We've had a rough week. The stray that had puppies in our yard had to be euthanized on Monday. Over a 48 hour period last weekend, 4 of the puppies died from distemper. We managed to save 2 of them. We took one to the vet on Sunday because it was showing NO signs of disease and left it there to kennel after getting shots. We found out that the puppies had the mange at that time too. On Monday, Will took the mother and the remaining puppy to the vet and they gave us the advice to have the mother euthanized, but they felt they could save the other puppy. We left them there to kennel until tonight. The brown one pictured above has an eye infection in one eye due to the distemper, but hopefully the ointment they sent home with us will help prevent blindness for that dog. That is the one that follows Amelia everywhere, at her heels, so she really loves that one.
Will sanitized the areas where they had been hanging out and the dog house. We brought them home this evening and have tried to introduce them to the dog house as their new home, but so far they are just looking for their mother and exploring. We finally clamped a towel firmly, in multiple places, over the opening of the dog house to try and keep them inside. It is very cold tonight and they need to stay in the shelter we have provided--I'm too allergic to bring them inside and they aren't house-trained either. It is supposed to start warming up tomorrow so it is only tonight that we are worried about temperature. We ordered a small fence that can be a puppy or a baby gate system with rush shipping, but they didn't ship until today unfortunately and so it won't be here until tomorrow. They have to be contained/quarantined from our pets for a month so that the mange doesn't spread. We also want to control where they go and hopefully train them to stay in that area. Amelia has instructions on their antibiotics and eye ointment to give them for the next week or so and we have to take them to the vet once a week for the next month to be "dipped." They'll get boosters on the distemper and the mange in 2 weeks.
We told Amelia she could keep one of them but would have to find a home for the other one. Hopefully that will be easier now that we have some confirmation from the vet that they are a mixed breed, part Shar Pei and part Pit.
Next morning update:
They really were very cute at bedtime. They didn't want to go into the dog house, at least not while "blonde girl" a/k/a Amelia was out there as a potential playmate. I had her run inside and get a t-shirt that she had worn recently so they would be able to smell her. Will clipped the towel closed over the door and we ignored the few "whines" that emitted for a short while. This morning when we opened up to give them their antibiotics and let them out to go to the bathroom, they were sleeping near the opening, on each other, and each of them touching that t-shirt which they were also laying on. That was pretty sweet. We put out some food and water for them and headed to school. As we left, they were growling over having to share the food bowl again--don't think they had to do that at the vet's office--but happily chomping down and ready for a day of play.
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