Mango and Steele’s Litter – Week Two
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| Miss Rose - Two Weeks Old! |
Mango still doesn’t realize what a plush space she’s got for herself and her seven little pups. Periodically, when she’s in the yard on one of her breaks, she insists on perfecting the hole she created under a large tree. Sadly, we don’t think she’ll strike oil in that spot, but at the rate she’s going, we’ll need a backhoe to fill it in when she’s done.
The puppies are a happy and content bunch spending most of their time eating, sleeping and staggering around the whelping box on their rubbery limbs. Many have achieved three times their birth weight and don’t look like they could possibly have popped out of their mom such a short while ago. We weigh the puppies at least once a day for the first three weeks; one of the highlights of our day.
On the weekend, we thought that Mr. Tangerine might like a little private time with his mom, but it turned out that Mango’s milk supply had been depleted. We were about to mix up some formula when it occurred to us that we had another milk truck, named Maddie, parked just down the hall so we decided to take him out for some “fast food”. We had Maddie lie down and latched Mr. Tangerine onto one of her nipples along with one or two of Maddie’s own puppies. She gave him a good sniffing and looked him over very carefully, but decided to let him stay. Not only did the little guy nurse for a solid twenty minutes, but he actually drained three of Maddie’s reservoirs. What a good sport she was and what a big boy he’s becoming.
The puppies have no reservations about letting themselves be heard. They achieve this with a cacophony of sounds ranging from squeaky plush toys to seagulls to a family of pigeons as they coo very gently to express their contentment. The puppies’ hearing is perfect soon after their ears have opened, but their eyes don’t actually open until the second week and their vision is somewhat blurred until week three. The first in this group to open her eyes was Miss Blueberry and the rest obliged soon thereafter. It’s interesting to watch them gaze in wonderment at the world unveiling itself around them.
That’s it for now, but be sure to join us next week for another fur-raising installment of “Puppy Tales”.
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