Hi All,
Just a quick question. My girl is on day 57, eating chicken and rice at the moment. Her milk is just starting to come through to her nipples. Her temp has dropped in the last couple of days from 37.5, 37.6 and is at the moment 37.0...this is her first litter, does this mean that she is due to whelp at any time?I have been sleeping downstairs with her and last night she was up and down and in and out of the garden for a pee and a walk round! I didnt get any sleep..but who cares..:). Im really excited and very nervous that it all goes ok. Any advice would be great, just to put my mind at ease.

Yes, she will be going into labour very soon.

Hi, My girl had her babies on thursday night. Her temp drorred below 37 (36.5) an she refused food on the morning that she went into welp. Good luck with your babies, i have grey hairs and big bags under my eyes lol but they are worth it x x

Hi

With our bitches we have found that they quite often have a "false drop" 3 or 4 days before the real one, and it can go as low as 37.0, but once they are ready to whelp it will go to 36 point something.

Hi, This morning her temp was 36.7, she refused all food apart from a little bit of chicken. She has clear mucous coming from her vulva and is sleeping quite a bit. The pups are still moving and she doesnt seem to be in any pain...no pushing etc. I read that some girls can get a bit of an upset tum, she has a bit of a runny bum!  Hopefully she will be ok.

Hi

That's a whelping temp, I would expect her to have the first puppy within 36 hours, more than likely before.
You will find the puppies will stop moving just before she starts labour and her stomach will become rock hard.

Good luck!

sorry to ask but why chicken and rice? there is little nutrition in it, particularly rice. i fed cooked minced beef with minced pork in equal amounts and also some high protein puppy food mixed in. this continued for at least 3 weeks after whelping, the fat in pork is meant to help milk production (so vet said)

>why chicken and rice?

This is very easy to digest at a time when the gut isn't always functioning as it should.

Tina, hi, she has an upset tummy at mo and this is quite gentle food for for her. We have tried all kinds of food for her during her pregnancy and the only thing she will eat is chicken, tuna in sunflower oil, minced beef. We tried everything the vet told us to try food wise with no joy. He said as long as she eats what we give her then thats fine. She wont even look at dog food in any shape or form!!! Once the pups are born hopefully she will eat everything put in front of her.

Anymore news toffeecrisp?

Hi, no news!!! Shes flat out on floor snoring her head off! She looks like a beached seal..not big enough for a whale. Her temp has gone up to 37.0.So i guess no pups yet, oh well they will come when they ready.

The temperature does go back up again, that why I always take it 3 times a day. Usually it will stay down for 6-8 hours but less in some.

Hi, Last night I thought she was going to have them...Panting and digging an awful lot, wanting to go out and then straight back in the whelping box with no encouragement!. Nothing....... everything has settled down again, shes not in any pain, has eaten some scrambled egg and is presently sound asleep like a baby. Pups are active. Her temp is 37.5. In "The book of the bitch" I cant seem to find anything about it. It just says about the stages of labour. I just wanted to know if that was normal behaviour? Almost like false labour as us women sometimes have!!

Hi :) all is normal ,but sounds like she may have alittle longer yet ,you will know when its time :D ,she will let you know they just seem so different , my girls pups are coming up to 5weeks (wow time flys too) she didnt dig or pant ,she was just very different ,and she eat that night and went on to have the pups in the morning ,if it wasnt for seeing the contraction my hubby didnt beleive me ! :)
good luck :) x

Many Thanks to everyone . Will let you know when she has her pups..I cant wait!

My bitch was the same as yours white lily, no panting, no shivering, small amount of bed arranging but apart from that nothing else. Just huge amount of mucous (running down her back legs) and then her waters broke about 5 mins later and 2 mins after that we had the first puppy, she just started pushing and we had no panting till she was on her 6th puppy....(she had 10 altogether) it was all very calm. The only indication I knew we were close was her temp drop exactly 23 1/2 hours before she started..(had been low all week 37.7 then she had a period 2 days before where it dropped to 36.8 then the night before went right down to 36.4. I knew then she was going to start within the 24-36 hours.) Do you know who the sire could be? as mentioned above, it is probably not advisable to go ahead with the pregnancy if she has been got by a larger breed dog than herself. Good luck and let us know what happens.

