Great News

Renee can nurse her puppies!  Last night when Renee came home she was terribly upset to not see her puppies and was looking for them all night.  So this morning we reintroduced them, careful to not let the puppies nurse.  She was SO happy to see her babies.  Each one got a good tongue bath before feedings with the bottle.  Interestingly Renee's udders began to drip while she was caring for her puppies.  Clearly she still has milk, despite having the puppies off her so long and all the trauma she's been through.  So, I called the vet's office to find out when her milk might be clear of medications.  Turns out she had been on the safest pain med they had, and the meds should be out of her system in 24 hours from her last dose.  Since that was 8:00 am yesterday, the puppies finally got to nurse on Renee again.

Renee with the first set of puppies to be allowed to nurse.

Now Renee hasn't got enough to feed everyone yet, but that should come in a few days.  If not, we are prepared to supplement with bottles in addition to her own milk.

The second set of puppies getting a bit of milk.

I was to give a HUGE thank-you to Pierry Mclean from Royal Canin.  She heard of our situation through the grapevine, and offered us a ton of formula for the puppies.  While with Renee beginning to nurse again, we probably won't need it all, we are so thankful for the help.  The left-over formula will be donated to rescue once we have no further need of it.

And now for the fun part.  Lots of photos of happy puppies and mommy.

Orange chowing down.

Red hiding behind Renee's leg

Four happy puppies.

Renee giving everyone a once-over.

Bum wash time.

It's good stuff.