One-week old beagle puppies nursing!

One of the most amazing things about Tobie was her instinct to care and protect her puppies after they were born. We never knew that she had this in her.

As she laid down at her side, tired after her night-long ordeal with going in and out of labour, we observed as the entire litter whined for milk from their mother. Frantic and concerned, we prepared our own milk replacers for the puppies, and tried to feed them via a small puppy feader bottle. Surprizingly, these pups weren't too interested in what we had to offer. Obviously, they preferred mom's milk.

Tobie kept busy during the first week of being a mom, feeding and cleaning her puppies regularly. As her owners, the loving Beagle we had just a few days ago was no longer her. There were no more Beagle poses, no more relational pats, and no more playing games with Murfee, our other dog. She looked to us only to let her out, or as her source of food. Her personality changed overnight, and her priority now was obviously her 6 adorable puppies.

Of course, the upside to this was that we hardly had to do much cleaning, except to change the newspapers and the sheets we had for them. Tobie took care of all her puppies' needs. Diligently, she woke them up with gentle nudges when it was time for a meal, and licked them clean thereafter. Newborn puppies needed to be stimulated to poo and pee.

Diet-wise, Tobie seemed to have lost weight although we fed her 3 times as much, and provided supplements of milk replacer, calcium and Nutripet. Obviously, all her puppies are well-nourished and active. They are growing up fast and twitch when they sleep. It has been a different scene each week, and their features and personalities are starting to surface.

Physically, they had been all born black and white, (brown tones in beagles start to emerge as they grow up). Gradually, parts of the black on their shoulders and face are turning tan, just like their mom. We have even named them! More pup personality tales in my next post!