Hope just needs a little bit of help feeding her babies. She had 7 of them on the 3rd of December and is having a rough time producing enough to feed them all comfortably. One in particular has fallen behind the rest and its been a bit of a struggle to make sure he stays with us. We took her to the vet to make sure that there wasn't something wrong, and everyone checks out okay. Since we were already singling out the smallest ones for extra time to nurse without the competition of their sisters, and seeing that they were latching on properly, they recommended recommended giving mom a food high in protein and fats (which she already had been for weeks before she had them and continues to be) and bottle feeding a supplement milk to the ones that are concerning us. Which is what brings us here. We've got food for her covered, and for the pups when it comes time to start weaning them, but we hadn't anticipated the need for the milk replacement and are having a rough time getting that covered. If there were more time, I'm sure that we would find a way but that's the one thing that we don't really have here, is time. With every day that passes we get a little more worried about the small ones as we watch their sisters gain weight but they don't really, just fall further behind. I don't think that you should ever really see ribs or hips on a puppy. They should all have little round bellies and remind you of tiny pot bellied pigs, not wrinkly skin and visible cheekbones that make you think of those Sarah McLaughlin commercials that make you cry. 

So here we are, asking for help to cover the cost of the milk replacement formula for the two smallest ones for just a couple of weeks. Or even just the one who's the most worrisome. I've looked around and can get everything we need, for ALL of them, at my local co-op for around $100. And that should last for for the next two weeks, when we can start introducing them to a puppy food and water paste from the blender. We've actually already tried to do that but they are still a bit young for that and the only way most of them will take it at all is off of my fingertip and they really don't get much that way at all. And even then I would prefer to be making that paste with the milk replacer as opposed to water so that still get the nutrients that they need. I'm trying everything I can think of to make sure that they get the best start that I can give them but I'm falling a little short here and would appreciate, to no end, a little bit of a boost with this one thing. It would literally mean the world to us.