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| Miss Poppy. |
“Let There Be
Light”
It was early and
the sun was inching its way across the morning sky. Its rays enveloped the room
bathing her body with warmth as she lay slumbering. She roused and slowly
struggled to her feet turning toward the French doors that led to the patio. Suddenly
Miss Lily shrieked as if to say, “Good Lord, mom. I can see!” Puppies are born
with their eyes closed to help protect them in the in the womb, during birth
and beyond. They open around day twelve allowing the puppies initially to only
differentiate between light and dark. The haze clears over a week or so and they
begin to experience normal sight. They are able to hear quite well as soon as
their ears have opened but it will take some time before the little ones can figure
out what it is they’re hearing.
What Miss Lily and
the mini-pack may not have realized was that they have now been moved from the
bedroom area to a big bright space in the living room. Mango however is still
unsatisfied and continues to search the property to find alternate living
arrangements for her brood, usually attempting to dig them herself. This has
necessitated numerous footbaths for mom. The puppies, on the other hand are
unfazed. They still enjoy their luxurious sleep, in a variety of positions no
less – sometimes like cars piled atop one another at an auto wrecker and other
times arranged like a virtually perfect pinwheel. But sleep isn’t all fun and
games. As they lay there, the puppies are constantly twitching in a state known
as “activated sleep”. These involuntary actions serve to strengthen
their leg muscles to help get them on their feet.
Mealtime is always
entertaining and as the group gets more established, their need to chant for
their dinner has been alleviated somewhat. Mr. Ivy on the other hand, sometimes
just likes to announce his presence with a wail that James Brown might have
envied. When the pups notice that their mom has brought the milk truck around,
they scurry around to jockey for a good spot at the counter. They nurse with a
marked exuberance, their tiny fists pumping their mom’s reservoirs urging the
vital nectar to flow. This has culminated in each puppy more than tripling
their birth weight.
Now that two weeks have passed, Mango is enjoying a bit of a
reprieve and chooses to sleep beside the whelping box, but she unfailingly
attends to her flock’s every need. We’ve added some stuffed toys to the
whelping box to help the puppies get accustomed to navigating around and over
objects. The presence of toys pleases Mango as well as she can occasionally be
seen removing one to cuddle with it on the sofa. Good times!
That’s
it for now, but be sure to join us next week for another riveting installment
of “Puppy Tales”.
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