Hi everyone,
im new to this site and i am really impressed with everyone how you all help each other,wondered if you could help me and my baby.
I have a 3yr old SBT who is in pup,i have never had pups before and i am a bag of nerves.She is 57 days from here last mate,and is acting very strange,shes gone very quiet,and loseing a small amount of clear jelly like liquid,does anyone know if this is right my vet says not to worry,but i cant help it .are there any signs i should look for to help me know when its time. lowri

Dont worry!! Although 63 days is the normal gestation period, they often have them a few days earlier, quite happily and safely. I expect she is in the very early stages of labour. If you want to monitor her, take her temperature, twice or even three times a day. Normal is 101.5 or thereabouts. When whelping begins the temp strats to drop and by the time it reaches 99 if it isn't alreday obvious that she is about to start whelping then it wont be long. Expect her to act strangely and when she starts digging up her bedding or tearing things up try and keep calm, its normal. When she needs to go out for a wee/pooh stay with her and out her on the lead after dark. Often bitches want to find their own place to whelp outside and if she is unsupervised will start to dig a hole to whelp in will not be so happy to accept the place you have made for her. Make sure she has a cosy bed with either a heat lamp or pad or a heater in the room. The temperature around the bed should be 80 degrees when the first puppy is born, but try not to overheat the bitch before she has produced any. Once she is in labour, she will pant hard and may make a high pitched whining noise called "keening", this is all normal. TRy and keep the room quite and dont invite friends/neighbours over to watch, preferably just you and her. The first stage (bed making and panting) can last 24 hours or longer. Watch for her having a contraction, and write down the time, a puppy should be born within 2 hours of the first proper one, if not phone your vet for advice. Good luck and if you can manage to keep calm, then so will she. Make sure the car has enough petrol in it to get you to the vet - just in case.

Thankyou for your reply, the information was very helpful,and i will start taking her temp. shes asleep right now so all is quiet, I will try not to worry ,i think its worse than when i was pregnant myself .the vet said he could feel 3 or 4 so not many for her to cope with (or for me). Thanx again. lowri

Good luck Lowri. Like Westie Lover I think she is in the first stages of labour, so shouldn't be too long now. Let us know how she does and what she has.

Joan
Take the rough with the smooth

hi everyone,
Just took bonnies temp she's 37.6 and she's very restless, keeps wanting to go outside and then just walks around.had a lot more clear discharge about hour ago.i feel really sorry for her.i'll keep you all posted.

Good luck...keep calm..

Let us know how it is going..

Pam

We are also about to produce our first litter of puppies, golden retrievers! Buffy is on day 62 and has been panting and 'nesting' for nearly 24 hours but doesn't seem to be doing much else, no apparent contractions. It's really nerve racking .At least she didn't have them in the middle of the night, but then there's always tonight!

I'll keep you posted

Jane

Well after having me up and down all night,in and out the garden she's lay snoring by my side,Ive got bags under my eyes and she's happily in the land of nod.her temp has gone down to 37.5 this morning ans she's loosing a small amount of clear jelly.we will just have to wait and see what today brings "if anything". lowri

Hi Lowri and Jane

A good book you could invest in is The Book of the Bitch by J M Evans and Kay White.

I have it at hand when whelping, it should tell you nearly everything you need to know.

Good luck and keep us posted as to their progress.

Longdog

Thats a fantastic book to have, I can thoroughly reccommend it too.Good luck- this is the worse time I think because I`m always concerned about missing something thats wrong but when they get going you just deal with what happens.Let us know how you get on, we`ve all got fingers crossed. Gail.

I've got that book and I've read it cover to cover several times, at the moment I just want to give her a squeeze!

Jane

where can i get the book from ,it sounds great lowri