If I had to do it over again I would stick with the litter box this time, but I gave up on using one for this litter because tracked litter drives me nuts. Said I would rather deal with wet papers. Hah! So even though a number of pups were using the box pretty consistently, and would have done better had I stuck with it, the litter box idea was discarded again. And now I am stuck with tons of wet stinky paper. Argh!
The pups had such fun outdoors last weekend, but I neglected to fence off the area under the birdbath as I normally do. When Ron cleans the birdbath, he dumps the water into the Hosta bed even though I have asked him not to. Easier that way and a hotbed for Giardia it would appear. I totally forgot about that since we have not had Giardia in pups for a long time. The pups have been wormed (just a precautionary worming as my pups never check out positive for worms) and had been treated with Baycox at five weeks, so I knew there was no risk of Coccidia. But Giardia. Oh yeah. Stools started getting soft on Friday, so I took in a stool sample knowing that it's sometimes hard to get an actual diagnosis the first time. As expected, the results came back on Saturday as Negative. Yeah, right. Something was going on, but what? Probably Giardia, but I hate to treat without knowing for sure. On the other hand, poopy pups are not very appealing! This morning I started treating for Giardia. Will do another stool sample first thing Monday morning and see if we can get any better answers.
Pups are fine, they feel great, eat like it's their last meal, and have lots of energy. And they are bored! They have been confined to their pen unless I know they have all pooped, and then I follow them around with paper towels - well not quite, but they do have to stay in the basement. Because they have been outside, in the family and up in the bedrooms, they know there's lots more to the world than the basement, and they are protesting.
We were supposed to go to a Puppy Party today, but we're missing it because I didn't want to take a chance on infecting the other litter - and because they are just too messy! So instead I go down and play with them every hour, pick up any messy papers, and explain to them that their confinement is temporary. They're not buying it!
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