Hi my girl is 59 well nearly 60 days pregnant and it's her 2nd pregnancy last time she had 4 puppies and this time  they are estimated about 8or 9 and I have been having this problem that her temperature never really drops to below 37.5 C and last time it was like this as well her temp would be all over the place and then she give birth on day 63 but I'm just worried that she might end up losing the puppies as I won't be able to tell the labour starting coz of the temperature not actually going down ect and I was wondering if the dog actually has to drop the body temperature or can some go with out doing it..  And also I have stopped feeding her puppy food a bit late as she would refuse to eat anything else and I couldn't see her with no food at all she never finished it till her day 58 technically and now she's on pedigree jelly food mixed with dry food is that going to cause harm the fact she never stoped it till so late or is that just a rough time they are supposed to stop eating the puppy food?

Generally it is advised to start feeding puppy food in the latter stages of pregnancy, not stop feeding it?
I don't feed puppy food as I feed a very high quality kibble that is enough, I just upped her quantities.

I've also never taken the temperature as I heard too many stories of it not being reliable.

Do you have concerns there may be complications with labour? My bitch is now day 54 and won't be left alone at all now, generally the start of labour fairly obvious.

I have bred 23 litters over as many years and never taken a bitches temperature,  LOL

Really and yeah my girl is never alone unless she's asleep in her welping bed she's been really sleepy today and her babies have been very active so it's all good for now but I have heard so many stories about the bitch nothing giving birth for ages and the the puppies turn out to have died it's sad

I don't set much score by temperature taking either.   And didn't bother, most of the time.   I go by the number of days, from the first mating and never left my bitches to go over by more than 2 days without having my vet examine them.

As for all this giving the bitch puppy food - again I have no idea when, or why, this started.   If the bitch has been on a good quality diet, always (!!) and certainly before being mated, why the need for 'puppy food' which is for PUPPIES!!    And I didn't up the amount being fed until I knew how many puppies (live, on the ground) she was going to have to cater for.   Again there is no more need to get a pregnant bitch fat, as a human pregnant mum.    The puppies will take all they need, both before and after birth and once mum is into feeding them, then is the time to up her food intake, not before.   It's way more important to feed a quality adult food throughout - and as the bitch increases in girth it is often necessary to split the daily intake into several small meals, concentrating on protein, not bulk.

Feeding a bitch 'puppy food' sounds like nothing more than a sales ploy to me. 

ps   -  With our litters, the puppies tended to go less active during the final day before whelping - the first time this happened, I was really concerned, but it was just them moving into line ready to be born. 

The  reason many people switch to puppy food, especially  picky ones, is exactly  that to increase protein and calorie content without increasing bulk fed.

A few litters ago I stopped doing this as I found they were less inclined to become very loose after shelling on their usual good quality adult food, so fed that to appetite at least 4 times a day after whelpin.

From 6 weeks of pregnancy I increase gradually to only 50% more than usual, to avoid a fat bitch.

That's what I was thinking with the puppy food and I have give up on the temperature and I was wondering when does the clear vaginal usually start coz last time she had it for a couple of days but I don't know if it's normal x

> The  reason many people switch to puppy food, especially  picky ones, is exactly  that to increase protein and calorie content without increasing bulk fed.

If the bitch is on a good quality food, one that lists meat or fish as the main ingredient, not cereal based, that should be giving her a perfectly adequate diet when in whelp and again, I see no need to up anything until the number of puppies can be seen - born.   All extra protein does is increase the milk supply and as newborn puppies don't need lashings of milk and in fact often can't draw it off fast enough early days, there's more risk of mastitis.    Our puppies weighed in at around 17 - 18 oz so certainly didn't lack anything before birth.   And although some of our bitches gave their all to their puppies when nursing, meaning they could look a touch out of condition by the time weaning began, that was quickly put back on by the time the puppies were fully weaned.    I've had more than one back in the ring not long after nursing a litter (only once or twice if I had a Club Champ.show I wanted to exhibit in) with their weight back on, and their coats gleaming.

If extra protein is felt needed, that's surely easily provided without feeding a bitch 'puppy food'.    With respect.

I think it can be rather breed dependent.  My most recent bitch was like a rake when the pups were born as I was on holiday week 8 and my daughter ad been told tm up her food a bit, but obviously not quite enough.

As you say though within a week of the birth she had gained, though she did end up with mastitis in one boob at 4 weeks (Couldn't draw anything off and it ended up bursting, draining and healing nicely within short time).

> surely easily provided

and for many people the easiest way is to give the puppy or high energy working version recipe of their chosen complete.