August 10

The runt had a huge health scare last night. Most of the day yesterday
he was reluctant to drink from a bottle. By yesterday afternoon, he
wouldn't drink from Annabelle. By last night when I tried snuggling
the family down for bed, Annabelle kept pushing the runt off to the
side. I started running through my whole bag of tricks. I put the
puppy in a sling and carried him around the house, keeping him close
to my body for comfort and warmth. The sling helps me keep track of
his situation on a moment by moment basis. One of the problems with
puppies at this age and size is that if they decide to go downhill, it
happens so quickly. After a few hours in the sling and several
attempts to feed him, I decided that he needed some rehydration. So
the poor runt got 2 shots of normal saline under his skin. When I gave
him the first shot, he didn't even make a noise. By the time he got
the second shot, he was doing well enough to let out a puppy cry. By
about 4-5am, Annabelle was interested in her pup again. This morning
he is back to his one on one feedings with mom. He may need a few
extra one on one feedings over the next few days, but he seems to be
okay for now.

With this runt not gaining weight like I would hope, I may have to
deworm him and his siblings earlier than I had anticipated, but last
night just showed me exactly how attached I am to these puppies. When
I didn't know what else to do, I broke down and was a big bucket of
tears. When I thought about injecting the normal saline, I was that
over the moon.I actually sang and skipped when the saline and syringes
were found. Then when he started feeding from Annabelle and she
started grooming him, I started crying again. I can't handle any more
nights like last night. The puppies need to be fat and healthy from
here on out!