yet another worry. My bitch is 6 weeks tomorrow and already the size of a barrell!! i know they are bigger 2nd time as everything has stretched before but should she be this big with 3 weeks to go? last time she had 11 and already looks full term, i cant see her being able to walk if she gets any bigger! she already looks fed up and uncomfortable ( i remember how she feels) is there anything i can do for her?

Feed her little meals - and don't overdo it.  My first RR had 15 in her first litter - she was huge.  Have you had her scanned?

i havent had her scanned no. i felt it wasnt worth it as it cant tell you accurate numbers. small meals are ok but its hard not to overfeed as she is greedy+++++.

by the way, did she feed 15 ok?

We helped her out.  We fed each pup puppy milk, as if it was an orphan, then let it top up from Tara.  Consequently, we had lovely chunky pups who all had milk from mum too, and a bitch who didn't have too much of a load on her.  We started weaning them promptly at 3 weeks.  The pups were so beautiful - people didn't expect them to be so chunky, being such a big litter, that several people just burst into tears when they saw them.