what should my bitches temp be before whelping ive been doing her temp since day 50 and shes ranged high 99's to low 100's, on saturday night her temp went upto 101.66 then droped within 30 mins to 98.78 then back up again within 30 mins to norm temp, since then her temp has been up and down highest being 100.58 yesterday lowest 99.5 yesterday and today, ive been told a temp drop to under 99 signals 12-24 hours til whelp, but one of the posts on her her bitches temp was 37.8 (100.04) and 3 hours later she delivered a pup so cant get my head round it lol can anyone shed any light?

ps bought the book of the bitch but it sheds no light on temps

I`m no expert with temps but I did use with my last girl ,her temp during the day pups born stayed around 37.9 and as time went on it lowered slightly to 37.5 then dropped sharply to 36. something.pups were born within 25mins of that drop in temp.Hope this helps.

The book of the bitch has it in it. I have loaned mine to someone this week but it does but in old money

Average temp is 101.5 ( think that is the norm well 101-101.9)

during pregnancy it is 100-101  generally about 100-100.5

In the last week it will fluctuate generally between 98.7 right up to 100

When the drop happens it is generall right down below 98.5  and stays there for a solid 12 hours. It doesn't fluctuate at this time. My last little was 98.1 12 hours before whelping.

Just get a note pad write down  something like  8am, 1pm, 5-6pm and midnight before going to bed.   Generally it is crystal clear.

I have used this method for every litter. Different bitches and it has been fail safe for me.

My rule of thumb is I expect labour to start within 24 hours of the prolonged drop.

thanks morag her temps been hovering around 99.68-100.04 today, but she seems alittle more restless and shes only nibbling on her food, although when we're preparing fresh (shes been on chicken mince alongside biscuits) food for her she acts like shes not eaten for days, we put it down she nibbles then goes and lies back down gets up to nibble lies down and so on, but not getting my hopes up this is a sign as shes been showing signs on and off for a week now lol

hey blue ive read it and cant find anything to do with temps other than it saying about in the last week or so of pregnancy there will be a dip in temp from hormones changing but cant find anything about suspected whelping temps

please tell me i have the right book lol it the new edition book of the bitch, a complete guide to understanding and caring for bitches by j.m. evans and kay white

Look at page 87 - 'Stages of Whelping'.

aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh i wasnt reading it properly lol the way i read it was it saying about a temporary drop misread the few hours lol its the lack of sleep lol sorry

I didn't have the book here so couldn;'t help with the page. The only problem with the book or the revision I have is the grammer is poor.

It says something like  " temp can drop to as low as 99 or even 97"  I laugh every time read it.

The post I made futher up is pretty bang on what you should experience. the temps you have just mentioned are normal to me the do not signify a significant drop.

hey i thought the same thing lol its definately not written for quick looking lol well kumas temp has dropped to 98 at 6.30am so not long now, ive read the book and from what i can gather it means 12-24 hours till stage 1 labour begins is this true or does it mean 12-24 hours til pups start arriving?

In my personal opinion, 24 hours till labour starts but I would expect pups to have started to arrive no later than 48 hours after the drop.

For me after 48 hours I would be expecting a section.

These are based on my experience and the good experience of the mentors I have had.

I wasn`t that good with temps prefered to watch my girls but last girl was a puzzle as she panted for about 1hr on and off refused to leave whelping box and that was only clue she was in labour so I checked temp and decided to wait with her .She was taking toilet breaks and 24hrs later I took her into garden again and had to rush her inside as I suspected it wasn`t a pee she was doing .First pup born within 5 mins. I`ve had a few litters over the years and I can still get caught out so will  use temps for all future litters(if I have any).

hey well her temps still down to 98 and shes started panting alittle falling asleep panting etc and shes shivering slightly so reckon im in for a long night, by the way does no anyone or have they themselves been given oxytocin by their vet to administer to bitch themselves if problems arise? ive foned and asked and the secretary said she'd never heard of it being done, reason i ask is lasttime kuma had an extremely large break between pup 2 & 3 so needed an injection of oxy to get her going, then she had another between pup 6 & 7 but not as long, my vets close at 7pm and my emergency vet is a good hours drive away, obviously vets need breaks aswell but personally i think its rediculous for a vets emergency centre to be over an hour away, and if kuma was to have difficultys the 3 hours they tell you to wait + 1 hour drive can mean life or death for puppies still inside. i asked them as it would be more practical for me to have the injections to hand for if this problem arose again i could keep her calm at home, give the injection if nothing happened then make the trip, rather than stressing her even more by putting her in the back of the car making the hours drive for an injection to be given then the hours drive home while drugs working. my regular vets is only a 10 min drive away and lasttime she started pushing for a pup on that drive home. does anybody else agree or had the same problem?
BTW i have administered intermuscular injections on a number of occasions in the past (but to horses) lol

