Metro is in the incubator at the emergency room where we brought him at in the middle of the night.

When we fed him yesterday afternoon, we hoped he had turned the corner. He sucked from the bottle, and the amount of fluid our vet calculated that he drank sounded good.

Unfortunately, the feedings at 6:30, 10, and 1 am had him eating very little. He kept losing weight, getting down to 4.97 ounces at 3 am from 5.39 ounces at 9 in the morning.

He was born at 6.31 ounces… losing weight the first day is normal, and he went down to 5.71 on Tuesday night.  But, yesterday was his day to start showing gains, and he didn’t.

We didn’t know if he’d last until morning, so we went to the vet at 3:30.

The ER vet who checked us in said that his body temperature was low, probably in part from the drive over where he was wrapped in towels and had a heating stone… and still lost body heat!

At about 8 this morning the ER doctor called and said that Metro is holding his own. He’s being fed every 1 1/2 hours, being kept in the incubator, and maintaining both this weight and body temperature. They hope that he will start being more active and be ready to feed from a bottle again today.

In the first week, the doctor said, some puppies just don’t catch on and start eating. They fail to thrive.

The photo below shows Metro in his first hour of life. He was smaller than his sister then, and has continued to be thin. His failure to eat from his mother or the bottle is life threatening.

Caution! Fragile! Metro in his first hour.

We are rooting for Metro. Eat, boy!

MUNI, the girl seen here on the left, is gaining weight. The boy is losing weight and not staying well latched on.

The Midday Report today has to focus on getting nourishment to the boy.

The first week of their lives puppies aren’t very interesting, anyway. They eat and sleep. They crawl over mother to find a dining spot, but they don’t play, open their eyes, or generally act much more than consumers of milk.  That’s ideally.

The girl, who we are tentatively calling MUNI, is doing okay.  She is constantly on a nipple and sucking. She’s gained weight.

Since yesterday’s report Mother Zenith has started eating more (but not a lot), drinking some water, and peeing some. She likes cottage cheese the best, will eat a couple pieces of kibble mixed in.

Yesterday, Zenith was agitated much of the day. We believe she was in pain from the day-before surgery and the lack of pain pills available. (The universal wisdom in 2018 is to not give pain meds to nursing mothers unless it is absolutely necessary. This suggestion is endorsed by female vets, not just males on some Senate panel.)

But, today she is on the upswing. She seems to be gradually recovering from surgery.

Our third patient, however, is not following an ideal path. Metro, the boy, is lively and seemingly strong as he crawls along his mother. But, even when we lead him to a nipple, he will nurse for a very brief period of time before wandering off.  He has actually lost weight in the last 24 hours. Losing weight in the first 24 hours is normal. Continued weight loss is not normal nor healthy.

We have armed ourselves with powered canine mother’s milk, pet bottles, and suitable sucking devices. Our local vet is coming over at 2:30 to show us how to get him eating from the bottles. If he doesn’t do that well, we have feeding tubes ready.

That’s all for the 2:15 report. Stay tuned!