Puppies are Active Today!

Here is Kit this afternoon enjoying the warm weather and sunshine.

Kit's pups are so active today that it was very easy to feel them moving by holding my hand on her side while she was laying down. If Kit is on schedule, pups should be here this week. She made me a bit nervous this afternoon by nesting under my computer desk and by seriously eyeing my closet as if she was scoping out places to give birth. Tomorrow, after our visit to the vets, we will hopefully have some idea of how close they are to arriving. I am really excited about learning the number of pups. People have estimated all kinds of numbers, but 9 seems to have the most votes thus far.

Today, Kit helped me cook a delicious (her word) chicken stock for her. While mothers are giving birth, it is a good idea to give them meat stock to drink because they love it and the stock has more nutrients than water. Girls need to stay hydrated and take in nutrients while they are whelping. In addition to the stock, Kit will have condensed milk with egg yolk while she is whelping to help keep her energy up and assist with milk production. Tomorrow, after the vet, Kit will supervise the cooking of a beef stock so that she has a choice of flavors in case she decides to be finicky. She has been really picky about what she will eat lately. Here are some things that she has deigned to eat in the past week: no onion meat and vegetable lasagna, chicken stew, linguini with clam sauce, cheese toast, strawberry yoghurt, peeled apples, raw carrots, cheese and collard greens omelet, and a variety of canned dog food. While she would not normally be eating this much "people" food, all of these things are nutritious and our vet recommends keeping Kit eating whatever she is willing to eat at this point.