My bitch is due to have her first litter in 11 days,she has gone off her food today,Any advice pls?

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Hi Guest
Why not join the forum and get loads more help and support as you go on.
It's not unusual for a female to go off her food,she's probably feels full up :) best thing to do is feed her little and often and try all sorts of different thing mixed in with her normal diet.
Tracey

Thanx for your advice, i have tried giving her little and often but she's still not interested,How do i join the forum?

Hi sorry you already have joined, i'm going barmy, i thought it said you were a guest :D
sorry
Tracey

Thats ok :D , I have tried feeding her all her favourite things but no luck.Just maybe she having a off day.

Hi
Yeah probably, they have off days and the pups will be getting themselves all sorted out, having a kick and a roll over so she probably just feels full today, try tuna, chicken,rice pudding, baked beans anything like that...they never refuse chicken :D
tRACEY

Any new arrivals yet???

Hi there, no sign of any yet :( she's eating fine again now.Im getting very anxious now just cant wait :)

Hi
Take this time to rest, the no sleep syndrome is not far away..:D
Good luck and hope everything goes ok
Tracey

My girl hardly ate all the way through pregnancy, then on the Friday she seemed to eat and eat.........Saturday she stopped, Sunday nothing, Monday morning she gave birth - 4 days early!! It's easy to say try not to worry, but you do, it wouldn't be natural if you didn't!

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Thanks for your reply. She's still eating well :) She's slowed down alot the last couple of days and sleeping alot.Is this normal?

You've never been pregnant, have you? :D If you had you'd remember the utter exhaustion of the last days!!!

Yes, perfectly normal, she's saving all her energy for delivery day............and boy is she going to need it, my bitch delivered 7 pups over 10 hours and was completely exhausted.....to the point I had to do a 'hands on' delivery of her last pup!

Hi all, iv'e been checking my dob's temperature all week its been averaging around 37.9. Tonight it has dropped to 37.3,looks like the new arrivals may be here soon.:)Thanks all for your advice. I'll keep you all posted.

Good luck! Any signs of impending whelping yet??

Hi all, no other signs yet,she's very restless,still eating well. Is it definate she will totally go of her food prior to giving birth or does this vary from bitch to bitch.

All bitches are individuals when it comes to times like this. No hard and fast rules, I'm afraid! :)

2 of mine stopped eating 24 hours in advance, one carried on eating up to an hour before, then once labour started she kindly gave it all back..........lol.

some bitches will have a hearty meal just before whelping :D

I always give my bitches drinks of puppy milk and water with glucose therough the first stage to keep her energy up.

Any new arrivals yet? This is very nerveracking, god only knows what state i will be in if todays mating is successful!!. good luck x

No new arrivals yet,she has gone off her food this morning,temp 37.1,very restless. Think it will be very soon. :) I will keep you all updated.

sounds very promising! good luck and I hope all goes well for you both

Hi I was here 3 weeks ago!! Just want to say good luck, I'm thinking of you
Kelly
XX

I am suffering from sleep deprevation at the moment as well. 7 nice healthy pups delived within 3 hours yesterday morning.They are at the side of my bed under constant watch, mum disappeared to the kitchen 30 mins after finishing giveing birth, looking for her breakfast,ate everything she could find right up to giveing birth,very even litter 3 black boy,3 Landseer bitch's and 1 black girl.

Any news yet Ste_d I keep checking in for a message??

Hi all, Kikki had her first puppy at 6.45 this morning:)
So far she has had 8.
3 black girls,2 chocolate girls, 2 black boys and 1 chocolate boy.
Mum and puppies are doing great,think there maybe still a few more.. :)
I will keep you all posted throughout the day. Thankyou all for your advice. Ste

Congratulations, we had 2 litters of 12 many years ago, keep up with the caffeine!! :)

Wow, congratulations...................has she had any more??

No more puppies,been to the vets as she was very restless this afternoon. Had a xray and she said everything looks great definatly no more. One of the little girls is refusing to feed she only weighs 11oz all the others are 14oz-15oz doing fine.I have been trying my hardest to encourage her ,also tried hand feeding, no luck...:( Pls any advice i am going out my mind with worry...:(
ste

Have you tried putting her with mum on her own? one of my pups was a bit smaller than the rest and it was like she couldn't be bothered with the fight to get to a nipple! Rosie (mum) had a blanket beside the whelping box, which she sleeps on after feeding, so I place this pup with mum on her own! Her weight increased very slowly, around 1/4oz per day, where as the others were gaining 2ozs per day, she seems to have come on great, yesterday she gained 4ozs and feeds along with the rest now now she is only 1-2 ozs behind the rest.

Does the pup feed at all? She really needs to get to mum during the first 24/36 hours to get the colostrum which contains anti-bodies which they need until they are vaccinated. Try expressing milk from the teats near the rear end and placing her on..........quite tricky I know!

Just keep at it, it will pay off in the end...............Good Luck!

Hi all, little girl is doing ok,feeding from mum and weighs 12.6oz today. :)
Just been putting her on her own with mum and she is feeding great.
Mum and other 7 are also doing fine. I feel like a zombie 36 hours later and had about 3 hours sleep. :( But it's all been worth it.

You'll get used to the lack of sleep, I stayed up for 3 weeks with my litter and even though we have moved the mattress upstairs we still check the pup's 3-4 times a night :D I'm running on auto pilot :D :D
Good Luck, it's worth all the hard work!!
Love
Kelly