The Hungry Heifer

It was a big weekend here. The whelping box is gone (hope its clean enough for you Faith), and it has been replaced by the Exercise Pen, hereafter known as the "X-pen". And the pups have started solid food. All of this change was precipitated by a visit from Helping Paws on Friday. They brought the X-pen, and decided to try them on solid food to see if they were ready. As you can see from the following pictures, they were ready, and their feeding bowl has been christened "The Hungry Heifer"Team Cheers is still working out the exact amount to feed the puppies, so that means lots of leftovers for me. And even though its just mush, it still tastes pretty good to me. But then again, those who know me well know that I have seldom encountered any food that I don't like!

And we have our first official retraction too. In the last post I thought they were becoming dogs. I would like to retract that statement. Given their behavior when solid food is placed in front of them, I can only conclude that that I have given birth to a litter of exceptionally furry (and cute) piglets.

More porcine behavior...................

Above is an aerial view (blimp courtesy Kent Feeds Inc) of their very first feeding. Rebecca, who is the largest of the pups, literally climbed into the pan and slid around the whole pan on her belly, lapping up food and pushing the other pups out of the way as she went. It was quickly concluded that two pans were needed to feed this bunch.

And as the staff at Team Cheers continues to getter better with the camera, expect more video. Here's a few clips from this weekend:

Kelly attacks one of the toys. I think she was protecting the rest of the litter from the menace of the big purple bird.

This clip shows me right after I hopped in to clean up after them (A mother's work is NEVER done). I really thought it was safe to jump in because the pigs were all passed out. But as soon as they heard or smelled me, they arose from their stupor and accompanied me on my rounds. PLEASE NOTE-We used stunt puppies for this shot-do not try it at home.

Pigs in the trough Warning-not for the faint of heart :)