hi we have just found out my bitch is pregnant. it was unplanned and i honestly dont know how it has happened but there is nothing i can do about it now. i have read up a bit about breeding as i knew we were always going to do it just was not planning on it right now. anyway i have just ordered the book the book of the bitch and as we are waiting for it to come i would like as much info as possible please.
- how much extra food do we need to feed her and does she need extra supplements
- do i need to take my dog away from her and for how long before
- do i need to restrict her exercise or will she just let me know when she has had enough
any tips and info would be much appreciated
many thanks.

I think it would be helpful if you said how far along she was.

Is this the dog with luxating patella?  If so, it's hereditary. :(

In the present situation, re pups not being sold despite being ordered etc. I would be very wary of having an unplanned litter or even a planned litter.   Are you sure you can keep some or all the pups if necessary, it could well come to this, there are several posts on the forum to this effect.

How far along is she?  It may still be possible to abort the pups - better than having to PTS if they can't be sold :(

Alizin can be used up to 6 weeks from mating.

hi del is kept outside and dre (which is not the one with dislocated knee) is kept indoors with mags, so he would be the father. however he has now been castrated. dre was sent to my friends on 3rd november as that was a few days into her season i really dont see how it is possible that he has caught her but i guess it can happen it means he could have only caught her on the night of the 2nd. if i am correct that is saying she is 45 days, which i gather is far to late to abort them.i do believ we could cope and have the room if the dont all go at 8 weeks, however i have never heard of any springers spaniels in this area struggling to sell.

That may well be so, but have you not seen the news lately?   Thousands of people are going out of work with more to come and every area is affected.  

There's a thread discussing pups not selling Here

my friend has 2 bitch puppies left, at 9 weeks old from a litter of 6, also a popular gundog breed, cannot shift them, and this is also an area popular with gundog types. looks as though she may have to keep them.

Has she been scanned, or palpated by a vet, are you sure it's not a phantom?

my friend has springers and apparently lots of well known breeders have puppies looking for homes (show lines) .

Even dogs homes/rescue sanctuaries are struggling to cope.
Some that even advertise that they don't put a healthy dog down
are having to PTS dogs as they are just inundated with dogs being surrendered, litters/pups not sold.
I've been told that some dogs are only given 2 week grace and if they don't find a home within that timescale
they are PTS :(

Sadly with the credit crunch/recession amongst other problems people are trying to cut out goings as much as
possible. Others which are losing their jobs are having to make tough decisions about parting with their pets.
I know of breeders in my own breed which have got pups way past the 12 week mark and they can't find homes
either. So it's not breed specific.

It's a crisis which is only going to lessen when the recession eases.

I hope that you can find all the homes you'll need or have the savings to cope with unsold pups etc.
I only occasionally have the odd litter and there's no way I'd be contemplating a litter at present.

And our local paper has been full of litters of puppies of different breeds the last few weeks, even today again - not that long ago, it was rare to see even one litter advertised in there...

Well if she is pregnant, you will need to feed her 50% more good quality food. I feed mine sardines, tuna & pilchards. Asda are the cheapest. You want your bitch to have plenty of milk. Have you got your welphing box ready, plenty of newspaper, vet bed plenty of towels to rub the pups in. If it is your first litter I would recommend you buy a welphing kit of ebay they have every think in you will need.
Are the pups being born indoors? you will want a welphing heat light. As cold is the main killers of puppies. These nights are very cold.
They must be kept at approx. 90% until there eyes open the reduce the temp. to 80% then keep at 70% .I would not let the other dogs worry her or stress her . After the pups are born the bitch must have 4 meals a day, to keep her milk supply. Has your bitch been wormed? if not see your vet and get her wormed. This will reduce the worms in your puppies.
Have you read up how to revive a pup? not all bitches will remove the sacks off there pups, you will have to do this if she doesn't or they will drowned. Not all bitches are tex book

thankyou denese. there is no point in worrying about them not being sold as there is nothing i can do about that now. if it was a problem i can def keep a few myself till they did eventually go. apparantly she will only have approx 5 max of 7 i have been told due to her age etc and being her first litter. 2 are allready sold and the police have contacted me saying they would rehome them for me if i could not get rid of them.

denese..
the pups will be indoors due to weather etc. we have been giving her milk but are not really sure how much extra milk she really need to be having. i have been giving her more food. i will book her to vets to get her wormed. should i take mags away from my other dog ( they do depend on each other) and if so when do you think i should start to seperate them. i have read about reviving the pups etc and my aunt had breed dobermans for many years and said as soon as mags comes into labour she will come over. will i tell straight away that she has come into labour as i have read you need to make a note of this. also can i still exercise her or do i need to stop. my partner is taking my other dogs out over the weekend and was wondering if she would be able to go or not
thanks verymuch for your help.