Hi emz77 , yes my girl was the same with her temp too but she didnt even loose much mucus ,i just notist her contrating and that was it took her to her whelping box and out poped 1st pup :)

Emzz77...Where you asking if I knew who the sire of my pups are?...yes I do, same breed as my girl only a little smaller. Shes due to whelp on fri(63 days). Still digging, but no panting at mo, losing mucous but not a lot, eating really well..cant seem to fill her at the moment! Keeps going in and out of whelping box. Seems quite happy in her self. Just waiting now.

Perhaps in regard to your earlier posts re: using untested dogs and your decision not to go ahead with the mating?

Sorry toffee crisp....(wheres that embarassed smiley!?!) it was early in the morning and I am shattered (having a litter of pups myself ) have got confused with the posts and was replying to the wrong one.....I thought it was cjminie's post. Good luck with the litter (when they finally show there face.) I am off to hang my head in shame now

:)Hi Emzz77, I was wondering where in the posts I had put I hadnt had my dogs tested...I have..lol...not to worry, dont hang your head in shame! I have been sleeping on the sofa since last weekend and Im pretty tired myself...god knows what Im going to be like when the pups do finally arrive!!!!...oh soon please, we cant wait much longer...OH has even put a weeks hols in starting today, just in case he misses it!!!!!!! Daughter is gutted coz shes got exams this week and we wont let her stay off.

Ah you could always video it for her....( I know it's not the same, but still she'd get to see.) My daughter was with me as my bitch caught me unawares. I was sitting my friends rabbit come back from feeding him and got kids breakfast, went out to check on her and give her some more water etc and noticed the discharge. She wasn't happy about it and moved around alot, so I knew then, got her in the whelping area and stayed with her, good job as her waters broke literally seconds after sitting down then within 2 mins a puppy....nothing was within reach lol so I had to call my daughter to get everything off the shelf. She then stayed to fill in all the paper work for me as we went along. It was all very calm. I was like you waiting for days with anticipation then when I started thinking oh well it will happen when it happens she started :-) It was all over in 4 hours with 10 pups all during the day, what a good girl. Good luck and I hope it happens for you soon

Hi.
Not sure if anyone is around at this time of morning...its 4am in UK.
Looks like we might have started!.Since 8pm last night she has been panting and digging her way to china. She has ripped up newspaper and chucked around a nice peice of vetbed, then smoothed it all out and gone to sleep for a while then started all over again. Have taken her out for a pee several times but she just wants to be in the whelping box. She wags her tail when she catches me watching her, so I'm guessing she must be ok. Will let you know if anything else happens.

Good luck

Fingers crossed she is on her way! Please let us know......

ahh Hope it all goes smoothly for you :-)

:) keep us posted ,Good luck x

aww any little patters of tiny feet yet :)

Any news yet???

Morning All.....
I would like to announce the safe arrival of 3 beautiful pups....they took longer than expected because they were all breech!!!. The first one was very stuck and it was a rush to the vet..the shock of mum being there forced her to shoot him out. Big boy, black and tan weighed in at 12 ozs! Mum had oxytocin and calcium injection and we were sent home..vet said all would be ok now. 20 mins later black and tan girl, again a breech who weighed in at 10ozs. 40 mins later blenheim boy, head first, weighed in at 10 ozs. We knew there were at least 4 pups from the scan, so we waited. 20 mins after nothing happening and mum was asleep by now, I rang vet...no problem he said..just keep watching her and give her another 20 mins:( 3 big pushes and nothing..rang vet and told him I could still feel a pup and it was moving!!! He said "mum had oxytocin and calcium she will be ok and so will pup..dont worry". 2 huge pushes, out pops 2 back legs and tail...stuck...sac splits, OH tried desperatly to get him out. An hour after last pup this beautiful tri boy was stillborn...we tried everything to revive him. We were and still are devastated. OH cried, daughter cried and I cried. Would the vet have been able to save him if we had taken mum to him? Am I at fault for not insisting that we bring her down? Mum and babies are doing well though and I have homes for all of the pups. Pups are feeding well and mum had bowl of food and some lactol this morning. She has unlimited access to food and water..but is there anything else I can do for her.

