At Long Last...Update on Bagel & Pups

Momma Bagel does her Elvis impression.

Hi Everyone!

I know it has been forever since I posted an update on Bagel Bailey and her puppies and I apologize to all of you for the wait.  I'm sure you've all been anxious to see how she and her little guys have been doing.  We moved mom and babies out to our kennels last weekend and have been keeping close tabs on everyone to make sure they handled the adjustment to their new digs ok.  Everyone seems happy and comfortable with the set up, but it is hard not having the puppies indoors with us. :(

So what's been up with the puppies?  Well to begin with, their eyes opened up at about Day 10 and they are now really starting to notice the big world around them.  While they are still pretty wobbly, the puppies can now get up on all 4 legs and walk around, which means Bagel finds places to escape to so that she doesn't have to be a 24-7 drive-thru restaurant!  We've taken the puppies out of their kennel a few times for excursions to the yard.  Despite the fact that the little cuties don't go far, they do seem to like crawling around in the grass and napping in the sunlight.

So how are the puppies doing?  All of them seem to be thriving, growing and changing daily in leaps and bounds.  The only problem we've encountered so far occurred yesterday with Orange boy.  As many of you know, after going back to school, I am getting close to finishing up my Vet Tech degree.  We had a class field trip on Saturday, attending both a vet's office and a horse barn that are only 5 minutes away from the kennel.  Two of the girls from my program came over to see the puppies after class and almost immediately, one of the girls noticed that Orange boy's neck was swollen.  I immediately called my vet and met her at Peach Grove Animal Hospital, the clinic where we work.  

Luckily, Orange boy is ok, but the vet diagnosed him with puppy strangles, a condition I've never encountered before.  The cause of strangles is unknown, but for some reason, puppies between the ages of 3 - 8 weeks can have an overreaction of their immune system that makes their body start fighting off an infection that doesn't exist.  One of the things that can happen as a result is that the lymph nodes in the neck can swell and fill with pus, which is what happened to Orange boy.  Orange boy is now on a steroid to stop his immune system from going haywire and an antibiotic to make sure he doesn't get an actual infection.  He is now my little side-kick at home, so that I can give him his treatments and make sure he is healing up properly.  It will take a couple of weeks for all of his symptoms to subside, but he should be in great shape by the time he is ready for a new home.

As for the rest of the puppies, no one else shows any signs of developing strangles; however, we'll continue to monitor how they look.   And speaking of looks, I've begun to notice that even though all of the puppies still look like beagles, several of them have fur that is a little longer and fluffier than what I normally see in my own puppies.  Does this mean that daddy doggy wasn't a beagle after all?  Who knows... once again, only time will tell.  But still, it's so weird - if it weren't for the way the fur feels, I would still be convinced that these puppies are all beagle, but something is definitely different about some of their coats!  Oh well.  Regardless, these babies get a good chunk of their good looks from their mom, which means they'll be gorgeous and beagle-y.

Well folks, it is about time I got ready to go to bed for the night.  I'm attaching a couple of pictures from today and will work on getting all of last week's photos uploaded to a new Picasa album for you guys to check out.  Thanks for checking in on these puppies and for considering giving one of them a forever home!