The countdown to W-Day has begun here at Roanoke Creek Ranch. Vixen is about 2.5 weeks from a planned whelp. For her part, Vixen received her final pre-whelp worming using puppy-safe meds. She started sleeping in the climate-controlled whelping room with veteran Nurse-dog Josie [1], and half her diet is now Purina Pro Plan Puppy Formula [2]. Vixen is readily accepting the new food, which in a few days will become her complete diet. For my part, I sanitized the whelping room using Rescue [3], assembled the whelping box [4], and began ordering supplies such as Goat’s Milk Esbilac [5]and Calsorb [6]. One thing I’ve noticed in gathering supplies is that the cost of raising a litter has gone up significantly over the past few years. I’ve also started reviewing my Puppy Culture [7] planner workbook, and I will re-watch the Puppy Culture DVD-set as well. There are no guarantees when it comes to breeding and producing healthy pups, but good preparation stacks the odds in our favor.
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