Two days ago we were fortunate enough to find perritos otherwise known as tiny little doggies. They're unbelievably teeny - probably less that 3 or 4 weeks old and I've suddenly become wildly aware of how much harder it is to survive in a place as isolated as Bluefields.
I thought the poor things were so adorable that I immediately set about doing research on how to take care of baby pups that have lost their mother before they are completely weaned (she was hit by a car). Websites advise things like "feed the puppy milk with a bottle several times a day" and "keep the puppy warm by placing it by a heater".
HA!
First of all, we don't have bottles out here in Bluefields - let alone milk that isn't powdered. I looked up the nutritional value of powdered milk for puppies, and not surprisingly, it's less than wonderful. Then finding a heater is obviously a little difficult in a country that never dips below 25°C, even though 25°C is not considered warm enough for a puppy without a mommy. The general consensus we eventually came to was that we would blend up some food for the poor things, and hope they could handle it. We made it liquid-y, but didn't have a bottle to feed them with, so getting it into their bodies was up to them.
It's now been three days. The little boy-doggie has already died (and believe me, a dead puppy is even more difficult to deal with than a flapping, headless chicken - even if I was more actively involved with the chicken-decapitation than with the puppy-starving). The little girl-doggie is still hanging in there. According to the vet, it'll be in the clear in a few weeks. Let's hope she can make it that long.
First of all, we don't have bottles out here in Bluefields - let alone milk that isn't powdered. I looked up the nutritional value of powdered milk for puppies, and not surprisingly, it's less than wonderful. Then finding a heater is obviously a little difficult in a country that never dips below 25°C, even though 25°C is not considered warm enough for a puppy without a mommy. The general consensus we eventually came to was that we would blend up some food for the poor things, and hope they could handle it. We made it liquid-y, but didn't have a bottle to feed them with, so getting it into their bodies was up to them.It's now been three days. The little boy-doggie has already died (and believe me, a dead puppy is even more difficult to deal with than a flapping, headless chicken - even if I was more actively involved with the chicken-decapitation than with the puppy-starving). The little girl-doggie is still hanging in there. According to the vet, it'll be in the clear in a few weeks. Let's hope she can make it that long.
1 comment:
Hum, the mother wasn't dead, she was just sick, so it was better for them to be far from her...
You must have thought about Suzie's brother who was actually hit by a car in October...
Just saying...
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