Maltese Madness

Our Maltese, Candy Kisses, (we call her Can-Can) had another litter of puppies about 8 weeks ago.  They were the typical little pink ratty-looking things that they always are.  This is her third litter and she had triplets--quite unusual for the breed.

They grow rather fast and before we knew it, there were three little one pound balls of fur getting around and rolling out of their bed  By three weeks, people are coming to see them cause they are starting to "cuten up."    

We were lucky: Little (a puppy that we kept from the last litter) decided she would be the baby sitter.  She's turned out to be quite the little mama.  She'd groom them, push them back into the bed, sat with them for hours when Candy wouldn't, and played and played and played with them.

 By the time they were old enough to go to the vet's for their first shots, they were squeaking and making noise, eating soft puppy food and weighing a pound and a half.  They also have needle-sharp teeth that may not make you bleed but will make you yelp in pain!

And by this time, we're looking for new homes for the babies.  With three adults already, we can't handle three more.  Besides, little ones like this love to bite on bare toes, get underfoot, add to the general disarray of an already messy home.

And must I mention the time and work that is required for a Maltese to look like a Maltese?  See here?  This photo on the left?  That would be a Maltese after a bath but before a brushing and sitting beside it, another Maltese after a half hour of bathing, brushing, biting, and de-fleaing (picking the fleas off the little stinkers because they are babies and can't handle flea prevention yet.  Oh, they don't go outside but they do get fleas.  I don't know how.)  Now remember there are three babies, and each one needs his 30+ minutes of brush time.

 But let's just face it.....these are some darling pics!  Marley got one baby and it is already at her house.  The second baby has gone to his new home in Baton Rouge to an 8-year-old who LOVES him.

All that means one baby left.  He's cute, but he's bad!  He's playful and funny, but he believes that everything he finds is a toy made just for him.  

And he is afraid of nothing.  He's begun antagonizing the adults.  Cotton has snapped at him every day for a week, and he will not figure it out: not every thing  attached is a nipple!

The one compliment I can give him is he wears himself out!  

And he takes good naps, especially when he's curled up in a lap.  He just has to get comfy first and likes to self-calm by chewing on something, like skin or fingers or toes or lips if you doze off first.  Remember, he's afraid of nothing and has razor sharp needle teeth....."a lip nip" can draw blood.