Lauren’s dad frowned. “What does hand-rearing mean, exactly? I’ve looked after puppies before, but I’ve never had to hand-rear one. Would we feed her with a bottle?”
“A baby’s bottle?” Lauren asked, looking at the tiny puppy. She was about the same size as a baby’s bottle!
Mark shook his head. “No, a special puppy one. I’ve got one somewhere.” He rooted about in his bag. “Here it is. I nipped into the surgery when you called and picked up some puppy milk replacement, and some advice on hand-rearing.” He handed Lauren’s dad a jar of white powder, and a leaflet. “You mix it with water, just like baby formula. Puppies can’t drink cows’ milk, it’s got the wrong mix of nutrients.”
Lauren’s dad read the instructions on the jar. “Every two hours?” he asked, sounding slightly worried.
“Only for the first week,” Mark reassured him. “After that you’ll probably be able to leave her without a feed through the middle of the night.”
Dad rubbed his eyes wearily – it was now four o’clock in the morning. He and Mum ran their own mail-order business from home, and he’d been up late checking orders. He nodded. “Well, that’s what we’ll do.” He glanced at Mum, who was looking anxious. “We can’t not,” he added gently.
Mum nodded. “Of course. It’s going to be hard though.” She smiled at Lauren. “A bit like when you were little.”
Mark smiled. “But puppies grow faster than babies. They stop drinking their mum’s milk at about seven weeks old. This little one should be feeding herself before you know it.”
Lauren nodded. If it worked… Mark hadn’t sounded absolutely sure that it would. But Lauren had already saved this puppy once, and if it was anything to do with her, the little one was going to make it.
“I’ll do it,” she said to her parents. “The feeding, I mean. I don’t mind.”
“You can’t get up every two hours in the middle of the night!” Mum said, sounding horrified.
Lauren went over to fill the kettle. “We should feed her now, shouldn’t we? Do we have to use boiled water? Like Millie’s mum uses for her little sister’s bottles?”
Mark grinned at Lauren’s parents. “It sounds like Lauren knows what she’s doing.”
Lauren beamed at him. She really wanted to help, but she had a feeling Mum and Dad weren’t going to be keen. “Do we have to keep the puppy separate from the others?” she asked, trying hard to think of anything else they might need to know.
Mark frowned. “I would for tonight. She’s obviously having trouble keeping warm, she’ll need a box and a hot-water bottle. Look, the leaflet shows you. But after tonight, she’d be better off staying with her mum and the rest of the puppies, if she can. Just take her out for her feeds. Best of luck, and if there’s any problems, give the surgery a ring.”
The boiled water took ages to cool down, and Lauren kept wanting to blow on it.
Mum went to prepare a box for Lucy, and Dad sat at the kitchen table reading the instruction leaflet Mark had left. “Small cardboard box. Blanket. Hot-water bottle,” he muttered. “We should have thought about all of this before, but it just never crossed my mind that we’d have so many and Bella wouldn’t be able to feed them all. Uuurrgh!”
“What?” Lauren turned round, still cradling the puppy.
Dad was making a face. “According to this leaflet, we’re going to have to help the puppy poo… They don’t do it themselves, apparently, so because Bella won’t be licking her after she’s fed, we’ll have to wipe round her bottom with wet cotton wool.”
Lauren made a face back. That was a bit yucky. But it didn’t put her off. She was going to do anything she had to, to keep the puppy going. Even if that meant making her poo.
“I think this water’s cool enough to mix the formula now. Not long till you can have some milk, Lucy.”
“Lucy?” Mum asked. “When did you name her?”
Lauren looked up. “I didn’t even notice I had! But don’t you think she looks like her name’s Lucy?”
Mum nodded, but she was frowning, and Lauren bit her lip. She had a horrible feeling that Mum hadn’t wanted her to name the tiny puppy in case she didn’t make it.
Lauren carefully spooned the powder into the bottle, and mixed in the water. “Wake up, little one… Does it say how to hold her, Dad?”
Her dad skimmed through the instructions. “Flat, on her tummy, not on her back like a human baby. Here, look, on a towel.” He laid a towel over Lauren’s knees, and Lauren set Lucy down on her tummy. Her paws splayed out and she scrabbled a little and let out a tiny squeak, unsure what was going on.
“It’s OK.” Lauren picked up the bottle, and gently put it against Lucy’s mouth.
“Squeeze the bottle a little,” Mum suggested. “She doesn’t know what it is. Let her taste a few drops of the milk.”
All of a sudden Lucy started to suck eagerly, as she tasted the milk in her mouth. Her tiny pink paws, with their little transparent claws, pattered against Lauren’s fingers, making her giggle. “Wow, she was ready for that.”
Lucy only took five minutes to down the bottle.
“Goodness, should we give her some more?” Mum asked.
Lauren shook her head. “No, this is how much Mark said for now. The tub of powder says how much you give for what size of puppy over a whole day, and then you have to divide that up between the feeds.” She gave a big yawn, and on her knee, Lucy did the same.
Mum laughed. “I think we should all go to bed. Especially if we have to be up at six-thirty to feed her again.”
Lauren looked up at her mum hopefully. “Mum, my bedroom’s lovely and warm, and if I have her box in there, I can keep an eye on her…”
“But we have to feed her so early. You don’t want to get up at half-past six in the holidays!” Dad smiled.
“I do, I really do!” Lauren promised. “I was the one who woke up and found her, Dad. I really want to help.”
Dad looked over at Lauren’s mum. “What do you think, Annie?”
Mum sighed. “I suppose so. But only for tonight, Lauren. Tomorrow, when she’s a bit stronger, Lucy can go back with Bella and the other puppies.”
Lauren nodded eagerly and picked up the cardboard box. Inside, Lucy was snuggling up against the well-wrapped hot-water bottle. She looked happier than she had all day, Lauren thought. She padded back up the stairs, yawning uncontrollably. She set the box down next to her bed, and fell asleep listening to the minute wheezy breaths from inside the box.
It was really hard to get up when Dad came in at half-past six, but Lauren dragged herself out of bed, and carried Lucy’s box downstairs to watch Dad make up her next feed. The trip downstairs hadn’t disturbed Lucy at all, she noticed with a smile. The puppy was still snoozing peacefully next to the cooling hot-water bottle.
In the kitchen, Bella was out of the puppy pen looking hungry, and Lauren fed her while Dad boiled the kettle.