I'm trying to get organised, as we have less than 4 weeks to go until D63, so even less than that if the pups arrive earlier. I'm getting a 42" square whelping box next week and was just wondering whether someone can tell me roughly how big a heat pad I will need for the puppies, to go in the box?

I use one about the size of an A4 piece of paper.  this way ti can be put in the middle bitch will tend to lie around the edges of the box with pups in the middle.

Don't name your breed but small or large?  I think it makes a difference. Greatly

I have one about A4 small breed.  Box sixe 36 wide x 24 deep inches or 90 x 60 cm.
I put my heat pad at one side and the mother tends to lie on the other side.

It's a long (30" from nose to base of tail), shortish (13" at shoulder) but quite heavily-built breed, if that makes sense! I can't seem to find any medium or small pads - they all seem to be Large, X-L or Giant!

have you tried on ebay? they have some good stuff on there including vet bed etc

> I can't seem to find any medium or small pads -

I use the smallest flexiguard petnap.  It's great.  Second one down on this page.  Tried others previously, but this one gets my thumbs up.   :-)

http://www.petnap.co.uk/acatalog/pet_heat_pads.html

Mine are Petnap also with the cable protector.

We bought one of the largest on the market which was lucky as she is a large breed and had 11, the one we got was pressure sensative so didnt get hot around the edges I suspect most are made pressure sensative now but we really liked the idea. The stud owner that we used had a thermostatic whelping box she said it was very expensive when they bought it but was worth it in the long run.

I have a breed where the bitch h would rather not have heat at all, so ti is only fro the pups for the first week or so, after that I find they don't want the heat as background heat is enough in the house with their thick coats (even the babies).  I do put it on at night up to three weeks as by then they are in the kitchen which is never heated and is tiled over a concrete floor.

So with a smallish heat pad it allows the bitch to be comfortable but pups to find some heat when she is not there.  I have found that by the time they are a week old they tend to move away from it rather than towards it, also litters size is average 6.  I have had between 3 and 9 pups but most often 4 - 7.

Remember pups can also overheat, and I have had more trouble with that than cold.

Thanks for that everyone! Brainless, I'm thinking that you may have a point. My girl is very well-endowed in the coat department and the puppies are usually pretty hardy with good coats. In our breed, they prefer to be too cold rather than too hot. Since the room they're going into for the first few weeks is always warmer than the rest of the house I don't want to overheat them, so I was aiming for a smaller one too. Obviously, I would like one to put in the puppy box to keep the puppies warm as the others are born. I think one of the Petnap ones seems sufficiently small.

i have a large breed with good coats ,i always use a hot water bottle coverd in a large soft towel inside a cardbord box ,i realy dont see the point in spending on things like heat pads if only being used while pups being born ;) x

You do need the heat pad though if you don't heat the house at night, or you keep the household thermostat like we do at 15'C maximum.

yes i agree brainless, i have my heating on 24/7 when its cold pups or not lol x