Hi guys, I have a kc registered 2 year old toy breed, called Lily. She recently just had her second heat and we decided that before getting her neutered, we would love her to have a litter. We took her to a kc registered stud on day 11 and day 13. Both times they tied for 10-15 mins, so we're pretty sure she's pregnant. It's been 6 days now and she's still bleeding, and i'm just wondering is this normal? If so, how long will the bleeding continue? :) thank you any help will be appreciated :)

6 days after mating and you're sure she's pregnant?  and yes it is normal, their season continues as it would had she not been mated, I also find that after a mating the bleeding does get slightly heavier for a few days.

A season will progress as normal whether a bitch is mated or not.  so if your bitch normally bleeds throughout her season then she will continue to do so.

Now I hope you take the following as impartial/impersonal advice/information not just aimed at yourself but for anyone else reading this forum when searching on the subject:

I would advise you buy 'The book of the bitch' as I do feel you are very ill prepared for breeding from your bitch, especially in a toy breed where problems are more likely, and you need to recognise if your bitch is in difficulties as otherwise you could end up loosing her.

If your aim is not to become seriously involved in your breed (found a breeding line, with the aims of improvement/maintaining standards), then breeding from your bitch is not a good idea at all.

Unless you would consider stopping the potential pregnancy (an Alizin injection can be given up to 6 weeks after mating) I would advise you to join the breed club, find a breeder of toy breeds to act as your mentor and adviser for the forthcoming litter, someone that will actually stay with you throughout the whelping, will know if and when the vet is needed (few vets have breeding experience outside of C sections), and will help advise correct rearing.

Remember that with such tiny breed they are prone to Hypoglycemia, so need frequent meals (probably 6 per day) and should not be homed until about 12 weeks.  Also many toy breeds are not great mothers and you may have to do most of the rearing yourself, this might include hand rearing feeding two hourly around the clock.

Are you still in touch with your bitches breeder, have you researched what sort of whelping the mothers lines have had, (C section/natural/problematic), did all their puppies survive/thrive, where any born with cleft palates/deformities, were they good mothers.  Often such traits are strongly inherited.

If you have never whelped a bitch before, a toy breed is not the easiest to gain experience on.  Please, please be sure that you are prepared financially for any emergency.  I have personally paid in excess of £1,000 for an out of hours C-section.  People with toy breeds would normally save this up before planning a mating.

Are you aware that some of the toy breeds are prone to inertia?  If you wouldn't recognise it, you are risking your bitch.  And, forgive me for saying this, but I defy any novice to recognise inertia the first time they see it.  Which is why novices find themselves mentors prior to risking their bitches.

You need to start learning very, very quickly.  Not meant as a criticism, just a kindly warning that you don't want to risk your girl.

Hi, yes I've learnt about all the risks and do have a very qualified vet that is out of hours, I also have finance saved up for if such problems do arise. Also I have spoken to the studs owners, they have so far had 3 successful litters from the stud and all have survived and been healthy. If Lily is pregnant, it will be the stud's 4th. Also, I was told not to change the mothers diet until day 30 of pregnancy, but i'm wondering if it would be ok to start introducing her with puppy food now? Also, I am giving her a boiled egg once every morning.

Increasing her food too early is a mistake; the last thing you want is an overweight bitch because that virtually guarantees a difficult whelping. Personally I wouldn't change her diet until the 6th week, but I'm sure people with expertise in toy breeds will either confirm or deny that.

In a large breed, I wouldn't change the food till a couple of weeks before.  The mum needs most calories when she is lactating and feeding the litter, more than during pregnancy.

I have bred a lot of toys over the years, but I would never give a bitch a boiled egg every morning and I don't increase food until week 6.  Usually around the time that I start her daily Panacur (I assume you understand about encysted worms.)  Once Panacur is started I poach white fish in half milk, half water.  It's easy to hide the Panacur in!  Please don't listen to people telling you to change food on day 30, you are asking for problems, which you can't afford with such little experience.  I don't know anyone with breeding experience, and plenty of knowledge that would agree with the advice you've been given.

I'm afraid that the studs owners experience has no bearing whatsoever on your bitches likelihood of an easy whelping!  I'm not really sure why you think it's relevant.  And you have no idea if your bitch is pregnant, and won't for some time to come.  Spend the waiting time reading the Book of the Bitch.  Then read it again.  And again.  And again.

The last novice I tried to give advice to thought I was exaggerating, and thought they would sail through it (with no experience whatsoever.)  They phoned me after 11pm one night, and I knew just from the descriptions that their bitch was in trouble.  They phoned a vet due to my insistance (many know how to do a C-section, but actually have no breeding knowledge) and was told to leave the bitch until the following day.  They wouldn't listen to me, and the bitch is dead.  The owners were so pleased when the vet said to wait, as it saved them an out of hours fee!  And they had no knowledge to recognise the suffering their bitch went through.

IF Lily is pregnant, you need a mentor to attend the whelping.  You say you've learned all about the risks, but I'm willing to bet that you won't recognise the warning signs.  Please, please learn more - alot more, as it is Lily that will be at risk.

>I have bred a lot of toys over the years, but I would never give a bitch a boiled egg every morning and I don't increase food until week 6.

Thank you; it's good to know that toys are the same as the larger breeds in this respect, even though there are often differences. :-)

I agree with others that you need to do more homework/research as it is the bitches side you need to be investigating re whelping history, the stud used will have no influence on this when it comes to Lily, the bitchs breeder is normally the mentor of choice unless like you they decided to breed just the one litter, I trust Lily has no endorsement re breeding from her.

Altering food too early can really mess up the metabolism for later, calcium being the most dangerous,the wrong use may lead to eclampsia and death of the bitch, puppy food is used as the higher calorie content means the bitch doesn't need to eat as much when space is greatly reduced for her stomach to expand as her abdo is taken up with pups, the last thing you want is huge pups she can't pass, most of the puppy growth happens in the last 2 weeks so they may not look obviously pregnant till then, toy breeds may only have one pup which may result in a c/section due to either pup being too big or not giving off enough hormones to trigger labour resulting in primary inertia.

I hope Lily and the stud you have used have had all the breed specific health tests as stated on the KC website and got excellant results, puppy buyers are getting wiser to these tests and if they buy a pup which later develops one of these preventable diseases they are taking the breeders to court.

If you have bitten off more than you can chew then now is the time to get her the inj. to end the pregnancy if there is one, 8 weeks isn't long enough to learn all you need to know[I spent 7 yrs researching my breed and getting the best examples and letting it be known from the off that I planned on breeding at some point in the future before my first litter was born], is someone able to be home 24/7 from 10 days before she is due till the pups are rehomed and observe the bitch and pups closely 24/7 for the first at least 3 weeks after whelping, there is more to breeding dogs properly than many folk realise.