The Cavaliers’ turn

I finally got the Cavalier pups in for their check up. I had their appointment made, but had to cancel and reschedule. And then the vet didn’t have an opening until this past week. Usually each litter goes in around eight to nine weeks of age. But since they are all staying here (for the moment), the timing wasn’t as crucial.

I loaded them up in two crates and we headed down the road. At one point I heard some crying and carrying on from the back seat. I thought maybe someone was fussing about the car ride. I turned around to check on things, only to find Hope picking on her sister!

Everyone had their turn on the table getting checked over; from their mouth to the very back end and everything in between (ears, skin, heart, patellas, etc)plus a weigh in. Plus they got cuddles and for Hope, a belly rub. Everyone checked out normal. 🙂

Here’s a picture of Hope’s cleft palate.

The picture is a bit blurry, but if you follow the crack down the middle of the tongue and look just behind the ridges on the roof of her mouth, you can see the opening in her soft palate.

After finishing up at the vet and we headed to the feed store to pick up the special food that Hope is eating. It’s a commercial raw diet called Fresh Pet. I’ve actually started her litter mates on it. They love it! And one of the benefits of a raw diet is there are not the fillers like in a kibble diet, so the dog’s body processes it better. And there’s less waste, aka poop. 😉

After we had the food loaded into my cooler in the truck, I carried a couple pups at a time into the store for some socializing. Luckily it was a quiet time of day with few customers so the employees had time to love on the puppies and share some treats with them.

Mercy decided to just help herself to the cookie jar!