Oh Yeah, You Blend

Since it’s a lovely warm day (and supposed to cool off significantly tonight), we took the puppies out one by one to let them sniff the whole new world of smells outside (they can’t see or hear yet, but they can smell!). This is always one of my favorite puppy things, because you can see the moment when they realize they’re smelling all kinds of things they’ve never smelled before (not that it’s difficult to have all kinds of new things when you’ve only been out in the world for 6 days!).

I managed to video Ruffles expanding her world, and you can really see, towards the end of the video, her taking in big sniffs of the new smells:

So I tried an experiment yesterday, I didn’t supplement Popcorn at all, and not only did she maintain, she even GAINED a little all on her own! I am so happy about that! I did supplement her today (as I will  start supplementing everyone, not so much for the nutrition, but for the bonding, learning early on to associate people with good things).

So here’s a video of Popcorn sponge feeding. What you do is this:

• use a cosmetics sponge which is latex free and made in North America
• cut the narrow end of the sponge into a size approximating the mother’s nipple
• cut an x shape into the wide end, big enough to insert an oral syringe
• rinse the sponge out well with water and then squeeze all the water out (I squeeze it in a paper towel to get as much water out as possible)
• saturate the sponge with warmed formula (I use home-made Myra’s formula, which is a balanced and calorie dense one)
• fill an oral syringe with the amount you’re feeding (roughly 1 cc per ounce of puppy weight every 4 hours or so for full feedings, I did less because I was just supplementing)
• I found that getting a bit of formula on the puppy’s mouth to start makes them interested in it (Popcorn has been doing this a few times a day for several days so she is a pro and knows what’s coming)
• I don’t hold it in once she’s latched on, I have my hand beside her to support her but she can spit the sponge out any time she wants to (spoiler alert: she doesn’t want to)
• insert the oral syringe in the wide end of the sponge (opposite the puppy) and gradually depress the plunger to keep the sponge saturated but not dripping
• watch carefully to make sure that formula doesn’t go up her nose!
• she has her front end up on a Snuggle Safe – partly so she doesn’t get chilled, and partly to elevate her front end, she is old enough that she is pretty skilled at nursing and not aspirating, but you want to be careful especially if the puppy is weak or compromised. When I first started feeding her like this I held the sponge higher up so she was at more of a 45 degree angle, now she’s fine to have it at whatever angle she prefers – I am just holding the sponge, she is deciding where it sits
• you will see her pawing at the sponge and my fingers, what she’s doing is kneading (like cats do) – puppies knead their mother’s teats to help the milk let down, and it’s an instinctive response when nursing (plus it’s pretty cute)
• At the end I gently squeeze the sponge to get the last of the formula into the puppy, she’d just nursed so she wasn’t starving (although she can always eat!), if she’s really hungry, she gets annoyed when I try to take the sponge away and squeaks
• Vallhund puppies look like otters wearing opera gloves