I have an English springer spaniel, who at only just a year old i assumed was to young to breed. When we were aware that she had escaped and mated with our male of the same breed, i took her to the vets who advised that it would be fine to go ahead and have the litter. I am still a little uneasy and panicky as this is the first dog that i have mated. At the moment she is 42 days and will not eat anything, She occasionally picks but i am very worried that all is not well? Any advice on this or anything else would be greatly appreciated

She is a little young,but I'm sure she'll be fine.My Bullmastiff bitch didn't eat much at all for the last 3 weeks.
She went on to produce 14 pups.I put it down to feeling a little queezy,like morning sickness.
If there are alot of pups in there,as was my case,there's probably not room for much else.
Give her puppy milk to drink,and small amounts of good quality food.

Good luck with the litter.

Karen.

Thanks Karen, I am afraid i am a typical spoiler i love my dog to bits and she is still my little baby so cant bear the thought of anything going wrong, I have been told that i can have her x rayed at 7 weeks to see if we can establish roughly how many pups she is having but that is still about a week away so any reassurance is a help

It's a real worry with the first litter,you don't know what to expect.
My babies have just turned 8 weeks and have gone to their new homes.I kept a boy this time.Couldn't bear to part with all of them I'm afraid.Let us know how things go.
Karen.

Hi, just wanted to say congratulations to you both and hope all goes well with rest of pregnancy and puppies. Louise.

Hi, if you haven't got a copy get "The book of the Bitch" By Kay white and Jim Evans asap. Everything you need to know about the whelping/puppies is in there.

Still a bit unsure about this not eating, It has been 3 days now since she has really eaten anything,I have tried tempting her with all sorts, The only thing i have managed to get her to eat is a couple of Schmackos which have always been her favourite treat, i break a couple up and put them in a bowl with her daily worming tablet as this is the only way she will take it. I am sure she would eat more of these but surely it would not be healthy to let her eat loads of these????

Daily worming tablet?

I WAS TOLD BY THE VET THAT I HAD TO WORM HER DAILY FROM DAY 40 OF PREGNANCY UNTIL 2 DAYS POST WHELPING, AND WAS GIVEN PANACURE TABLETS??? IS THIS NOT CORRECT??

It isn't a regime I have ever come across before, but then I'm not a vet. Perhaps there's a new drug on the market that has been made specially safe.

I've always been told to worm in the week prior to mating, at three weeks after mating, then not till the pups are 2 weeks old.

I was told to worm her when she first mated, Then originally i was told to worm her every 2 days from day 40, but on second trip to vet as she wouldnt take the liquid i originally brought, i was told that ii was wrong and should be doing it everyday. I am now worried that this is what is supressing her apitite?

It's possible, as my dogs often feel a bit off-colour after being wormed (as did my son when there was an outbreak of threadworms at school! ) Discuss the possibility with your vet.
:)

Panacur is the only wormer as far as I know liscensed to be used this way.

I use the 10% suspension and the dose is a quater of the adult dose given daily from day 40-42 to 2 days post whelping.

This will destroy 98% of encystred Toxacara Larvae which are migrating across the placenta at this time.

I have done this wih all the litters that I hyave bred (8 since 1995).

In UK Panacur is available as Suspwnsion (both 10% strength and 2% strength), Granules, and Paste for puppies. I was not aware of it being available in tablet form.

I was given these at my vets, they are huge oval tablets in dark brown, i belive they are 1000mg it says on each individual packet, and i have been told to give her half a tablet a day as she weighs approx 14kg. It is good to know that some one else does the same as i was starting to worry that i had been given incorrect instructions from the vets!!!. Do you breed springer spaniels?? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated as i am really concerned that i will get something wrong as she is so young.

No I have Norwegian elkhounds which are larger with bitches around 20kg (43 pounds) so mine get 5ml of the ligquid which is 105 suspension, don't know how that relates into the tablet dosage, but am sure the vet will have given you the correct dose for her weight.

I have had no problems with worming in pregnancy to bitvch or pups, but have had some pups have the squits when being wormed, so always ensure you worm the babies on a full stomach.

Thanks for the advice

brinny...not eating is a bad sign in a pregnant bitch...they are usually ravenous toward the end,,lack of appiteite can be indicative of things.......if feed mine ''maximum calorie''eukanuba...and science diet AD[high calorie]...they must have a minimum of 20 fat 30 protien diet to whelp the healthiest pups....

I have an appointment at the vets tommorrow am to get her checked she will pick at food but mainly turns away. She has always been a fussy eater sometimes not eating all day it just seems more noticeable now! Hopefully all will be well and i am also getting an X-ray to hopefuly try and find out how many pups she is carrying??

personally i wouldn't worry too much about the not eating thing. like you i had a bit of a struggle to get my bitch to eat. from about the fifth week she just completely went off the biscuit food so i just fed her anything within reason. have you tried pasta?- i was recommended this by her breeder who told me to give it her with a bit of chicken or beef and she liked it that much she eats the pasta b4 the chicken! she still wont have the biscuit food even though the pups are now two weeks old! im sure yours will eat when shes hungry. good luck! :)

Liz

How's it going...any info from the vet??

Hope all is well.

Good luck

Lisa

Hi
Saw the vet Saturday, apparently she is a healthy weight , could see at least 3/4 pups as poor xray cause she wouldnt sit still, so fingers crossed all is well

Have you thought of something like Welpi, which is a milk supplement, full of vitamins and most dogs will take some, it doesn't tend to scour like Lactol does. During her last litter, one of my dogs didn't eat wonderfully and when she did had constant upset stomachs so I had to give her a very plain diet, she had 14 puppies still, so I wouldn't worry too much. Have you tried sardines? Also Pets at Home do a paste called Enervite which is supposed to stimulate the appetite. Chum puppy food and some smallbite mixer as this seems to be very palatable?