happiness is a warm puppy (and a handful of them is even better)
It's been tough at work lately. For the last couple of days I've been dealing with a particularly difficult and mysterious case of puppies dying (not the ones pictured above, by the way.) Puppies should not die. It's just not right. Young animals, like young human beings, have their whole lives stretched ahead of them. It's been extremely difficult to lose, one by one, nearly all of the puppies in a litter... especially when they're fat, healthy two-week old pups who are just starting to open their eyes. Though I'm fairly certain of what's going on with the puppies (viral), and that's there's nothing more we can do that we're not already doing, we've sent one off to OSU for a hopefully definitive diagnosis. In the meantime, as of last night, there was one puppy of eight still surviving. I am not optimistic that he'll make it through the next day, though.
The dam is a pregnant stray dog that is being fostered by a caring family, so it's been very difficult for that family, with three kids, to deal with the loss. And it's been difficult for me as well.
This image is of a different litter - 3-day old Standard Poodle puppies that were brought in to the clinic a few weeks ago to be checked out. They had the cutest swirly (soon to be curly) fur! And I just love their little toes.
Taken with my Nikon FM.
15 responses
-
Kimberly McGugan gave props (29 May 2008):
So sorry to hear about your puppies, that is so sad. However, this is an absolutely adorable image!!!
-
Stephan Sachs gave props (1 Jun 2008):
haha - nice one!
-
Natalia Delgado gave props (9 Jun 2008):
Cuuuuuuteeee!!!
-
Laurie Search gave props (6 Jul 2008):
So precious!!!
-
Kate Jackson gave props (14 Aug 2008):
Sweet.
-
Tiffany Niewohner gave props (17 Aug 2008):
Awwww, this is the cutest picture. I want to hold them too!!!!!!
-
F. Robert Openshaw gave props (20 Aug 2008):
Great photo! Clever idea
-
Katy Baxter gave props (8 Sep 2008):
I'm sure that's what John really meant. How adorable.
-
Charidy Bunsa gave props (12 Sep 2008):
I LOVE PUPPPIES - - these are just sooooo cute!
-
Charidy Bunsa said (12 Sep 2008):
Forgot to mention that I know exactly what you felt. I had a stray mother cat give birth to a litter of 8 last year. Only one of those actually survived. You can see his picture on my page. He is a big healthy boy now. His name is Oso, which means "bear" in spanish....because he was such a fighter. This picture is just too fabulous.
-
Josie Mackerras gave props (28 Nov 2008):
this is incredibly gorgeous!!!! great capture
-
Teresa gave props (15 Dec 2008):
OMG, how precious!
-
Silvia Pavatich gave props (22 Mar 2009):
They're just adorable! It's a great shot! Congrats!
-
linda woods gave props (14 May 2009):
Capital P, R, E, S, C, I, O, U, S And sad story.
-
Sorin Costea said (26 Jun 2009):
Absolutely great! Love it!
