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First Video – Tula’s French Bulldog Puppies

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Striker, Paula’s little pied boy that Tula is fostering, is having a few problems. He’s losing weight, and is substantially smaller than Tula’s beefy little boys (who’ve gained 30 grams or so each, in less than 24 hours, while Striker has lost 15). The differences are even more striking when I remind myself that he’s almost three days older than the boys.

He’ll be getting some extra nursing time, and is also receiving subcutaneous fluids – which is a nice way of saying that a few times a day I’ll be injecting fluids into him with a needle that’s longer than he is. The fluids go in ‘subcutaneous’, meaning ‘under the skin’, as opposed to injected into muscle tissue, so he rarely does more than squirm a bit while I’m hydrating him. I’m the one who’s being a big baby about it.

Hopefully, we’re just playing catch up with the ground he lost while he was being bottle fed. If you didn’t cross your fingers for us yesterday, it would be nice if you did so today.

And then there were THREE

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Tula wonders "Where the heck did HE come from?"

Poor Tula. She goes to sleep at the vet clinic, she wakes up with two puppies. She comes home, has a nap – and wakes up with one more. If this keeps up, she’ll be afraid to ever go to sleep again.

Tula is doing some surrogate mothering – Paula’s singleton French Bulldog puppy (out of Elliott, which makes him sort of our Grandpuppy by proxy) has been having a hard time of it. His mom, Lucy, has no milk at all, and they’ve been getting up every three hours to bottle feed him. Worst of all, he’s not been doing well on the bottle. Since Tula loves her puppies, and has enough milk to open her own dairy bar, I suggested we tuck him in with Tula’s kids.

He arrived this afternoon, wrapped in a pink blanket and looking terribly small and thin. He’s almost two a half days older than the boys, but weighs just 209 grams to their 289 and 297 gram weights (that’s the fawn boy, who is something of a chow hound). Since he got here, I’m not sure he’s once let go of the nipple. Maybe he’s afraid that if does, it will either disappear, or dry up. Unlike Tula’s boys, who are still nameless for now, the little pied guy is named “Striker” (although I might lobby to have it changed to ‘Sucker’).

Tula had an initial moment or two of “I’m pretty that this is not mine” type hesitancy, but since he’s now covered in her milk and has been sleeping nuzzled up against her boys, she’s just fine with it. I’m going with the theory that she just thinks maybe she miscounted them.

Photos here, or on Flickr. Video later on, if I get the chance.

Just Born Babies

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Tula and her newborn French Bulldog puppy

Tula and her black masked fawn boy

Not much time, but here are some photos of Tula’s newborn French Bulldog puppies – two boys, one black masked fawn, and one black masked silver brindle. It was fun getting to and from the vet’s office – we’re under a severe winter storm warning, and the roads I drove on were basically slicks of ice, in several places.

Everyone is doing well, but Tula has some rather worrisome cyst like growths on her uterus. We’ll be spaying her in ten weeks, per the vet’s instructions – she was reluctant to do it now, and prefers to wait for the uterus to be less engorged before she removes it. Hopefully, the spay will take care of whatever the growths are – but some crossed fingers wouldn’t hurt.

Tula is, as always, being a doting and attentive mother.

Photos below, or on Flickr.

Creating a Race of Circus Dogs

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Tula Jumps the Fence

Tula Jumps the Fence

The other night I did what I usually do while cleaning, and tossed Dexter outside into the fenced yard. It’s fenced with five foot chain link on three sides, and a 4 1’2 foot stone retaining wall on the fourth. The only dog it hasn’t been able to hold is Tula, who we discovered could – and would – happily scale the wall if it meant she could get to where I was at. Thankfully, unless I’m outside the yard, Tula never bothers to try to escape, and she’s never allowed access to this part of the yard if I’m not at home and watching her.

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Weaning Puppies Onto Raw

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Luke enjoying his first solid meal.

Luke enjoying his first solid meal.

Tula’s pups have been nibbling at her dinner the last few days, so we decided it was high time to wean them. I tend to feel less of a rush for weaning when I’m dealing with a mom like Tula, who has remained fat and happy throughout this entire litter. Her kids are both chubby and healthy, and Tula is still flowing with milk. Still, all good things come to end, and it’s time for Luke and Leah* to start eating solid food.

In the ‘old days’, I weaned onto rice pablum mixed with goat’s milk, eventually adding in some raw meat. The last few litters, however, I’ve gone straight to raw and the pups seem to just love it.

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