June 12 hands on check of the 6-week old pups is complete. There were two pups in each den rather than them all being together in one location. One in each den honkered-down while one in each den tried to scramble away. We transported them in the large net and did our work in the side cage area much like last time we did hands-on.

A few things to report:

First, weights. Everyone is still gaining weight, and while the largest pup is still the largest there are a few differences to report on this weigh-in. Pup #3 weighed 4.1 Kg today. This is a 46% increase from the last weigh in. Pup #5, the other male, gained 60% since the last weigh in and now is the second largest at 3.85 Kg. Pup #6 is up 46% in weight, which is the rate she has been gaining at and now weighs 3.65 Kg. Finally pup #2 (remember, our pup with the toe issue) is our smallest at 3.05 Kg. She’s up 33% from the last weigh-in, which is the low end of normal.

Besides weighing, everyone got the once-over:  listening to the heart, checking the eyes and ears and between the toes… They all have teeth now. Everyone got their second round of dewormer too.

Finally, we had an issue with Pup #6 over the weekend. On Saturday she was limping. We caught her up to check her out. (Catching her was a bit more challenging than usual since she was in one of the dug-out spots on the cliff face. We’ll talk “cliff dens” in a future post). Her right front foot up to her elbow was swollen, and she had two small pin prick wounds between her toes. It’s very possible she was bitten by a copperhead, or was stung by another insect… we’ll never know. The toes were cleaned, antibiotics were given, along with pain meds and other medicine to help with a possible allergic reaction. All in all, it could have been much worse. She limped around Saturday and Sunday in between lots of sleeping and some eating. Today, the leg looked great. Swelling was down and the joints seemed stable.