He's here!
I finally got my beautiful little baby boy home. He's 7,5 weeks old and weighs little less than 2,5kg (he didn't really stay too long on the scale today, I'll try again tomorrow). He's a tri colored pup called Luka. I'm sorry I can't share photos, I'm not any public photo sharing site. All I can do is tell you he's a darn handsome little man 
He's been home for 24 hours so it's a very short time for observations, but he seems to be scratching quite a lot. He scratches the region of his eyes and ears and nibbles his legs and torso with his teeth. A couple of times he's been scratching and whining at the same time, like it hurts to scratch his ear (or the region – I'm not sure it's exactly the ear he's aiming for). He does this maybe every five minutes or so, five seconds at a time. He doesn't wake up to scratch. He also lets me put my finger gently in his ear and then leans into it like it feels good to have someone scratching the inside of his ear. (Don't worry! I'm not hurting him by scraping him with my fingernails! I've just done this a couple of times to see whether his ears itch or not, and it seems like they do, at least a bit.) He also rubs his eyes with his paws every now and again. His ears look completely healthy and clean, as does his skin. I know pups can scratch when they're overwhelmed, but I don't think that's it.
Another thing – what is a pup's fur supposed to be like? His fur is so thick it's hard to see the skin, but it feels dry. Not rough or hard, very soft and cuddly, but dry. It also doesn't shine, at all. Is it supposed to?
He Pure Natural Puppy Chicken. He also gets some minced meat and sour milk to make the kibbles more tasty. This is what the breeder also gave him, except that he gave the meat raw and I cook it. He eats okay but very little, maybe 15-20g of kibbles at a time, so I've decided to give him food four or maybe even five times a day, not three, even though that was what the breeder recommended.
His poo varies between soft formed and a soft ”mud cake”. Right now he's pooping every two hours and they're all mud cakes. I made the mistake of giving him a slice of pig's ear today, so that might be the reason for his diarrhea right now. His poo was little soft yesterday at he's breeder's house, also, so it can't be just the journey and stress causing it. Also, when he poos he first gets outs a lot, and then he keeps pushing and pushing, and a few drops come out then. He does this every time, not matter if the poo is formed or not. Sometimes he even rapidly sits like he's trying to sweep his but after the first big poo. Does this mean there's something wrong? He's been wormed x2. And how long can he keep doing these mud cakes before I should call the vet? I really don't want to make any unnecessary vet visits before he gets his shots, but I'm a afraid that a little boy like him might dehydrate fast, especially since he's not drinking very much. I give the kibbles wet right now.
I'm going to ask the breeder about the scratching and whether he's done it for long, but I can't count on his expertise only, because – even though he absolutely loves these pups and did everything he could for them – this is his first litter by his first sheltie.
I'm just a little worried that he might have some sort of an allergy. Or maybe just dry skin? I know it might be good to give him some fish oil, but since he's stomach isn't completely okay as it is I'm afraid to give him anything new.
Pure Natural Puppy:
Chicken (28%), chicken meat meal (22%), white rice, oat, barley, trout, salmon, chicken fat, prairie meal, chicken gravy, beet pulp, minerals, Vitamins, Linseed, Seaweed, cranberry, Stinging Nettle, Mannanoligosaccharides, Fructooligosaccharides, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Psylliun Seed husks, Beta Carotene
It should be a good quality kibble. Right now I'm going to keep with Pure Natural, but if his tummy doesn't improve I might have to switch.
Wow, that was a long message. Sorry!
I finally got my beautiful little baby boy home. He's 7,5 weeks old and weighs little less than 2,5kg (he didn't really stay too long on the scale today, I'll try again tomorrow). He's a tri colored pup called Luka. I'm sorry I can't share photos, I'm not any public photo sharing site. All I can do is tell you he's a darn handsome little man He's been home for 24 hours so it's a very short time for observations, but he seems to be scratching quite a lot. He scratches the region of his eyes and ears and nibbles his legs and torso with his teeth. A couple of times he's been scratching and whining at the same time, like it hurts to scratch his ear (or the region – I'm not sure it's exactly the ear he's aiming for). He does this maybe every five minutes or so, five seconds at a time. He doesn't wake up to scratch. He also lets me put my finger gently in his ear and then leans into it like it feels good to have someone scratching the inside of his ear. (Don't worry! I'm not hurting him by scraping him with my fingernails! I've just done this a couple of times to see whether his ears itch or not, and it seems like they do, at least a bit.) He also rubs his eyes with his paws every now and again. His ears look completely healthy and clean, as does his skin. I know pups can scratch when they're overwhelmed, but I don't think that's it.
Another thing – what is a pup's fur supposed to be like? His fur is so thick it's hard to see the skin, but it feels dry. Not rough or hard, very soft and cuddly, but dry. It also doesn't shine, at all. Is it supposed to?
He Pure Natural Puppy Chicken. He also gets some minced meat and sour milk to make the kibbles more tasty. This is what the breeder also gave him, except that he gave the meat raw and I cook it. He eats okay but very little, maybe 15-20g of kibbles at a time, so I've decided to give him food four or maybe even five times a day, not three, even though that was what the breeder recommended.
His poo varies between soft formed and a soft ”mud cake”. Right now he's pooping every two hours and they're all mud cakes. I made the mistake of giving him a slice of pig's ear today, so that might be the reason for his diarrhea right now. His poo was little soft yesterday at he's breeder's house, also, so it can't be just the journey and stress causing it. Also, when he poos he first gets outs a lot, and then he keeps pushing and pushing, and a few drops come out then. He does this every time, not matter if the poo is formed or not. Sometimes he even rapidly sits like he's trying to sweep his but after the first big poo. Does this mean there's something wrong? He's been wormed x2. And how long can he keep doing these mud cakes before I should call the vet? I really don't want to make any unnecessary vet visits before he gets his shots, but I'm a afraid that a little boy like him might dehydrate fast, especially since he's not drinking very much. I give the kibbles wet right now.
I'm going to ask the breeder about the scratching and whether he's done it for long, but I can't count on his expertise only, because – even though he absolutely loves these pups and did everything he could for them – this is his first litter by his first sheltie.
I'm just a little worried that he might have some sort of an allergy. Or maybe just dry skin? I know it might be good to give him some fish oil, but since he's stomach isn't completely okay as it is I'm afraid to give him anything new.
Pure Natural Puppy:
Chicken (28%), chicken meat meal (22%), white rice, oat, barley, trout, salmon, chicken fat, prairie meal, chicken gravy, beet pulp, minerals, Vitamins, Linseed, Seaweed, cranberry, Stinging Nettle, Mannanoligosaccharides, Fructooligosaccharides, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Psylliun Seed husks, Beta Carotene
It should be a good quality kibble. Right now I'm going to keep with Pure Natural, but if his tummy doesn't improve I might have to switch.
Wow, that was a long message. Sorry!
