Road Trip

Well, the kids took their first road trip on Tuesday when they went to the vet to have dewclaws removed.  Actually, we had an appointment for a C-Section but since Jenga took care of that one Sunday, I called and told them we just needed dewclaws removed.  Poor Alan, he had to load everyone up, including Mom, and make the trip to the vet's office.  He said Jenga was frantic when he took the basket o'babies out of the car into the office.  However the old Switcheroo Game kept her from panicing too much.  When he brought her into the office, the babies were already moved to the exam room and she didn't even KNOW she should be looking for them in there. 

 Just like always, the babies are no worse for the wear.  When they're less than 3 days old that bone in the dewclaw hasn't ossified so it's not like we're lopping off any of their toes  It's more like clipping a toenail.  As you can see, courtesy of our lovely assistant Yaeger, it's little more than a scab that will eventually drop off, leaving a nice clean leg.  It's not a "cruel" procedure at all - in fact, removing it now could save a lot of grief, pain and expense if, as an adult, the dog happens to catch the dewclaw on something (like a chainlink fence) and tears it.  MAJOR OUCH!

So Jenga and family "survived" the Road Trip just fine and Mom was content to bed down with her kidlets.  A friend of mine at work saw this photo and laughingly said, "Yep, nursing mother!  Gotta keep the food right there in front of you at all times!" 

Alan's putting the finishing touches on the whelping box he built so hopefully we can move everyone into their new digs today or tomorrow.  Stay tuned for more updates.