Hi,

We are due a litter in just over 3 weeks and am in the process of getting everything together.  I plan for my whelping box to be up in a warm centrally heated bedroom with no drafts, for the first couple of weeks, then plan to bring the puppies and mum down into the kitchen/conservatory.  This is the room we spend most our our time in and is the easiest to keep clean (tiled floors) but it does lose heat during the night even though I plan to keep the central heating on day and night.

I am very worried about using a heat lamp or indeed a heat pad, as a few years ago we had a terrible house fire which resulted in us losing our home, it's contents and more devastatingly our beloved dogs, so as you can imagine I am quite concerned about the prospect of anything which could be a fire hazard and never ever leave anything switched on or plugged in now.  Obviously, I want whats best for our puppies and mum but feel very reluctant to use a heat lamp or pad. Any suggestions or ideas would be most welcome.

Thanks

How large/hairy is your breed?

I found that my medium coated medium sized bitch and puppies were adequately warm with just background heating after a couple of weeks. Obviously it would be different for tiny dogs or very smooth coated ones.

She is a medium sized short haired breed.

Hi baileca our pups are born and raised in our kitchen.We also have tiled floors but the kitchen often tends to be the warmest room in our house.We never use lamps or pads at any stage.Dont you think the natural heat from the mother,vet bedding and central heating would be enough? Good luck with the pups.

i use a heat pad the princple being if they are hot they can get off the pad they cannot get away from a lamp, just cover the pad with a soft towel to give the pups traction to move and bare in mind if we get the forecasted harse winter they may be glad of the extra heat

If you are really worried, you could always get some of those microwavable circular pet warming pads.  Ive had one here for a long time, although Ive never used it for newborns, Ive always used it for guide dog pups when they arrived aged 6 weeks.  It does stay nicely warm all night and has a fleecy cover on it already.

>Dont you think the natural heat from the mother,vet bedding and central heating would be enough? Good luck with the pups.

It wouldn't for one of my breeds, when newborns can weigh under 3ozs.  I have had bitches that needed a heat pad for 6 weeks.  So I think it is breed dependent, as well as size dependent.

My very expensive overhead lamp was rubbish, and only got set up once.  I do have central heating on 24/7 if I have winter litters.  Although, to be fair, it is what I like for myself anyway.  If heating is off while I'm at work, it takes ages to heat up the house.  So I did the recommended thing and have heating all day every day, but just dropped the setting a couple of degrees.  I found out that it's true that it is more economical.

Hi JeanSW I agree  but my response was in relation to bailecas circumstances.