Bottle Babies

A stray, possibly feral dog left two newborn puppies on a man's front porch. Later that day he found six more in various locations around his yard, and the mother dog didn't appear to be caring for them. Several of his neighbors came forward to help bottle feed the tiny pups, and they split them up between them, but very soon he and one of the neighbors became overwhelmed by the job, and called my rescue group for help.

Convincing puppies (and kittens) to take the bottle is not always easy; sometimes, even if they're desperately hungry, they squirm and cry and spit out the nipple. They also need to be fed every two or three hours around the clock when they're brand new. Finding volunteers with the time and energy for bottle babies is not easy. I love to bottle feed, but don't have the stamina to keep it up for weeks on end, so I get my fix by helping other fosters. Today my friend Lisa and I went to Suzanne's house to help her feed the six puppies turned over to rescue by the overwhelmed gentleman and his neigbor. My bottle leaked, and I probably soaked up as much milk as the puppies did, but it was still a treat for me. I even let one suckle on my nose for a few seconds, but not long enough to get a nose-hickey.

I think most puppies who still have their eyes closed look a lot more like woodchucks than dogs, and the fat little brown guy in the picture above is a great example. Apparently Suzanne agrees with me, as she named him Chuck today.