Ahhhh, so you love your furbaby!!! We all do but it is such a nice thrill to read about a first time maltese owner.......Now, the big question, where are the pics???? We would love to see the little one~~~Welcome aboard!!! You will love it here!!!!:chili::chili::chili:Since your baby is so young, it is better to feed him every few hours because of hypoglycemia. Be careful of that and keep nutrical on hand. Enjoy your little one......Leave him with someone, I would not want to leave one so young by themselves until he gets older......
He's Home!!!!!!!!!! Long post but I need it
OMG!! Our little Rolie Polie came home this past Sunday night. - I've been hanging around SM trying to educate myself before the homecoming of my furbaby so some of you may have seen me on here. But now my baby's actually with us so it's a whole other ball of wax or fluff - hee, hee -
It was pretty late and we were really nervous b/c he's very young - (this is yet another story-and one which has had me worried and anxious for a while). But so far so good...I'd actually say great! He seems to already love us as much as we love him. I can't believe how well he's doing. He seems to be so strong and smart and responsive for such a little fella - I haven't taken him to the vet yet partially - will do so next wk - but I think he's doing fantastic.
I was so nervous about the first night and feeding, etc. but this is what I did -
I have a big portable ex-pen from Ebay - one that a fellow SM member suggested and then I bought one of those little carrier style crates which I put inside the ex-pen (not the one with the wires) and I put a fluffy towel and this soft doggy (bigger than him) heartbeating toy (which he immediately fell in love with) this is to comfort him and mimmick his littermates prescence. The whole family was so amazed at how he quickly took to his den...he didn't even need that much encouragement and now he just goes in it all by himself whenever he feels like a nap. I have wee-pads around which he uses meticulously and he's just such a good boy all around.
My concerns (out of a trillion that I have) is that
1. he doesn't seem to drink much right now but maybe that's just my impression as he does wet the pads. I find that trying to play with him often makes him a bit more thirsty.
2. I'm still feeding him formula - which he doesn't really seem to be interested in anymore (but I feel he's so little to be completely weaned off milk already) so I try to offer it in the evening - so it's his before bedtime "cookies and milk" style snack and he seems to like it then. He doesn't go for it in the morning. I think he's waiting for his solid food....which brings me to point 3.
3. I'm feeding him Wellness kibble as this is what the "breeder" fed him which I'm Ok with since it's one of the better foods I guess? - (I need to wet it though with a couple of tbs of water since he wont have it dry) and then mix it with ceaser's puppy canned junk - as this is also what the breeder did.
4. He doesn't like his potato and duck treats (forgot the brand but it's one of the really good brands I bought at a holistic doggy store in the city) - but he's not at all interested in these tiny little bone biscuits - which I'm a bit upset since I'd like to give him treats as a reward for good behaviour but I haven't been successful yet. On the other hand, I haven't tried anything other than these since I'm trying to take it very slow - I'm no expert but new fam, new life, and new food all at once is pretty dubious right?
5. I'd like to start home-cooking but
A) is it too soon? - ok he turned 7 wks this past Sun. when we got him :forgive me::embarrassed
lease don't state the obvious here - I know; this was part of that whole other story I mentioned above and we've been beating ourselves up over this. But getting back to HC.....
B) You obviously make the switch slowly but how slowly?
C) I know that there are homecooking threads around here and I hope I can do this for my puppy soon but if I start, I'd like to strike some sort of balance as far as a healthy menu and the time consuming factor as I really don't have much of it, time that is....I'm wondering if the home cookers out there, cook every single day or is it possible to pre-cook once or 2x a wk and save and heat it up.
6. The breeder was trying to feed every 4 hours but in my limited experience and the time I've had with this little furbaby, I think I'm seeing that this is excessive as I've been throwing out tons of food - well, not tons but I've been doing 3x per day + his milky instead of every 4 hours and I'm noticing that he eats/ approaches his itty bitty bowl much happier and somewhat finishes his food b/c I guess he's eating with an appetite now?
We're going to hopefully a very good vet next wk and I'll have lots of questions but
What do you all think?? Do I have a shot at this, despite the rocky start???
P.S. BTW He's got massive tear stains but I guess it's normal for a 7/8 wk old with teething and all, right? especially if he's also on ceasars dog food, right? What do you all think of wellness? What'ya think of wellness? It got a pretty high rating on that rating thingy someone posted the other day so it's good? I tried giving him a piece of kibble w/o wetting it and he doesn't go for it yet but maybe b/c he's still so little?
