Hi all, Well my girl is now on day 40 from Ovulation and day 37/38 from 1st and 2nd matings.
She is a maiden bitch and has been showing for a couple of weeks now, from 3 weeks her ribs has definitely sprung right out. Her waist is now completely gone and when she lies on her side she has a big bulge where her waist would usually be!
She was confirmed in whelp by scan at the vets almost 2 weeks ago and he said at least 6 puppies, he laughed as he said this, as if she had loads in there!

Today we took her to a canine pregnancy scanner and she counted a definate 10 puppies, she was sure there were more high up in her ribs but Honey was quite restless by this point so we decided to end it there. She told me to expect a very large litter. She was thinking another 2 or 3 up high. Within 30 seconds of her having the scan probe on her there was clearly 6 puppies on the screen!

My question is: I'm currently weaning her over to Simpsons puppy food from RC Maxi Adult. I'm unsure how much extra I'm meant to be putting her meals up at 6 weeks. I'm concerned about feeding her too much and her getting chubby and struggling to whelp with such a large litter. Obviously she needs her food, I don't want her to be hungry all the time. She a greedy dog anyway, but seems to be constantly starving but I dont want to give her too much just in case.

If it were your bitch would you be giving her extras along side her puppy food? If so, what?
She is usually quite a lean dog around 37kg and has around 1 hours exercise a day, lately she has slowed right down and barely runs on her walk, just trots. Usually she is very active and will run the majority of her walk.
I will obviously be splitting her meals into smaller meals more often so shall i just stick with the puppy food or add anything?
Also how much extra should I be starting to give her from 6 weeks, going off her weight and baring in mind shes got at least 10 babies in there?

Thanks

Another one here with maybe a large litter. I started feeding Cali 3 meals a day at six and a half weeks. Giving her hervusual AG fish dried food meal and added in a meal of naturediet. Just over a week to go. She's looking really healthy but not too big.

I would give 4/5 small meals of puppy kibble nothing else depending on her appetite but my litters were average for breed. I would give her enough food that she isn't looking for more between feeds.

Is this a very large number for the breed? You will need to observe for primary inertia if the uterus is over stretched.

She will be putting most of what she eats into the pups, so keep feeding her little and often. I had one that had a litter of 13. She stopped eating for the last week and I was pulling my hair out. She eventually had to have a caesar (pup stuck) and when I got her home she was so skinny I joked to the vet 'Thank god you know me and my dogs or you would have had the SSPCA at my door' So please don't overworry about feeding too much, she needs it.

Please be careful with puppy food -it may not agree with her. I almost lost a bitch as giving her puppy food (even though it was the same brand she was already eating) caused an upset stomach, this became ten times worse after she'd given birth and cleaned up after pups, and even though we stopped it it was a few weeks before she started gaining weight again. She looked worse than an RSPCA advert and we thought her heart would give out, it was that serious. I'll never give a bitch puppy food again. I'd rather just add more meals of her usual food and one good thing that gains weight and is kind on the stomach is chicken wings. After this experience I'd rather have the bitch too fat when pregnant -but I do have two breeds that give birth easily, have long faces etc, so the likelihood of large pups getting stuck is very low for me.

I'm glad you posted this as I am also constantly worried! Our girl is 42 days post mating and she's a toy breed so aren't expecting nearly as many puppies as you guys (Saw 3 on scan but obviously may be more). I am currently feeding her three smaller meals a day (plus the odd bit of ham!) and then a bit more if shes sniffing about!. I'm using a small about of wainwrights puppy tray food which she loves mixed with her regular SP medium chicken. We have a bulldog puppy who is also having the same meat and I was intending to wean Bella onto his puppy kibble from now - It's a bit of a zoo come feeding time and hard to make sure each one is getting the right meal (4 dogs here..) so am resorting to different rooms!
Good luck with your pups and I look forward to reading any further advice :)

So small and often is the best thing really. Just didn't want to start giving too much too soon.
Would you suggest giving extra eggs or anything? Maybe raw eggs on top of food. She loves chicken wings so could give her those too.
Yes I am slightly worried about primary inertia, my breed are generally easy whelpers. I know of a breeder friend that had primary inertia last year with a litter of 11.
I have known litters of up to 12 in this breed, generally 6-9 is the average. 7-8 would have been lovely :-/

So, I do have the book of the bitch. However, I have never experienced inertia myself.
What are the signs to look out for? I do usually take temp 3 times a day for a week before due date. I know a lot of people say it doesn't work but I have always seen a prolonged drop of over 12 hours before 1st stages started. How long would you give after the drop?

She was mated on the wed and thursday but ovulated on the monday. Do you mostly take the due date from ovulation or from mating.
A lot of breeders have told me 63 days from ovulation usually?

Looks like our babies are due the same sort of time bellaboo :-)

Just had a good chat with the owner of my girls dad and she said that my girls grandma (sires mum) whelped 2 litters of 12 within a few hours and absolutely sailed through the pregnancy and birth, hopefully my girl is the same. Much more relaxed now, although will still be on guard. On to the next thing to worry about :-)

Got 3 very experienced breeders I can ring if I need any help at whelping!

Large litter size is inherited from the dam's side not the sire's... but good you have some experienced people to help :)

MsTemeraire, I am aware of that, having had non ID twins that run down my mothers side :-)
What I meant by it was that she gave me lots of reassurance that a bitch can have 12 puppies and carry and whelp them very easily, put my mind at rest quite a lot!
Hopefully my girl manages just the same as her grandma :-)

> MsTemeraire, I am aware of that, having had non ID twins that run down my mothers side :-)

Sorry Tiegold :) wasn't sure if you knew, plus there are always others reading these threads who may not have known!

No worries, I may not have known. In that case it would have been a very helpful piece of information :-)

Thank you