7 Weeks old :)  They love it outside but it is getting hot so I filled up Jones's baby pool.  They wanted to get in but not quite sure about it.  Blue-Charles lost his collar and Violet has a black collar with flowers on it.  Everyone else has the right color collar on.  They are excited to meet their new families soon :)

I wanted to give everyone an update on Violet.  Violet isnt for sale because the vets think she has a condition called Mega Esophagus.  This condition is not known in this breed.  In fact our vets and other consulted vets have never known a case in a Ridgeback.  It is common in Great Danes, Sheppards and other breeds.  It is when the esophagus is enlarged and has pockets, these pockets hold food and dont allow it to go down into the stomach as it is suppose to.  The result is the puppy regurgitates the food , sometimes thru the mouth but most of the time thru the nose.  This means that they need to be on a liquid or thick liquid diet their entire lives and need to be fed in a standing position and kept in this position for at least 15 mins after feeding to help the food move thru the esophagus into the stomach.  The recommendation for this is to put the puppy to sleep because it is extremely hard to get enough food in them for them to thrive.  Since birth we have noticed that Violet would have milk bubbles in her nose after she nursed and then when we started them on puppy slop Violet began to choke when she was eating.  At 4 weeks we took her to the vet and got xrays and was told of the suspected diagnoses.  At this point I am not ready to put Violet to sleep.  We are going to take Violet to Ohio State in July to get more testing done and hopefully get a confirmed diagnosis.  Right now she is eating a thick , pudding consistence, mixture of goats milk and Blue Buffalo puppy food.  She is keeping the food down, gaining weight and is an active puppy.  I will fight for Violet as long as she continues to thrive, at the point she stops gaining weight or starts losing weight we will have to make some tough decisions.
  

6 weeks old and loving the outside

 George

 Harry

 Anne

 Charles

 Phillip

Violet

 James