The pups turned one week old last night. They have grown significantly, even the little guy. The first time we were able to get a good weight in them was 10/8 and by then they were 4 days old. The scale I bought to use for them turned out to be a bit light weight for squiring greyhound pups. As of today, yesterday they weigh between 1.13 to 1.97 pounds. The lightest being the small looking one with the dark muzzle, light fur on his head and dark colored back. He was very clearly the runt of the litter, but he makes up for his size with sheer determination. The largest pup is the solid bluish male with white circle around his neck. He is close to 2 pounds and feels every bit of that weight. He is also the first one to the milk supply whenever the 4 legged milk bar shows up and he is not shy about pushing the others out of the way.
Since this is the first time my family and I have had pups, let alone greyhound pups, we are noticing things that the mom or pups do that seem maybe unique. First, they are loud! When they are not stone cold out they are always making noises. They grunt, squeal and chirp constantly. I have a video of them nursing that shows what I mean if I can figure out how to get it on the website. They are busy! Again, when not in a milk stupor they are off and moving somewhere, everywhere, nowhere. Today, I added 2 heating bags since they were getting too cold when mom went on walk about around the house or to get some rest. They immediately noticed them. They went to smell them and then nuzzle on the surface. Before long they were trying to get inside the covers. Now mind you they are doing this without being able to see as they are still too young. They also are learning to have bowel movements on their own so they grunt about that too and deposit some very stinky snail looking piles that mom get real insulted if the humans clean up.
One of the biggest handicaps to having young pups is trying to keep them warm. They are warm enough nestled up to mom, but all mom's need a break at times and it is getting colder in Salt Lake city. The recommended ambient temperature is between 88 and 92 and this time of year we are far from that. So my office is now running at 80 degrees plus they have a couple of electric heating pad plus their new friends the microwave heating pads. Personally, I like my room at about 65 for sleeping but that won’t work for the cubs so between the heat and jungle noises it make a good night’s sleep a bit rough.
I have noticed two things that are pretty much greyhound classic moves and I think they come by them naturally. One is the sleeping on the back with the feet in all directions. Most of the pups are now capable of doing that. The other is the greyhound hug. They do that all the time, awake or asleep.
Next step is to give these kids some GreySave names and identify them with collars if needed for the ones that look alike so you can tell who is having all the fun, who is the big climber, who likes to sleep on mom and who is always first to the milk bar.
Since this is the first time my family and I have had pups, let alone greyhound pups, we are noticing things that the mom or pups do that seem maybe unique. First, they are loud! When they are not stone cold out they are always making noises. They grunt, squeal and chirp constantly. I have a video of them nursing that shows what I mean if I can figure out how to get it on the website. They are busy! Again, when not in a milk stupor they are off and moving somewhere, everywhere, nowhere. Today, I added 2 heating bags since they were getting too cold when mom went on walk about around the house or to get some rest. They immediately noticed them. They went to smell them and then nuzzle on the surface. Before long they were trying to get inside the covers. Now mind you they are doing this without being able to see as they are still too young. They also are learning to have bowel movements on their own so they grunt about that too and deposit some very stinky snail looking piles that mom get real insulted if the humans clean up.
One of the biggest handicaps to having young pups is trying to keep them warm. They are warm enough nestled up to mom, but all mom's need a break at times and it is getting colder in Salt Lake city. The recommended ambient temperature is between 88 and 92 and this time of year we are far from that. So my office is now running at 80 degrees plus they have a couple of electric heating pad plus their new friends the microwave heating pads. Personally, I like my room at about 65 for sleeping but that won’t work for the cubs so between the heat and jungle noises it make a good night’s sleep a bit rough.
I have noticed two things that are pretty much greyhound classic moves and I think they come by them naturally. One is the sleeping on the back with the feet in all directions. Most of the pups are now capable of doing that. The other is the greyhound hug. They do that all the time, awake or asleep.
Next step is to give these kids some GreySave names and identify them with collars if needed for the ones that look alike so you can tell who is having all the fun, who is the big climber, who likes to sleep on mom and who is always first to the milk bar.
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