The end of week 2

week 2 is coming to an end. I wasn't pleased with weights yesterday. Lilac did not gain. She stayed the same. Everyone else did gain a little. Our vet appt is for tomorrow at 3:30. I will be taking Bella the weight sheets and lilac with me. At 2 weeks we start the de worming meds and do this once a week for 3 weeks. This is done as a precaution because momma can pass parasites through milk to pups. Its very common. So de worming eliminates the parasites and worms from forming in the tummy. As tiny as lilac is I want the vet to admin the meds to her. One topic I wanted to discuss today is food. I feed a high quality food. This is what I've been told. Although most dogs love grocery store food it would be like you eating at mc D's everyday. It has fillers and not do healthy things in it. I currently feed Merrick. I have feed natural balance and nature's variety in the past. All 3 are excellent choices. When my girls are pregnant they refuse hard food. So I turn to canned. Usually once pups deliver they are so hungry all the time that they will go back to hard. However Bella has decided that she is not. She is still eating her special food. Its a high calorie soft food made for helping tiny pups and small mothers get more calories. But Bella weights 50lbs. Its more for toy breeds. She is consuming 30 oz a day of this stuff. So I will discuss with vet options of food and to make sure its fine that she is eating so much of this. She just refuses her hard food. My point is food is very important. And sometimes asking a vet is the best solution to make sure what you are doing is healthy. Which leads me to treats. Good quality treats are expensive. You can drop over $100 at the pet store and only have a couple bags of treats. And its so easy to stop at grocery store and cheaper to buy those but again they are filled with bad stuff. I've started making my own treats. I still buy some like Greenie's or milk bones. But I dehydrate sweet potatoes a lot as treats. They are healthy and less expensive. You can do this in your oven too. I also feed raw or boiled liver. You can by a pound of beef liver for $1.99. I give this twice a week. I boil and cut into pieces as treats for 2 or 3 days. The other time I leave raw and give in 2 helpings. Curly does not like raw so that's why I boil. It does smell up the house. But if you are creative you can make all kinds of healthy treats for a fraction of pet store bought ones. Just remember what ever you start as habits you have to continue. So if you give a treat everytime they go put to potty you will be giving lots of treats. Try breaking treats into bite size bits. Habits are hard to break when you decide you don't want to continue something.