Puppy Survival Thread - April

[Doje]

Starting a new thread....

@HappyThursdays generally food, although sometimes there’s a little frothy stuff in with it (so gross) The first couple of times it was within half an hour of her eating which is why I assumed she’d eaten too quick, but recently it’s been within maybe 2 hours of eating it’s happened. She just seems so absolutely fine that I don’t think it’s possible she can be ill with it!

it's odd isn't it - is it timed with her worming tablet or something? We did ask the vet about Happy and she felt his tummy and said there didn't seem to be anything wrong but I am now wondering if it's to do with his worming tbh

poor pup @LostArcher, it is apparently doing the rounds in a lot of places :(. Hope she isn't too uncomfortable

When we brought pup home a few days ago she was more or less crate trained at night by the breeder. First night she slept through just whimpered once and out for toilet. Second night slept through. But I feel things are deteriorating and we are getting more whimpering more often and I am unsure whether to ignore or allow her out for toilet. Last night was pretty unsettled 🙁 and I am tired. I really want her to sleep in the crate as not keen on having her end up in our bed. Especially as I know she can do it. How does everyone else manage the nights? Not sure if I should just start to ignore her whimpering

@Turquoisesol please don't ignore it, she's only little. Maybe she needs the toilet, or maybe she just needs some reassurance. She might have been exhausted the first few nights and that's why she slept through. She needs to build the bond with you and know that you're there for her if she needs you. We had a tough time with sleeping, for the first week she barely slept, she was up about 6 times a night. We were out at least once a night with her for about 2 months for the toilet. It was a few weeks before we could close the crate and sleep in a different room, we built up to it and she slept on the couch with us the first few nights. She's now a really independent sleeper, sleeps in the crate downstairs quite happily all night, so we didn't make a rod for our own back or anything. Is the crate near you? If she won't settle with a bit of shushing and comforting she probably needs the toilet.

and to echo what @ashmts, going to her now, won't mean she ends up in your bed. We slept downstairs with Happy for a few weeks before he was ok down on his own. I actually forgot to close the door to the rooms downstairs he sleeps in last night and he didn't even try and come upstairs . The time you spend on reassurance now will pay back later!

We take a mattress in to kitchen/living area where her crate is and I sleep there so I am close by. I have a feeling given the option she would be in the bed with me

we didn't use a crate so I can't really comment but are you closing the door? is she happier with it open and you putting your hand in to reassure her?

I haven’t tried with crate open. I think she would dash out if I opened crate. She does like the mattress I have on the floor so she would just get in there.

Maybe I should take mattress out and sleep on sofa with her crate next to it

@HappyThursdays no, not worming either. It’s so odd! She was sick again this morning

Wondering if it’s to do with her food, she is on Butternut mixed with some Eukanuba kibble but I’ve had to persuade her to eat for the last week or two, she hasn’t been keen. So wonder if there’s an intolerance there or it just doesn’t suit her

@Turquoisesol Are you actively crate training through the day too? Treats and crate games in there etc? It is a slow process, we just couldn't get her to willingly go in the crate at first although lots of people on this thread have had no problems. We had her on the couch, then in her bed next to the couch, then in her bed outside her crate, then in her crate with the door open, then in crate with door closed. Over a few weeks. She's 7 months now but will go into her crate at night when she's tired of her own free will. That's the goal, you don't want to be trapping them in the crate. Would it really be so bad if she sleeps on the mattress for a night or two?

Also is there another adult in the house that can take turns? The lack of sleep is a killer, the days are easier to manage if you've had a decent sleep.

Actually I realised last night that we've conditioned pup to go in her crate when we eat dinner. I hadn't even realised but I was putting the plates on the table last night and she woke up from her nap on the couch and rushed to the cupboard where we keep her rabbit ears then ran to her crate She obviously knows now that when plates appear it's rabbit ear time.

No we haven’t been actively training to go in to crate in the day. She mostly likes to chill out on top of my feet wherever I am. I maybe need to research crate games

Hello. We've had our puppy a week now. She is absolutely gorgeous. It is very full on but I was prepared for that. DD has been brilliant playing, training, settling her. DH and DS have been less hands on and now wonder why puppy makes a beeline for us not them. I am quite shattered. We started pup sleeping on my son's floor, but she was very active at night and kept him awake. Moved her into our room and maybe inevitably she has ended up sleeping on the bed where she sleeps pretty well, waking for a wee at 2am. Mornings are tricky as I seem to be the only one up trying to coordinate feeding the very nervous cats and letting them out, taking pup out and feeding her and trying to keep all meetings between species calm and non confrontational. Impossible!

