The pups are a week old, and are so cute. The pups spend all their time either eating, sleeping, or crawling on top of each other to find a more comfortable spot to sleep. I've found if I am holding a pup, or laying close to them, and have loose sleeves, some will try crawling up into my sleeves, or into my sweatshirt pockets. If all they are looking for, is a warm place to sleep, they'll even curl up and sleep, as opposed to trying to crawl all the way up my arm looking for food.
The pads of their feet are starting to gain their black tint, which to me makes them look even more like little baby polar bears.
With so many pups, I've been weighing them daily, to make sure none seem to be hogging all the milk, but they all seem to be putting on weight just fine. All seem quite healthy, and their mama is taking good care of them.
The minute they wake, they often want to eat, and occasionally this happens in shifts, 4 or 5 waking to eat, and once they finish, the others wake up, since mama has to check on them once she's done checking on and cleaning up the first group.
And of course, as soon as they have filled their little bellies, it's back to sleeping, often without moving from mama's side, which means if she moves, she wakes them all again, and the cycle repeats.
From time to time, Shisa decides the pups can sleep on their own, and comes to check on us, though she doesn't like being gone for more than a couple minutes. She has started occasionally sleeping just outside the pen, where she can still hear if the pups wake up or need her, but where she can stretch out without accidentally waking them. With the pups needing to eat so often, poor mama can't get much sleep otherwise. But the minute Shisa hears them wake up on their own (or because a siblings just stepped on their face) she's up and checking on them, to make sure they are alright, and to let them eat.
Thankfully, as they grow, their stomachs are also growing, and can hold more milk, which lets them sleep for longer and longer stretches. (Which is against or on their mama when possible, or their siblings if they happen to crawl or roll away.)
Of course, eating more, and therefore sleeping more, mean that Shisa (and my husband and myself) can also sleep for longer stretches, before the pups cries as they wake and search for food (and wake each other) resumes, waking everything in the house. It still impresses me that such little things, that won't hear for another three weeks, can make such loud noises. I'm looking forward to next week, when their eyes start to open. :)
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