A full Friday

Why just go to the vet for your annual visit when you can put on your best dress and make an event out of it? That was Della's attitude this morning and that's what she did. We had a 9:00 a.m. appointment, a little early for formal wear, perhaps, but Della is a fashion leader, not a follower. She was very pretty and she knew it, as did everyone else. She got a lot of attention, and many treats. Diva Della loves both. 

The dress, the adoration, and the treats were the best part of today's vet visit. I've known that Della had a cracked canine tooth that would need to be removed someday. Well, it's infected now. She got some antibiotics to get that under control but it will need to come out. However, that's complicated by the fact that she has now developed a heart murmur. We need to see a cardiologist and have an expensive test done to determine how serious that is before she's put under anesthesia for the tooth extraction. The visit with the specialist is now scheduled for mid-September. But that's for me to worry about, as far as Della is concerned the visit was a lot of fun and a great success. 

Candace continues to settle in around here. The diarrhea seems to have stopped, thankfully. I cooked her chicken and rice today and have fed her four small meals to avoid overstressing her system. She seems to like the frequency of the feedings.

She's really quite cute.

The puppies are six weeks old today. That meant it was time for their first vaccines, their first outdoor experience, and their first visitors. 

My experience with past litters has been that the pups are rather uncertain and timid on their first outing. They tend to huddle together around the steps and don't venture very far into the new space. No so with this little litter, however. They were running around Daneland in no time at all, venturing to all four corners of the space and exploring everything they encountered along the way. They didn't do much climbing on the equipment and obstacles I've set up, but they soon will. 

It was a good first outing. They need visitors and their mother, Starfish, needs them even more.

Pike

All three pups following momma Starfish.

Mack

Angelfish

Me holding a squirmy Angelfish.

And to wrap up the day I loaded up Millie (with some difficulty) and we went off to a public event at Castle Hill Cidery. She was nervous, tail tucked, but she was friendly enough and allowed everyone to love on her. I can't say that she loved it, but she tolerated it and hopefully learned that: (1) at least some people are nice; and (2) I'm not going to abandon her out in the middle of nowhere, we will come back home.

That's it for the day. I still need to get everyone outside once more before bed and feed the puppies one more time and take their weights. I think tomorrow I'll be catching up on some work that I didn't get done today.