Monday, May 23, 2022

Clean up on aisle everywhere

With each litter of pups I've had to work out a different routine for feeding and cleaning up the results of feeding. These pups have had very soft poop and now with them eating more, which they are, they are producing larger quantities of very soft poop. The pads are great, but the pups don't tiptoe around after they've used them. No, they walk through the poop and spread it around. The result is one big mess, but not one mess, it's one big mess several times a day. I stopped using the milk powder today, hoping that would firm up the poop. It didn't, but it did mean the pups got fewer calories and as a result only a couple of them had any weight gain today. A couple more were slightly down. 

I gave them some fortiflora with their last meal this evening and tomorrow I'll pick up some digestive enzymes that really helped this problem when we had Allison's pups. I will also go back to the milk powder and even add a fourth feeding to the schedule because I can't have them losing weight. But in the meantime, I needed to work out a better cleaning regimen. 

I've always used Simple Green because it's pet-safe, but I can't find a gallon jug of it anywhere. This evening Della and I went to Lowe's to look for pet-safe cleaning products. We found pretty much nothing, except a large jug of Nature's Miracle, which I brought home and used right away. I lifted the puppies over the barrier to get them out of the space I needed to clean. They still had room to move around and it was new territory to them so that was fun. I also fed them outside the soon-to-be-clean space to avoid the food mess around the feeder. While they were eating and playing, I removed the puppy pads and the bedding and mopped the area twice, first with some Nature's Miracle and then again with plain water. After it was dry and set up for them again, I moved the puppies back in and then mopped the space outside the barrier. I think this will work well as a cleaning routine, but what I really need is for these pups to start having some solid poop. 



Nope, this stuff won't do.


Useless, but the puppies might like the pinwheels.


Sorry about this, but this is the reality of six puppies with soft poop, 
and this scene occurs after every feeding.

They are sure eating well now. This is the pups eating in the narrow
corridor outside of their normal living space.

After they ate, they played and pooped while I cleaned up their main living space.

The great thing about puppies is that everything you do with them is a great new adventure.
I was moving them out of their living space for my convenience while cleaning,
but to them it was new territory to explore.





Three of them were sacked out in the corner before the floor was dry inside.

When the floor was dry, I put down new bedding, returned the pups to their space
and they headed right for the bed. The new adventure had worn them out.





I cover most of the floor space with puppy pads for overnight.

They all snuggled together except for one independent pup who is in another corner.




1 comment:

Byron's Mom said...

Thank you for all you are doing. The soft poor is the WORST!!! I don't know if this will help, but the Method brand (Sells at Target) is cruelty free so I think it might work for what you are doing. There is also those Grove products that are supposed to be animal friendly too- also at Target. Hugs to you!!