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The puppies are just starting to open their eyes…..

Soon they’ll be introduced to solid food…well not really solid…it’s more of a sloppy/gloppy gruel…..

But before that occurs…I thought I would add a pictorial post of what an average tube-feeding meal entails…..

The puppies are fat and thriving…but they haven’t figured out it’s the tube-feeding process that fills their bellies…and makes them happy…..

They don’t like it…I can’t blame them…I wouldn’t hold still either…..

They’ve become extremely adept at clamping their toothless gums tight…while swiping the tubing out of their mouth…and sometimes out of our hands…with their chubby little paws…..

They’re very dexterous little dudes…..

Fortunately I can out-wait their attention span…it’s surprisingly short…..

…..I’m not one to criticize…at least their’s is shorter than mine…..

We mark the necessary length of the stomach tube with a permanent marker…that’s REALLY important…..

…..you want to make sure that you carefully introduce the tube down their throat…and into their stomach…..

Otherwise it can quickly become disastrous…..

You want the feeding tube in the stomach…not the lungs…..

*****(Basic Tube-Feeding Instructions)*****

And then…in the perfect world…you cuddle the puppy…while you gently express the syringe’s plunger…full of delicious…nutritious…warm goodness into their tummy-tum-kins…..

…..That’s the Perfect World…..

We don’t live in the perfect world here…I’ve never found the off-ramp for that destination…..

All of our puppies (from all of the litters who have required tube-feeding) are squirming/slippery maniacs…..

They don’t hold still…even when they’re swaddled in a towel…and clamped between your knees…on your lap…..

They are scratching…and flailing…and sticky…and totally non-compliant with aggravated attitudes…..

And then the tube shoots off the syringe…and splatters everything in milk and Karo syrup and yogurt and egg yolk…..

…..(it really conditions and adds volume to my hair…while moisturizing my skin…and the walls)…..

Like I said…I can’t blame them…..

…..but it makes a calculated scary endeavor…even more of a terrifying experience…..

I love the middle of the night feedings best…when your totally exhausted…and after you’re done…you’re expected to immediately relax & go back to sleep…to be ready for the next tube feeding…..

And don’t even ask me about enemas for constipated puppies…I don’t want to talk about it…..

I always look forward to this point…in any litter…..

…..when they are ready for solid food….and regular bowels…..

And I can get a good night’s sleep again…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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