One litter update 2-23-01 go home stuff

[Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>]

Everyone is eating better this morning than they did last night.  No 
surprise, yesterday was a stressful day for the One litter, the long car 
ride, crates, different environments.  Away from home for like 8 
hours.  Not a peep out of anyone all night, they totally sawed the log last 
night.  Me too! :-)   We are all hell on wheels this AM correction, well 
they are...

Just a note though, with Coccidia, puppies can turn their nose up at 
food.  They won't seam sick just not interested in food.  Eating is of 
course important but hey it's not like they will waste away if they miss a 
meal here and there or just pick.  But it's important that you don't take 
this to a new level and create a picky eater out of concern for a puppy who 
just doesn't feel like eating a full meal.  Yes you have to baby them and 
perhaps provide a diffrent food but don't go over board with this.

For example, when lt blue last week didn't want to eat I made a note, and a 
few hours later I tried again.  Still didn't want to eat, so I let him go 
the evening with out a full meal.  In the AM he was still not really 
excited about the litter food so I fixed him a scrambled egg and a 
tablespoon of cottage cheese. Yum, gone, I guess it could have been the 
smell.   By the next feeding he was ready to eat some of the regular food 
and did so I did not supplement him again.  Even if he had not wanted to 
eat that meal I would not have again made him a special meal.  I would have 
again waited him out a bit.  He now eats with the best of them, but even 
the best of them don't finish every meal I serve them. BTW trying to feed 
these guys individually proved to be un doable so they are eating in a 
litter situation, so when they come home you will have to judge on amounts 
and if they are eating full meals or not.  Here is my advise:

Feed these guys 2 X a day THEY DO NOT NEED TO EAT 3 TIMES A DAY.  They will 
eat better if they are hungry, so don't snack them, at first and please 
just feed 2 times a day...  Follow my previous guidelines for kibble and 
meat balls, for those who are feeding kibble and for raw please follow the 
raw directions.  If you get concerned, do the cottage cheese  scrambled egg 
meal and or CALL me!

Ok got to zip as I have puppies to take care of!!!

Gina