3 weeks old

 The puppies are progressing beautifully, at 3 weeks old they are very content babies especially now that they have started on solid food (raw meat).  Florin doesn't spend a huge amount of time with them now but there are still occasions when she chooses to just lie down and relax with them, mostly it's down to basic care, a quick feed and clean and then off to do something more interesting. Interesting has recently included chewing 2 pairs of my glasses up, something that in her 7 years she has never done anything like before! I'm hoping it's just hormones and a one off. 

The web cam runs every day, the start time varies according to how my morning goes but it is generally on before noon and until at least 10pm. It should be more engaging now as the pups have a larger area available to them and they are starting toi interact with each other more. Please bear in mind that although I am about all day to check on the puppies I'm not sitting with them 24/7 so sometimes the pen will not be perfectly clean as there is a lot of pee and poo at this stage :) 

Webcam

 Thanks to a good friend, with far more computer know how and patience than I possess,  the webcam is up and running. It should be live between about 10/11am every morning until 9/10pm. Here's the link for today or click the puppy cam link to the right of this page. https://www.youtube.com/live/9NKrFqjJ1HE?si=2FpDcNu3KrsGt8-n

Picture just because :) 

Puppies :)

 It's been a long 48hrs for Florin and myself, she started 1st stage labour Sunday evening and her puppies started to arrive at 4:30 am today. She has 5 perfect puppies, 1 white girl, 1 blue girl, 2 blue boys and 1 white boy all of which are strong and all have fed well. Unfortunately this is not enough puppies to please everyone on my waiting list so I will be going through details in the next 24hrs. For those who have missed out this time I can give you details of a friend who is mating her stunning blue girl (Cash baby), who has been shown very successfully over the last couple of years, to a superb white dog. These are just a few quick pictures as I've had just 4 hrs sleep since Sunday and also I don't like to interfere too much with new families. I also have to apologise as I am having technical issues getting the web cam up and running. Unless I can find someone to help me sort it I won't be able to get it going which will be such a shame as I love that people can normally follow th epups progress so closely with it. 

Puppies on the way :)

 At the beginning of March Florin went on a dirty weekend with a very handsome white lad from Italy (though he now resides in the UK) Samarcanda Michelangelo Rosacamuna. I am delighted to say that this liaison was successful and puppies were confirmed by scan today :) We are expecting whites and blues with a slim chance of silvers. 

 

Florin

 Just a very quick update, Voodoo is in season so that should mean Florin will come in within the next fortnight or so. All being well she will be visiting a lovely white boy when the time is right. I'll post further updates in due course :) 

Microwave, planned litter and meeting the Queen :)

 Kenjis kittens should all have left us in December, but a week or two before they had their 2nd vaccinations I noticed that Microwave (my daughter chooses kitten names!) was breathing faster than he should be. At the time of vaccination I mentioned this to the vet  along with the possibility of him having funnel chest (https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/musculoskeletal/pectus-excavatum-cats) who agreed that his respiratory rate was fast, but as he appeared to be in excellent health, heart sounded good, exercise tolerance was fine, no coughing and he has an extremely good appetite so we decided to just monitor him initially. A week or so later I was still concerned so we took some xrays. My own vets couldn't see anything obvious so they sent them to a specialist. The specialist initially said all looked normal and recommended we do an ultrasound of his diaphragm, but later phoned back to say on closer inspection they felt he had a very mild case of funnel chest which he would hopefully mature out of. Despite this I felt I wanted further confirmation that there was nothing else going on so I had the ultrasound done. This was inconclusive as the liver was obscuring some of the detail so it is still possible the diaphragm was torn and that the liver was blocking the tear. Based on this the decision was made to keep him with us, at least until he is neutered next month when he will be xrayed and ultrasound examined again. 

He is one of the best kittens I have bred with regard to personality, he's bright as a button and adores human company. He has taught himself to play fetch which he will do for long periods of time :) He will also launch himself at you if you stand near him in order that he can hitch a ride on your shoulders. 

Despite the seemingly never ending rain we've had over the last couple of months we've managed some lovely walks, including Dartmoor as for part of November it is sheep free which means we can take everybody rather than just one or two :) 

Of course we have also had some lovely beach walks. I am currently waiting for Florin to come into season, due next month. The hope is that she will be mated with an imported white boy, a complete outcross which will hopefully give me a girl to keep. Please get in contact if you would like to be included on the waiting list for these pups.

Had to add this in, I can't take any credit other than breeding Fenton, all the hard work of making him an exceptional therapy dog goes to his owner Sharon, but I have to share the fact that one of my puppies not only met the Queen, but in her words was the star of the visit :)