Rest in Peace tiny baby.xx

Congratulations on your babies and am sooo sorry about the last little boy RIP little man xx

Well done to mum and you and OH and daughter :)
I've been checking this thread since yesterday waiting for news x

Sorry about the little one tho x x x

Congratulations on your babies and so sorry for the one you lost.
You must not beat yourself up though!
You did as advised by the professional, no body can judge the if's and buts and maybes....Just enjoy the next busy spell, and give mum lots of love.

Karen :)

i agree poloaussie ,1 of my girls last pup was stuck when we got to the vets this very big girl was born dead ,i questiond every thing i did for weeks ,but at the end of the day please dont drive your self mad like i did theres nothing you can do ,and you did what vet said !! sit back and enjoy your new big babies untill all the hard work start in a few weeks :) well done to you all and mum ofcourse :) x

fingers crossed for you here.
keep us posted.
xx

having lost 2 puppies from my recent litter I can sympathies it is heartbreaking my hubby and myself sobbed ,I still question what went wrong but what is the point . We have 4 beautiful babies who are thriving now 3 and half weeks .

R.I.P little one.

Good luck with your babies they sound fabulous , enjoy every moment ....

Roni

Hello...Firstly many thanks for all your good wishes and kind comments. We now know that we didnt do anything wrong with regards to the last pup, doesnt make us feel any better though! Mum and babies doing well. Pups suckling like they have never been fed and mum keeping them clean and warm. I would like her to eat and drink a bit more though. She is drinking lactol and im syringeing water into her mouth to keep her going. I guess this is the easy bit because mum does most of the work:)...really looking forward to seeing them all grow and develop their own personalities.

Awwww congrats on the arrival of your litter
i am sooo sorry about the little one too you did all you could

i had a litter myself yesterday though i was expecting two only 1 came he is a big little boy been up all night watching him and mum they are doing great!!

Cant wait to hear more about your little ones

Saoirse, congrats on your litter, hope all is ok. Our pups and mum are doing really. This is her 1st litter and shes great. I cant believe that they are 2 days old already!!!! Well done to all girls who have had pups and very good luck to all who are ready to go pop!!

Thank you!!

The puppy is doing great but i am concerned the mum isn't eating enough but i have been hand feeding her and i have added lactol to her water which she loves (the first time i have used this brand i usually use whelpi)

My girl has  eaten hardly anything for 3 days,I hand fed mine aswell, today she has wolfed down chicken and drank lactol like its going out of fashion. I was told that it takes time after giving birth but they eat when ready. Pups doing well, now weighing in at 11 half ounces and 12 half ounces, really pleased with all 3. Good luck.

last year my girl had her last litter and she didnt eat much at all i was lucky if i could get chicken in her , she was like this for 8days but drank loads of lactol ,then she didnt stop eating and her 9pups did very well and after she done feeding them she looked great she had put so much weight on i had to watch what she was eating lol .

Hi thankfully she is starting to eat  i steamed some chicken kept the stock added to her dry food and mashed all together and it was wolfed down although my hand was sticky lol but at least i got her too eat she also ate scrambled egg with a little lactol too

She is drinking the lactol as if it was out of fashion also and loving it!!!

My little boy was at birth 4.6 ounces and today he is 5.30 ounces at last weigh in i think he may be a bigger boy!! (3 days old today)

Good luck toffecrisp with your littles ones