Tiki Surpise!

We thought Tiki was experiencing a false pregnancy, but as it turns out she gave us a tiny little baby girl on Wednesday, March 12th. The puppy came out breech and as a result, took in some fluids in her passageway. It took a concentrated effort to remove the fluid and get her breathing properly and by the time we got her up on her feet and knew she was out of danger, her scent was different than Tiki expected. Tiki is still trying to figure out exactly where her puppy is. She will nurse this one if we sit with her, but she is not identifying with it. We have to bottle feed it to ensure she gets enough to eat. I wish I would have taken pictures when she first came out to show how small she was, but she is 4 days old here and has stamped her little pawprint on this world with great fervor. The first 24 hours, she would not open her mouth to nurse, so we had to force it open each time. Then she started accepting a bottle better. Now on day 4, she has learned that Momma's milk comes in 3 different scents and flavors (Isabelle has pitched in a couple of times with her false pregnancy milk), and rubber nipples come with several different human scents. And the source doesn't matter as long as there's a nipple within reach when she demands it!! You would think with three available nursing females we'd be in the clear, but that just isn't the case. None of them will feed her unless they're curled up on our lap getting pets and kisses while they nurse. Other than that, they ignore the little girl other than to chase away the other non-nursing females in the house. But we're making do and the little girl is thriving! She's a doll.