Puppy Update

The pups got to spend about 5 hours upstairs with us today. The day started with a game of tug-o-war. In the pictures below, Donald has the yellow leg wrap with two blue spats, Daisy has the white wrap with one blue and one brown spat, and Pluto has no leg wraps.

I was able to get a nice portrait of Daisy. The inset shows what she looked on the day she came to us. All of the pups have come a long way and their transformation is remarkable. Is she beautiful, or what!?

After their romp the pups went to Harriett’s office for more play and a short nap.

Harriett took this shot looking straight down at the pups as they napped on the couch in her office. Pluto is at the top, Donald is on the left, and Daisy is on the right.

They play pretty rough sometimes, but they sure like to snuggle with each other! Here’s Pluto using Daisy as a pillow.

Today’s Photos

The pups are getting private time upstairs with us every day we can manage it. Pluto gets one large block of time, Donald and Daisy get two smaller blocks each so we can give them time without their splints to help strengthen their leg muscles.

Donald

Daisy

Pluto

Pluto

Pluto got to spend some time upstairs with us today. He helped us clean the house. You can see he was a big help. Let’s just say that dusting is not his forte.

Pluto is quite a character. He’s very curious and playful. He’s also turning out to be a very handsome dog.

This is what he looked like when we got him. Once again, Harriett and I would like to thank the people who sponsored these pups. Your generosity made it easier for CCHS to provide the medical care they so desperately needed.

Halloween Toy

Here’s the toy the pups were given for Halloween. It managed to survive an epic 3-way Tug-O-War. There was quite a discussion in the chat during PuppyCam as to what this was. If you know, leave us a comment and tell us what it is.

Nora Ann

Nora Ann was is in foster care with us while she is being transferred from Champaign County Animal Services to the Champaign County Humane Society. She’s a gorgeous Yellow Lab. Harriett wrote up a list of Nora’s traits:

• As you can see from the photos, she is beautiful!
• Nora is about 9 months old.  She weighs 47 pounds.
• She is good with other dogs.
• She is crate trained. She is crated when we leave the house and at night.
• She is mostly house trained.
• Nora has pretty good house manners.  She gets excited and jumps up but that can be worked on.
• I was able to trim Nora's toe nails without assistance.
• She is very food motivated and that is turning in to a quick study for training.
• She loves to retrieve.
• She is good with food around other dogs.  She can stand in a treat line with our dogs and take her turn.
• I can take food and toys from her. 
• She likes to cuddle.

As a young Labrador she has a lot of energy, but it’s not difficult to channel. She’s a great, ball-crazy retriever and a lot of fun to play with. We’ve also been working with her on “Sit” and “Come” commands. Nora sometimes takes a little while to warm up to new people, and we don’t know how she is with children.

Nora will be available from the Champaign County Humane Society starting Wednesday, November 4.

Hair Update

I thought you may like to have a look at how Daisy's hair is coming in. Daisy had the worst skin when we got the pups and had virtually no hair, except on her tail. She's turning out to be a very attractive dog!

These pictures were taken this afternoon, while she was upstairs helping Harriett make jam.

The transformation over the last month has been remarkable.

This is where she started…

Afternoon Play Time

Harriett lets the pups out every afternoon to feed them and clean their room before we start broadcasting on PuppyCam. Since we’re going to Oskee Boo Wow tonight she gave them some extra play time. Here’s Donald getting in a few snuggles with Harriett on the couch. Is he handsome, or what?

Tug-O-War is a favorite game. Pluto’s on the left, Donald in the center, and Daisy on the right.

Pluto and Donald enjoy mouth games, the favorite activity of every litter we have ever had.

Daisy is worn out after a long series of chasing games with Pluto. Look at that hair! She’s going to be as beautiful as her mother.

Thank you, Sponsors!

Thanks to a gift in memory of Mickey, Tess and all of the puppies have been fully sponsored. The sponsorships raised $1,002 to go toward the medical bills of this family. The $2 is from a little boy who gave his mother two one dollar bills to enclose with her check. Isn’t that great? We appreciate the show of support. The sponsorships really make a difference and today we have a very good example.

This morning the pups went to the shelter to see Dr. Stone for their fortnightly checkup. Overall the puppies are improving. They are all gaining weight. Donald and Daisy’s carpal joints are straightening. Their skin looks better and they’re getting hair. However, the skin scraping showed that there are still live demodectic mites. The conventional treatment for demodectic mange is to use a drug called Ivermectin over a long period of time to kill the mites and a series of baths, one every three days, for the duration of the treatment. This is a time-tested treatment plan for cases like these. Ivermectin is a relatively inexpensive drug and the pups have been on this therapy for a month. It works, but it’s slow and labor intensive.

There’s a drug called ProMeris^® that has been approved for the treatment of demodectic mange and would probably work faster than Ivermectin. The problem is that ProMeris is expensive—too expensive for the Shelter to buy it on a regular basis. But because of the sponsorships we were able to buy the doses we need to treat all four pups as well as their mother. Thanks to Caring Hands Animal Hospital in Urbana, CCHS was able to buy the doses they needed at the lowest price.

Sponsors, you can be proud that your generosity has made a difference to these animals. They’d give you all a lick on the nose if they could! Thank you.

Hair!

The pups are getting hair! Check out Daisy’s face in the photo above. The red hairs are clearly visible under her eye, on the side of her muzzle and on her cheek under the ear. This is especially nice because Daisy had the worst skin when we got her and was completely bald except for her tail.

We’re hoping this is a sign that we have stopped the mange mites from causing further damage. The puppies have a checkup on Friday with Dr. Stone, the CCHS Veterinarian. Dr. Stone will do a skin scraping and use the microscope to look for mites. I hope she doesn’t find any.

Donald (above left) and Pluto (above right) are also getting hair. Hair is also showing up on the shoulders and hips.