Let her exercise but not to excess, it's important she stay fit right up to the birth, she will probably start to slow down as the pups get bigger, let her set the pace, but try to discourage any jumping or wild behaviour .   I took mine out for shorter walks but more often and allowed her to set the pace ;)   and in the last week or so mainly on lead - no rushing about ;)

Try to get THE BOOK OF THE BITCH  and The Whelping and Rearing of Puppies - both from Pets at Home and between them will give you a good grounding.

Not sure why she would be likely to have fewer pups owing to age and first litter??   Her breed would be a better guide IMO

Regarding the other dog/s it's better to start separating them now daily for a few hours at least to let them get used to it.  She won't welcome their presence until the pups are running around and it will likely stress her unnecessarily ;)  she'll need a warm safe 'Den' for her pups where she can relax away from the others.

Hope this helps

thankyou.i have ordered the book of the bitch and i am waiting for it to arrive should hopefully be her tomorrow. alot of people have said because it is her first litter they never have as many as there second litter i am not sure how true it is but alot of people have told me. she is a springer spaniel and i have read that seven is an average litter size for this breed.

my friend has just sold all her pups a few months back and hers went no bother she said she nos people that are waiting for a springer spaniel so would forward my number to them so hopefully they will be all rehomed  fine.

I hope that's not true about them having more with their second litter, my bitch (cocker) had her first litter this summer, she was 3.1/2 years old and had 9!!! pups.

Hi stanyer, I am in the same situation at the moment.  I had one of my boys neutered he was still fertile and managed to get his way with my bitch and we have puppies on the way.  Thankfully my breed only have 3 or 4 in a litter but would advise to start looking for homes now even though they are not born yet and get at least double the amount of people as you think you need.  Because as everyone has said lots of pups are currently available some from very good breeders.  Thankfully I have my waiting list, she is looking like a little porker waddling around and is due on the 27th dec if my maths is right.  And I tried to plan a quite xmas/new year, it wont be now!!

Emma

Edited to add I haven't used any supplements just increased her food slowly and stopped forced walks but it didnt stop her trying to bomb around the garden with a belly.
Also try and get her used to the area she will whelp in early on so it becomes her little home.

> apparantly she will only have approx 5 max of 7 i have been told due to her age etc and being her first litter.

I also hope that is not the case as one of my girls had 14 in her first litter at age 3 1/2.

More wives tails ( ;-) ) I'm afraid. I had a springer that had 13 for her first litter. My first Munster had 10 for her first litter, but only 4 for a 2nd litter. The timing of mating, and the number of eggs released and fertilised are the only things that really count. Well, unless you count trauma at roughly half way through the pregnancy when the bitch may absorb or abort the litter.

I personally wouldn't be giving her extra milk, unless she really likes it. A lot of bitches can't tolerate milk, especially in pregnancy. Fluids are important, but water does the job just as well, if not better, as it helps flush out the system.

> and the police have contacted me saying they would rehome them for me if i could not get rid of them.

Gosh you are lucky a lot of police forces are cutting their dog sections down sadly

> alot of people have said because it is her first litter they never have as many as there second litter i am not sure how true it is

My Kizi's first litter was 9 pups, in second she carried 8 but only 4 survived, and her last litter was just four.  My breed generally have around 6 pups yet a friends bitch had 14 in her first litter, her second litter was average.  They will have what they will have.

alot of people have said because it is her first litter they never have as many as there second litter i am not sure how true it is

absolute rubbish my standard schnauzer had 11 first litter then 8 second

Hi stanyer21,
I was lucky I had brought a very Large container of welphing milk from Crufts. So I did give some to my bitch in later pregnancy.
Lots of protein. I also found it very handy when weening my pups to mix with there ready brek. They thrived.
You could look on VET-MEDIC Pharmacy web site and see if they have any, It was only £15.00 and it lasted 7 weeks feeding all the pups and giving mom some. I think it is a good idea to have all pups indoors, not only the weather it is safer. If the other dog (dogs) don't stress her it may not be a problem but! a bigger rench when he/she has to be kept away from her and her pups untill they are running round. Mom could also become a little snappy after she has had her pups to protect them in the early days. I did not have this, But! as I say not all bitches are tex book. Small walks towards the end of pregnancy only. She will get tired as she is carring a lot of extra weight. You do not want her tired when she goes into labour.They say the bitch trys to dig it is a nesting instinct. My opinion is they scratch and look like they are digging, because of the pain, they pant. Heavy. because of the pain. Have paper and pen ready at the birth. Note the time each pup is born also the gap between the pups. That way it easier to detect a problem. Always be ready for the worsed then it is great when everything goes to plan. It is a great help if you have some one who is experienced to be with you, who know how to rub and swing your pups if needed. 

