Hi everyone,

My very small breed girl is between 33 and 36 days pregnant.  Her tummy is starting to swell a little, and her appetite has increased too.  She still runs around with her big brother as she did before she was pregnant. When will she start to slow down a bit? I don't want her to damage herself or the puppies.  She still follows me when i go upstairs which i'm not happy about, although she does it with ease and confidence.  Should I stop her doing this now? And jumping up on to the sofa, is that also something i should try to deter now?  Finally, every night Megan lays on her back on my knee and falls asleep while i stroke her tummy, when can i expect to see puppies moving inside her?

Thanks for reading my rather garbled message, just had loads of questions in my head and had to write them down before i forgot them.

Leanne
xxxxx

With such a small breed, sometimes you don't see any movement at all or feel it until the same week as giving birth. I had one where I only felt  movement a few hours before the birth, another I felt it about a week before. With my large breed I feel movement from about 7 weeks and see it from about 8.

As for slowing down, usually they do when they start to get heavy. I've just come in from a walk with my large bitch who is 39 days pregnant (just the one mating so exact day) and she is actually a little bit slower now than she normally is -but she still ran around a lot off lead.

Oh and as for jumping on the sofa -I never stop mine. They usually know what they can cope with. My large girl currently jumps up onto the sofa and from that further onto the bay windowsill so she can stand, sit or lay there and watch what goes on outside.

With her being small you ahve to make sure she doesn't catch her belly.