hi my girl is due tomorrow can anyone please give me the signs when she will be ready to go into labour as she hasnt dropped yet but i do think she is only having 2 pups as she isnt very big. she is still carrying them in her back. and when do they usually show signs of discharge thanx

Hi she will have a drop in her temp, she may have discharge , eyes can be blood shot she will become very restless and hack up her beding not wanting you to leave her side. Also she may not eat any food the day she whelps, warm regards debbie ps good luck 

hi thankyou for your reply ive heard that they drop in temp but i dont have a thermometer. how long before they go into labour do they show signs of discharge.

i find the blood shot eyes comes a little further into the labour and its a mixture of being tired and stressed that causes it
a good sign to go with is alot of digging and moving blankets around and the panting will get heavy and more loud as the labour gets closer
trust me if she is due tommorow you will be watching her so carefully you wont miss the smallest of behavour time

this isnt with every dog but i always no that a pups approaching when she needs to go to the toilet goes out finishes and then goes to come back in but turns around and goes back again she does this 3-4 times comes back inside and usually within 10 mins of this she is pushing a pup

do you know the signs of trouble ?

Hi Stacey,

My girl had her pups the day before yesterday.  She showed no signs of digging or moving bedding at all.  The biggest sign for her was constantly trying to do a poo!  She did this all day before starting to push at 4pm.  She was also panting all day, and restless.  I saw and felt no contractions and she didn't even act like she was in pain, apart from groaning a bit.  All the pups were born by 9.30pm.  I guess they are all very different in how they behave, but probably the one thing you can be sure of is that her behaviour will change in some way or other!  I think you will know when the time is near.

I hope it all goes well for you.  Best of luck.

Jayne.

congrats on your pups janeuk i hope mum and babies are doing well

some dogs dont nest but the majority do its a way of calming their nerves and they dont feel satisied until its exactly the way they want (warm enough, safe enaough and comfortable) if your girl felt completely at ease that may be why she didnt do those things
most dogs arnt in pain when there labour first kicks of and the pain they feel when in full labour isnt that bad most dogs do just groan unless they are kinda sooky sooky dogs are known to be very vocal or if there is something wrong 

hi slee thankyou for your reply idont know all the signs of trouble but if you could run through some with me i would appreciate it    megan has shown signs of watery blood is this getting near her time

well watery blood is not ideal it can mean nuthing if she is going to whelp within 12 hours i had this with one girl before and the vet told me to wait 12 hours if nuthing happened then bring her up because its not the best it can mean nuthing but it can mean something like hemorrhagic disorder or infection does she seem like she will whelp within the next 12 hours is she shivering panting digging and in some bitches pacing going to the toilet more perhaps loose stools thy tend to be quite loose and a darker colour when aproaching whelp

other problems wich need emergency care is

green disharge never wait with that one get her to the vets immediatly there will be greeny coloured discharge after the first pup is expelled
is the bloody mucus thick with blood or just slightly tinted if it is thick with blood i would then take her to the vets because a constant flow of blood is not good and she needs a vet immediatly

any straining for longer then well that actually depends really if a pups head or feet/backside are visible i dont let her strain for to long if the pup doesnt look like its moving out any further i dont let it go on for longer then 5 mins because its pretty obvious that the pup is stuck if the sack has broken and the pup isnt moving out then i grab it within a few minutes because you dont have long usually between 5-6 mins to get a pup breathing or the pup can be still born/brain damaged or die if you can without hurting the bitch grab the pup by the part thats protruding out and wait for a contraction and pull upwards and out towards the belly never pull backwards towards her rearend or straight out as this can break the pups neckand cause mum some vaginal damage and the pups should come out if not get some vaseline/oil and if none are around just grab some soap in a desperate situation rub on the pup as far as your can grab the pup and pull the pup should come out if this doesnt work get to the vets immediatly you should have your vet on call and in that situation if the sack has broken you dont have alot of time to get that pup out if it hasnt broken than its not so bad and the pup should be ok however if that happens you may find mum will stop contractin or the contractions just arnt strong enough to expell another pup so she may need a c section  if the pup is moving out but very slowely then let her go the first pup can be very difficult to get out but if it is getting to much for her or she has gone on pushing for longer than 8-10 mins with only slightly explelling a little more then i step in once the first but always the hardest to get out comes the rest are usually expelled pretty easily if you are going to have to grab the pup use a face washer or hand towel because they are very slippery and even more slippery if you have to use a lubricant make sure you time this corectly i use a stopwatch as soon as the pup is visible i with the stop watch and keep an eye on the situation as well as the time dont grab the pup if she is pushing the pup out fine but slowely it can take 5 mins or longer to push the first pup out because they have to wait for a contraction before they push only grab if it has been to long , to much time and the sac was broken by mum
keep in mind some pups dont even come out with sacs and that is ok as well just make sure mum passes it

