Two nights without much sleep, and I'm in zombie mode. With the wind rattling through the cottage on Wednesday, there was no way I could sleep. I lay there on the camp bed and remembered similar nights in Dec 13 - Jan 14 whilst Ziva nursed her "I" litter. Of course "that photo" came to mind and I had to find it. The pups had outgrown the whelping box, but it was before the days of our puppy pens and Steve had done a make-shift area in front of the box. The pups had been playing with their toys and fallen asleep in the pen, Ziva collected the toys and took them under the heat lamp to play with herself. Of course, I captured the moment.
Last night, gusts of up to 80 miles an hour had been forecast. I had a glass of gin, probably my first since new year, with some flat tonic and got under the duvet ... apparently the wind was horrendous, but for us it was less dramatic than the previous night. So I could have slept well, but before 2am Opal started to scream. I watched Siska ignore her and decided to follow her natural instincts for a while, but as the noise continued, I couldn't help but be concerned. I wondered if she had wind and sat in the box rubbing her belly till she settled. I put her down and within minutes she was off again, Siska who had been so sensitive to their screams before continued to ignore her, but I just couldn't. I picked her up and took her onto the camp bed, of course that didn't please Siska and she too came onto the camp bed to supervise me. I continued to pat Opal's belly till she again fell asleep and I put her back in the box, Siska followed her in and Opal went to feed and fell asleep. It was about 3.30am by then and as I've said before that time of night you feel so alone and overthink. Not a healthy combination for sleep. Steve said, well it was probably just colic, like in babies, well he'd know about babies, I wouldn't! LOL Of course, yesterday was day two of the panacur, so maybe that didn't help!
I was unable to get goat yogurt in Tesco or Morrisons today, I got Goat Milk instead. I've never used it but I'll have to make a mixture of it and the puppy food to give them just a taste of something different over the weekend. There is no rush as they are doing well, but even on 4 meals a day Siska is looking lean as these pups thrive.
It will be another week of dramatic changes and it's now time to ask close friends for help. Whilst it's not time for people to sit and cuddle the pups, it is time for Siska to adapt and allow other people in to see them. A very important time in bringing up puppies, making sure "mum" is happy, calm and relaxed with people she is knows visiting her family. Sadly, this important time coincides with Sharon being in Scotland on holiday, but Linda for one is more than happy to help.