Denese

> alot of people have said because it is her first litter they never have as many as there second litter i am not sure how true it is
ditto..

my girl had 9 pups with 1st litter and 6 pups with the 2nd litter.

My bitches have always had MORE pups in the first litter.

Mine have just all had the same - regardless of age - FOURTEEN!!!!!!! 

15 in my and my first girl's litter.

Good luck with your litter Stanyer, some good advice given on here, I think its possible you may have the puppies longer than is usual because of the times we are presently in but if you concentrate on making them nice sociable dogs when they are of an age to start training then the right owners will come along eventually and be very pleased they have an already well trained companion to take home with them, I would never condone putting healthy puppies to sleep just because they were an unexpected litter so as long as you are financially able to rear them and have the room to house them all then all will be well in the end :-)

number of pups in the litter! depends on how many eggs she ovalates.
Also the day she is mated to fertillize them.

Denese

Some people want older puppies as they are mostly house trained by then. They usally have been injected, all this can help.
Selling your pups! this would be a bonus.

Denese

With my breed I find people won't buy them after 10 weeks. The trouble with keeping more than one even temporarily is of course how incredibly hard it is to get the pups socialised and trained ONE BY ONE. I got left with one extra pup in my last litter, they are now 14 weeks old, and it's a full time job just training two pups. I had a nightmare last night that I'd had FOUR pups left, woke up terrified!

Hi Marianne, I see you have beautiful Papillons to as well as your others :-)  I think your right in saying each pup must have individual training which can be extremely time consuming to do, I had to do it when I kept two boys out of my last litter because I wanted to run both on to see which in the end would be best for the showring, it meant double the walks and double the training, it was a really worthwhile project as it taught me to have more patience with training than I did before.

You can also put her on a very good quality puppy food until she is done nursing the pups- I did this with my bitch :-) best of luck

hi i would like to thank yous all for you advise..
well i do hope i dont end up with 13 little puppys but never mind... the vet said it is very rare for a springer to have that many.
we have made her whelping box and are trying to encourage her to use it.
she does really like milk but someone did tell me today you are not ment to give dogs milk.....
we are off to vets to get her wormed tommorrow so will ask them plenty of questions.
i am hoping to keep one as well even though this was not planned.
we have been watching plenty of videos on you tube to give us some idea of what it will be like.
the main thing i am worrying about is panicking about
when she comes into labout how long can she be in labout before having her first pup.
how long can it take a pup to come out before i need to start worrying about it maybe being stuck...
how long can it take between pups to arrive...
how will i no if it is her last puppy.
thanks

How old is she hun??

I would start taking her temps about 2 weeks before at the same time everyday- I took Tiva's 4 times a day and wrote it down- Then her temp dropped and they will usually whelp in about 48-24hrs- tiva whelped in 24hrs. Should take 1 hour a pup apart- if she is pushing hard and no pup in I would say 3hrs then call a vet- I did have 3hrs between pups with hard pushing and that scared me, was on phone with vet. My breed is also known for c-sections due to big head and bitches narrow pelvic.

When you think she is done and have not had any pups with in 1-3 hrs you can feel on both sides every hr and you can actually feel if her uterus is contracting down- but being your first litter prob may not know what your looking for- luckily my vet showed me this cause I thought one was still inside her and when I went to the vet she showed me it was going down- put she did deliever one that was not really formed at all just a sack more so with a plecenta I also took temps for about 3 days just to make sure she was good and weighed all puppies for about a month.

Best of luck and read lots :-)

hi she is nearly 2. thankyou for all your help and advice and i will let you no how she gets on

Don't worry! you will cope fine, you will go into over drive, go on gut feelings you know your dog. Common sence. I found it very simllar to human deliveries, don't panik as she will pick up your vibs. Enjoy!

Denese

thanks denese. i will really try not to panic, i am just so scared that she is not going to look after them herself, i really hope she does. i think she is about ready now. she is in her whelping box not wanting to come out at all, and has now started refusing her food. i just hope everything goes ok for her.