Hi guys I've been offered to borrow a whelping bed and most supplies for when and if my girl has a litter, I know the person really well, bu I'm still unsure as to whether I should borrow due to cross infection. This would be my first litter so haven't got anything as of yet. I was going to have a bed made for me but now I don't know what to do. Has anyone borrowed before? What do you guys think?

Would never borrow a whelping box/bed and supplies. Prefer to buy my own. Cross infection would be a concern for me. I have lent out puppy pen panels and regretted it -they were not returned in the state in which I lent them out!

I wouldn't worry about borrowing a plastic type whelping box as that could be thoroughly disinfected, but wouldn't want to borrow a wooden one.

I'm breeding scheme supervisor at Hearing Dogs and we have a stock of whelping equipment for our litters; we have about 10 medium and 6 large Snowsilk whelping boxes and have never had a problem with them changing between homes (we've had 18 litters so far this year). Obviously we bring them back here after each use and thoroughly clean and disinfect them then they go back into storage and are jet washed and disinfected again before being given out for the next litter. They are very easy to clean and disinfect so I wouldn't have a problem borrowing a Snowsilk type whelping box - I used one of them for my own bitch earlier this year.

Thanks for the replies. Food for thought.

Someone on a FB pets for sale group not long ago was selling a second-hand cardboard whelping box...!

Ew yuck! Imagine what that was like!