet for tail docks and dew claw removals.  Here they are below in a basket for easy transport.

As I mentioned earlier, the puppies are fragile, but not helpless.  Below are some photos show-casing their God-given abilities as newborn puppies.

Here's Clarabelle "swimming" - a propelling motion the puppies use to get around. They cannot walk, but they can move!

Elsa showing how they can lift their little heads at one week old.

Annie showing their "rooting" reflex as she searches for some food.

All the puppies showed a definite dislike of the cool, smooth pumpkin. They are wired to look for warmth and comfort. Clarabelle clearly shows her distaste for the pumpkin as she turns away.

One last super important skill - the ability to sleep in any position!

And just another size perspective - Elsa by a pen.

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A picture of our whelping area; notice Sheerah has a bed where she an rest away from the puppies. She spends almost every minute with them right now, but we want her to be able to rest as needed. She has free access to food and water at all times.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a blessed week!

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