1 Day Old - Weigh-ins Begin

The girls with Maddie, you can see the pink nail polish that
helps us identify each puppy

Today we start the daily weigh-ins for the puppies. To help ensure that all my puppies are getting adequate nutrition and that they are healthy and gaining weight I have made a habit of weighing them every day.

When the puppies were born I weighed each one and recorded this information. I also used a little bit of nail polish to mark each puppy so that I can know who is who. For example, the boys are marked with green polish, the first boy has a mark on his head, the second on his shoulder and the third on his back. The girls are marked with pink polish in a similar fashion. I will continue to reapply the polish when it wears off until they go to their new homes. It has proven to be an easy and safe way for me to identify each puppy.


The boys, marked with green polish

Twice a day I will put each puppy on the scale, not only to check their weight but this is also a time for me to look at each one well to make sure they are developing correctly. If I notice that a puppy hasn't gained weight between weigh-ins I will give him some alone time with Maddie to make sure he has a chance to fill his tummy.

I had weighed each puppy last night and as expected they each had lost about an ounce since birth. This morning it is great to see that they are all almost back to their birth weight and two of the males are now heavier than they were at birth!

We are now nursing in two groups. Each group gets about two hours with Maddie and then two hours under another heat lamp. This makes it easier for the puppies to find a place to nurse and the smaller piles makes it less likely that Maddie will lay on a puppy when she moves around.

The girls again, I like that you can see the cute little face of the last puppy.