2026 so far

So...our dog Indy was violated by a stray (whom we named Fred) and wound up pregnant. It should have never happened, Indy was older, and had never had a litter of pups before. January 7th we woke up to a pup, and by that afternoon there were 6! Indy still didn't seem like herself, but she was being a great mom, and continued to be a great mom until Saturday the 10th. That morning, we let her out and she came and hung out with the family, everything seemed normal...actually she seemed more normal than she had the previous days. Then she got onto the couch, let out 3 haunting howling barks, and died. It was awful, traumatic, unforgettable....something I will never be able to un-hear. I took those howls as her telling me to take care of her puppies...so for almost 4 weeks now that's what I've been doing.

Who knew bottle feeding puppies could be so stressful! Not me! I think along with the bottle feeding, it's just that I felt such a responsibility to make sure they survived. I tell my church kids all the time that they can pray for anything, sometimes I giggle when they pray for things like pets and bumps and bruises...but guess what I've prayed for a lot lately? Yep, these puppies!

I was sure I was losing Runt a couple of weeks ago. He had stopped eating, was super lethargic, and would just cry and cry and cry. No matter what I did he wasn't happy. I slept on the couch most of the night holding him, singing Jesus loves the little puppies, and praying and crying over him. God answered my prayers, and slowly he began getting better...and here we are at almost 4 weeks, and you would never even know that he was the runt! Oh! Then to top it all off (as if I wasn't stressed enough) they came down with ringworm! After a hefty vet bill, oral medicine, and a cream, I think they're finally on the mend. There's been a lot of sanitizing happening ... because Eww!!!

Today we start them on "real" food...I'm pretty excited about that. We've gone from feeding every 2 hours (yes, even through the night) to 3 hours, and now we are at every 4 hours. I'm not going to know what to do when I'm finally able to get a full night of uninterrupted sleep!

A few more weeks and they will begin making their way to their new homes...I know it will be bittersweet...and I'll probably shed some tears...but they're all going to great homes (Ava has made sure of that!) I like to think that I've made Indy proud...and she is irreplaceable (meaning she will not be replaced) I think we are getting out of the pet business...moving onto grandkids...more on that later!