@Turquoisesol If your puppy likes to chill out you're already doing better than we were! Ours was on speed for about 3 months.

@ilovesushi Sounds like you're doing a great job. What kind of puppy is she? Hope DH starts pulling his weight ASAP!

@ashmts Thank you! She is a golden retriever lab cross. More golden in looks than lab. Super bright and picking up training so quickly. Can't wait til she has had vaccines and we can get her out and about more. Have carried her about a bit but she is a wriggler! DH has injured his back, so moving round like an old man and not very helpful! I know I should have more sympathy but when you are doing everything, it runs short!

@ashmts same here, it's actually the only time pugpup wants to go in the crate now when I am dishing up dinner he knows! Weirdly he does go in his crate upstairs for about 30 seconds when he first goes to bed, I think it must settle him, he lays down for a while then gets out and sleeps next to it.

@Plantlover23 pugpup was sick at the weekend and has been a bit weird with his food since. I don't think he likes the new food, he never turns down food but he was hardly eating any. We have gone back to giving him some of his original wet food with a bit of the new stuff and he is eating the wet food but leaving as much as he can of the kibble.

Back to the drawing board with his diet. We have loads of the old food still leftover but I have no idea how much to give him of it, we were measuring it out as per instructions but he was apparently still overweight.

@PugInTheHouse I think I may have a similar food issue too honestly! I’m thinking of having a look at some more hypoallergenic options and trying some of those out and see how she gets on.

@Plantlover23 weirdly this new food agrees with his tummy better, 1st days mixing with his old food and he has dodgy poos but he really doesn't like something about it. He hasn't lost any weight either which seems crazy as hes eaten a lot less and has done loads more exercise. He seems really healthy and definitely looks the right shape so I am not going to worry too much.

I may try the old food but use less and only use that for treats although I was already giving him less than it said to. I could do a trial of the butternut box soon also.

@PugInTheHouse Has he grown at all? He might have stayed the same weight but got taller/longer?

@Plantlover23 Can't help as mine rarely vomits but have you spoken to the vet? I'd probably do that before switching food. Apparently it can be the protein too, so they maybe can't tolerate the chicken but would be fine on the beef version of the same brand. Aren't the hypoallergenic ones often grain-free too? I think that's controversial in itself.

Who’d have thought food could be so complicated!

I’m planning to call the vets tomorrow @ashmts I definitely want to find out if it’s an allergy or intolerance or similar and do what they suggest. She never seems unwell in herself which is the strangest part and makes me think maybe it is more allergy related than illness/infection

Bit of an off topic question, I remember on the last thread a few people discussing the fact their pups will fall asleep at 8/9pm then be quite grumpy on their last toilet at 10/11pm. Have any of you hedged your bets and just not taken them out for the last one and seen what happens? Plantpup always falls asleep sometime between 8 and 9 and that’s her for the evening, but I’m waking her up to take her out for a last wee. Not only does this irritate her but it also wakes her up and then takes her time to settle again. I’m wary of not taking her out in case we go back to a 3am wake up call!

@ashmts yes that could be the case actually, the trainer said she thought he looked bigger.

@plantlover23 we did that a few times but he wouldn't settle at all if we didn't take him out, DH just took him to the garden and he didn't wee but just sat there for a few mins then settled straight away in bed after. Must have been the routine thing of going out for a wee before bed. He still went till morning without a wee though. He's back to weeing before bed now with no hassle, only thing is that now he has learnt to cock his leg so he now wees on our garden chair legs

I've not been on for a while, just been catching up! @Plantlover23 Sparklepup has his last toilet trip after dinner at 7ish and then he sleeps and we just leave him for the night now because a few times we tried to get him to go out at 10/11pm and he refused so we just wing it. He's not even desperate to go in the morning - he waits til after his breakfast. So he holds it for about 12 hours which seems crazy.

Poor pup being sick. Have you seen there's another thread on here about puppy being sick in the mornings? Might have some helpful comments for you.