P.S.S. He's so incredibly cute. We love him to pieces! I am at work right now for the first time since we got him and can't wait to go home and see him. He's in good hands though - what a relief that is - it's funny how that part worked out.
Many thanks in advance for your helpful comments/suggestions -
It was pretty late and we were really nervous b/c he's very young - (this is yet another story-and one which has had me worried and anxious for a while). But so far so good...I'd actually say great! He seems to already love us as much as we love him. I can't believe how well he's doing. He seems to be so strong and smart and responsive for such a little fella - I haven't taken him to the vet yet partially - will do so next wk - but I think he's doing fantastic.
I was so nervous about the first night and feeding, etc. but this is what I did -
I have a big portable ex-pen from Ebay - one that a fellow SM member suggested and then I bought one of those little carrier style crates which I put inside the ex-pen (not the one with the wires) and I put a fluffy towel and this soft doggy (bigger than him) heartbeating toy (which he immediately fell in love with) this is to comfort him and mimmick his littermates prescence. The whole family was so amazed at how he quickly took to his den...he didn't even need that much encouragement and now he just goes in it all by himself whenever he feels like a nap. I have wee-pads around which he uses meticulously and he's just such a good boy all around.
My concerns (out of a trillion that I have) is that
1. he doesn't seem to drink much right now but maybe that's just my impression as he does wet the pads. I find that trying to play with him often makes him a bit more thirsty.
2. I'm still feeding him formula - which he doesn't really seem to be interested in anymore (but I feel he's so little to be completely weaned off milk already) so I try to offer it in the evening - so it's his before bedtime "cookies and milk" style snack and he seems to like it then. He doesn't go for it in the morning. I think he's waiting for his solid food....which brings me to point 3.
3. I'm feeding him Wellness kibble as this is what the "breeder" fed him which I'm Ok with since it's one of the better foods I guess? - (I need to wet it though with a couple of tbs of water since he wont have it dry) and then mix it with ceaser's puppy canned junk - as this is also what the breeder did.
4. He doesn't like his potato and duck treats (forgot the brand but it's one of the really good brands I bought at a holistic doggy store in the city) - but he's not at all interested in these tiny little bone biscuits - which I'm a bit upset since I'd like to give him treats as a reward for good behaviour but I haven't been successful yet. On the other hand, I haven't tried anything other than these since I'm trying to take it very slow - I'm no expert but new fam, new life, and new food all at once is pretty dubious right?
5. I'd like to start home-cooking but
A) is it too soon? - ok he turned 7 wks this past Sun. when we got him :forgive me::embarrassed
lease don't state the obvious here - I know; this was part of that whole other story I mentioned above and we've been beating ourselves up over this. But getting back to HC.....B) You obviously make the switch slowly but how slowly?
C) I know that there are homecooking threads around here and I hope I can do this for my puppy soon but if I start, I'd like to strike some sort of balance as far as a healthy menu and the time consuming factor as I really don't have much of it, time that is....I'm wondering if the home cookers out there, cook every single day or is it possible to pre-cook once or 2x a wk and save and heat it up.
6. The breeder was trying to feed every 4 hours but in my limited experience and the time I've had with this little furbaby, I think I'm seeing that this is excessive as I've been throwing out tons of food - well, not tons but I've been doing 3x per day + his milky instead of every 4 hours and I'm noticing that he eats/ approaches his itty bitty bowl much happier and somewhat finishes his food b/c I guess he's eating with an appetite now?
We're going to hopefully a very good vet next wk and I'll have lots of questions but
What do you all think?? Do I have a shot at this, despite the rocky start???
P.S. BTW He's got massive tear stains but I guess it's normal for a 7/8 wk old with teething and all, right? especially if he's also on ceasars dog food, right? What do you all think of wellness? What'ya think of wellness? It got a pretty high rating on that rating thingy someone posted the other day so it's good? I tried giving him a piece of kibble w/o wetting it and he doesn't go for it yet but maybe b/c he's still so little?
P.S.S. He's so incredibly cute. We love him to pieces! I am at work right now for the first time since we got him and can't wait to go home and see him. He's in good hands though - what a relief that is - it's funny how that part worked out.
Many thanks in advance for your helpful comments/suggestions -
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A big CONGRATS to you.. now where are the pictures? ^_^ I look forward to meeting him
Kat
Kat
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