if she is straining with no pup present i wait no longer then 1 hour is she isnt straining but i know there are more in there i dont let it go any longer then 3 hours between pups but do keep in mind that the bitch if she is having a large litter will take breaks in between 1 lot of pups being born before she will start of again wait three hours if you can still feel movements or lumps like a pup then take her to the vets if its been 3 hours

if a pup is expelled without its placenta then count how many pups have come out without placentas and make sure that many have been expelled afterwards it is pretty common for a pup to come out without a placenta and most of the time it is expelled later but if it has been 3-4 hours since the last pup was expelled  and thats if you know that it has been retained and not later passed if you are not aware of reatined placenta's (which is a reason why you shouldnt let the dog eat them because that way you can count them and have the same amount of placentas as to pups but some mothers cant be stopped from eating them) if  you arnt aware of one this is why the exam withing the first 48 hours prior to birth is very important because you can tell the vet you are not aware if all placenta's were expelled and they will check i dont like letting it go more than i few hours if i know one has been retained because the longer its left the more likely an infection will occur

and dont always believe that a bitch stops eating before whelp i have only had 1 bitch do this and it was only a few hours before the first pup is expelled not eating is not reliable

watch the bitch after whelp for sign of pus in the milk or blood this is bad and she needs vet care (infection)
if the vaginal disharge is of a bad smell then this would suggest an infection or retained placenta and she need immediate vet care
a fair bit of bloody discharge is normal for the first day with a small litter and a couple of days for a large litter and then it slows down and there shouldnt be as much blood and it should be more of a brown colour then a red heavy dark red blood for any longer is dangerous and she needs a vet black is bad  and you need to be able to tell the difference from a dark red to a black wich can be difficult so get a tissue wipe her when it is spread the colour becomes more obvious
after the first 24-48 hours a dark greeny colour disharge is normal and can continue for a week to 2

keep a close eye on her for ecplampsia go to my post in breeding on eclampsia eclampsia is more common in first litters large litters and is usually affected by the 3 week mark when pups tend to be draining her but it can happen earlier

its not unusual for a bitch not to eat after whelp particular if she ate the placenta's eating placenta's can cause indigestion my bitch was starving after she finish and ate to bowl full of food and then slept for the rest of the day

its not uncommon for mum not to want to leave her pups for the first few days to go to the toilet you can try and coax her out but if she doesnt want to go she wont and then after the fews day she will do a mad dash for the toilet and then a mad dash back in sniff and lick all the pups and settle back in again

can you see pups bulging out of her stomach that is normal and would say she will definetly whelp within the next few days the movements are very strong and it almost looks like a pup will come bursting out the side of her stomach thats with a large litter smaller litters dont tend to stick out so much but still do a little

dont stress out to much about the things i listed above its beter to just read over them even print them out keep them next to you while she whelps and just be prepared if you stress she is likely to read this in you and start to stress herself keep calm and keep her calm and i hope all goes well keep us up to date with what is happening and good luck to you and your bitch

hi slee thanx for you info she had only a slight watery blood once she had been quiet but perked up later and nothing since going to read all your onfo now

Also, if you are close to your bitch, you will just know.  Mine are always extra clingy and have that look in their eye, as well as all the usual medical tell tale signs, instinct just tells you, you can look at your bitch and just know the time is close.  Keep a close eye on her especially if she pops out into the garden, the first pup may just pop out and she may well walk away from it, not knowing what has happened! She may not have the first or second pup in the whelping area if this is her first time, and could drop a pup anywhere, so watch all the time.  If this should happen put the pup in the whelping area and she will then have the remainder in the whelping box.  You may well find more than the two pups you suspect, they always seem to have a few more up their sleeve. :-)

yeah mine gets a look that say's hug me, she just stares at me with this look and i feel so sorry for her. But once the pups start coming the look goes and then its a look of where's my baby and what you doing with it ( remove pup from whelping area so mum wont tret on pup if she is trying to push one standing up)

just to update she is now in labour just been to vets to get checked out as she been having contractions now for past 2 nights stong, he said yes she in labour and if its not tonight will be tomorrow as she fully open.will let you know later this even how things are going

Good luck, Merry christmas.Hope all gos well for you warm regards debbie.