Hi i was just wondering what the room temp should be for a whelping girl.
My girl is due in around 4 weeks time, i am planning she will be in my bedroom, we have a busy house.
It is north facing and today being a nice warm day it is 21 in there, is that okay for mum and pups when they arrive??
I have heat pad etc all ready for box..
Thanks x

As dogs are hotter blooded than us then the room has to be hotter than we would feel comfortable in, don't forget the temp needs to be hot at the ground level where the dogs are, not easy to achieve as hot air rises.

I had my first litter on Xmas morning a few years back, the whelping box was next to a radiator turned up to it's highest setting and there was an electric heat pad in the corner of the box too, I was going around in shorts and tee shirts and still too hot.

It isn't just keeping the pups warm you are aiming for the high temp wards off infections like canine herpes taking hold and killing the pups.

Some use heat lamps hanging above the whelping box to concentrate the heat in the right direction, not tried this and they seem to receive mixed reactions from members on here and those I have spoken to about them.

Good Luck

I have the central heating on at 20 degree thermostat and then put a heat pad in the covered whelping box.  I usually whelp a bitch in my undies so that it's warm enough for her - too hot for me!

I was in shorts and tee-shirt, had it hot and kept it there for a few days.  only adjusted it when the pups and mum started spreading out from each other.

I might just turn it back up high if it kills germs as my stupid neighbour just came in, mo disinfectant on their feet and straight over to the babies touching them.  To say i was freaking livid is very mild.  They kept doing it until i got there even with me saying my girl doesn't like it 9to try and be polite).  My girl started hiding her babies.   Sorry to go off topic, it came to my head with the word germs.  So worried now.

Yes that is why my girl will be in my bedroom...  It is so worrying when people just dont think...
May have to put heating off in the other rooms, and up in just the one she is in to keep her warm.
Had her scanned and we seen 4 in there so fingers crossed.. :)

I think that the temperature required to kill germs is about 155F :) By increasing the room temperature you are actually making the conditions better for bacteria to multiply :)

>don't forget the temp needs to be hot at the ground level where the dogs are, not easy to achieve as hot air rises.

That's why I find it best to have a covered whelping box - the warmth is contained within the box where it's needed and doesn't get wasted where it isn't.

> By increasing the room temperature you are actually making the conditions better for bacteria to multiply :-)

Thats always been my thinking. 

Mum did give them a really good clean so I hope it will be ok.  Doesn't help as the little piggys have milk in their noses from drinking too much.

In most cases bacteria multiply in warm moist areas but this is aimed at keeping the pups really warm so this bug doesn't get a hold.

This is a simple explanation
http://www.2ndchance.info/herpesvirusdog.htm

Keep some hand sanatizing fluid for folk to use before touching pups but only when invited to do so, they should also remove their shoes at the door.

Hi i had my girl scaned 3 times and 1 was the mornin of the day she gave birth, they all said 4 puppies and she had 9 lol, she is a boxer apparenty the rest were hiding round the back lol....good luck with your puppies :)

Thats a very good link.  Pups are fine so my rant and panic are over.  I didn't do anything different with the heating but did the pups some Nutridrops, never saw a dog pull a face as if they were sucking a lemon before, lol.  The otherone liked them. 

I made them have the hand gel, took it to them.  I don't kake them take shoes off as its a bit difficult to spray feet/socks, shoes get a good drenching whether they like it or not.  The house is technically out of bounds to anyone not essenitally needed.

I had a litter born boxing day and used a heat lamp and put a probe from a thermometer in the whelping box to get the right temperature. The radiators were on too. I found it easy to regulate the temperature this way and the pups had a choice of whether to lay under the lamp or spread out. It was my first litter and I found all the puppies seemed warm at the recommended temperature and never huddled in a pile under the lamp, but always seemed to be more around the sides. Due to this I turned the radiator down and it worked really well.