Another Day. Another To Do List Unfinished!

It's ok though!  Life is short, and puppies are fun!

Monday is nail day.  Jo Jo was not at all happy about having his nails done today.  We managed to finish the job, but, oh my, he was upset.  Everyone else was only moderately annoyed by the experience.

The rest of the day was a puppy party to make up for it!  First, they had lunch in the laundry room followed by some play in the kitchen.  Two new venues for them and a new surface to play on.  They thought that was great fun!  Lizzy discovered the puppy food stash bin!  They were especially intrigued with trying to squeeze through the slat on the gates between the kitchen and living room.  Only Rita could actually fit, but everyone gave it their best effort!  Imagine that!

Joanne came to visit.  She has a 7 month old puppy of her own.  It was great fun to catch up with her.  Then Donna and Rich visited again with their 4 year old granddaughter, Violet!  Donna was kind enough to show me some tricks for getting puppies to stand on the grooming table.  We took some photos that I could share with Carola and Carrie.  Thanks, Donna!  Not posting here.  They are not ready for prime time!

I spent some time this evening comparing label information on the Purina Pro Plan Focus Chicken and Rice Puppy food the puppies are currently eating and the Pro Plan Sport Turkey and Barley All Life Stages.  The Turkey and Barley is what I normally feed my adult (not senior) Dals.  After attending a Pat Hastings seminar prior to my last litter, I decided to transition puppies from puppy food to normal food by the time they went to their new homes.  Earlier today I asked Carola and Rhani's co-breeder how long they leave puppies on puppy food.  One said 4-5 months and the other said a full year.  That's what prompted me to review the labels!  Anyway, it was interesting.  The differences are minimal.  Puppy food has 28% protein and 18% fat while the all life stages has 27% and 17% (considered better - particularly for Dalmatians).  As far as the actual ingredients they are nearly identical except for use of different meals (corn vs. oat) and vegetables. For minerals, the same are included, but the Turkey version uses proteinate versions while the puppy uses sulfate versions.  So, of course, I had to look that up!  Turns out that proteinate versions are more easily absorbed/utilized by canine systems than sulfates.  That leads me to think the Turkey version might actually be better!  The only ingredient not in Turkey and Barley that is in Puppy food is L-Lysine monohydrochloride.  I looked that up and could only find one reference that said it aids muscle development. (This is one of the reasons Pat Hastings recommends taking puppies off puppy food.  Muscle/soft tissue growth can be artificially enhanced but bone growth cannot.  If the muscles grow too much beyond the normal bone development, deformities can be  introduced - especially in large breed dogs.) Beyond these differences, Turkey and Barley has quite a bit more Vitamin E and Glucosamine.  Based on this, I decided to transition the puppies to All Life Stages Turkey and Barley!  This will be easier on new owners as they won't have to figure out when to switch the puppies and go through the transitioning period, the puppies will hopefully start on the food I think works well for Dalmatians, and it definitely makes it easier on me because I don't have to keep three separate bins of dog food!   I will start mixing it in on Saturday, gradually increasing the amount each day until they are on it 100%.  

Speaking of eating - they are becoming somewhat better eaters.  They still piddle at the process but they usually clean up most of the food I put down.  That means they are probably consuming about 8 cups a day (accounting for what they don't clean up!) or a little more than 1 1/2 cups per puppy.  

The puppies have now met 47 different people, eaten out of 8 different types of containers in 5 different locations, and played on 8 different surfaces.  They continue to get new items to play with every day in their inside and outside pens.  It's getting crowded!  I may have to retire some less popular items to make way for new ones!

​Just a few photos and one video (from the patio after dark tonight).  Enjoy!

Until next time....

---