If shivering started they will be here pretty soon I reckon :-D

everything seems to have stopped now although her temp is still at 98 and shes fast asleep in her whelping box which is very unusual for her today is the longest shes spent in there so just waiting to see what shes wanting to do lol think shes going to drag it out by the looks of her

The deep sleep is the calm before the storm :-D They always have this deep sleep I find . good luck. Fingers all crossed.

good luck i hope all goes well with you and your girl try and catch a little sleep if you can cos i no what sleep deprivation feels.

my girl fooled me like this Tuesday i thought is was a false start as she had been restless over night and in the morning and then would calm down in the afternoon for two days previous but Tuesday was different in that she was shivering but this also stopped around lunchtime and she deliverd her first pup at 11.43pm her temp dropped and hit the bottom of 37.1 (98.7) at 10.30am it then started to rise the panting was on and off all day but at 9.45 they became constant and contractions started at 10pm.

hope this helps good luck

hi benson thats exactly what she been doin and done today but her temp has been around 36.7-37, ive been reading your thread congrats on your puppies i was stunned with the c-section result really happy things turned out well for you xx. ive been dozing on the couch and my sister booked tomoz off work so we're going on watches over the next couple of nights so someones with her constantly without being completely exhausted lol hopefully she wont hold out too long lol

thanks i think you will be very busy tonight please keep us updated good luck

well her temps still at 98 but still no other signs she pants a little if she walks round too long and has started nibbling on her food, she does look really fed up tho everytime i look at her she gives me the LEAVE ME ALONE look lol shes sleeping quite abit and i noticed about 4pm she had a wee finished and had a string of mucus dangling, then she spent about 30 mins grooming herself paying particular attention to "down below" and her back paws, but seems to have settled again now and just wanting to sleep.

Im having visions of still being sat here monday night guessing if shes started lol

Any news yet

still no change but according to the book of the bitch and lasttimes experiance akitas are very slow whelpers so if nothins changed by 9am gonna call vets and see what they think. thanks for askin il keep everyone informed of any developments xx

Good luck.

quick update things are really startin to move now kuma has become REALLY restless since 1am and keeps straining for a poo with nothing happenin and shes only weeing tiny bits, managed to get to sleep from 12pm til 1.30am while my sister watched her but shes now decided we're in this together so everytime i drift off she whines at me as if tellin me to wake up, really feeling sorry for herself now,

puppy 1 arrived safely blk/white fmale, 4.11am kuma doing absolutely fantastic and enjoying her ham slices lol

Brilliant, well done mum!! Any more yet?

well done mum do we have any more yet i thought it would be last night good luck

number 2 white fmale, healthy 4.45am

sorry 2nd 6.45 typing too quick looks like here comes another lol see u soon thanks benson so did i shows they always have a way of suprising you lol

pup 3 healthy pure white female 7.20

pup 4 brindle/white female 8.40 got a bit of a female thing going here lol

Thats great!  Well done mum! (((hugs)))
Anymore for anymore????!!!!

Congratulations, I am getting slightly worried though by all these girls being born at the moment, I bet my girl goes and breaks the tradition and has a litter of boys (due in 2 weeks), I want to keep a girl. lol
How are mum and pups doing?

their fine at mo kumas gettin really tired now tho but shes doin fantastic slightest squeak from them and shes up checking, i reckon by the feel of her belly shes got 1 or 2 left hopefully which are boys as ive got a lovely guy who contacted me as soon as the pregnancy was confirmed about a boy lol here comes another lol

another white bitch thats 5 bitches so far lol

Wow, anymore, if so let's hope it's a boy!! 

I have about a 50/50 split waiting list so no problems there, I just want a girl!!!

lol i do too but this guy has txt me nearly everyday since week 4 asking how shes doin il be gutted if she doesnt have a male for him.

i reckon shes got another one stashed in there but its gettin harder and harder to get them breathing, first 2 were breathing straightaway, 3 needed a quick rub, 4 needed a rub and a little swing to clear her lungs but this lastone took a good rub and a couple of swings so hopefully its a him and he holds on in there!

Fingers crossed for you Claire. :)

Congrats Claire hope everything is ok.

hey female 6 has arrived a little brindle and white as i suspected she took 30 mins to get breathing properly, kept sticking tongue out and sucking air but seems alot better now although gonna have to keep a really close eye especially with her, she seems to have a good little pair of lungs on her tho she is screaming her head off lol my back feels like its going to break tho, i was really surprised it looked funny when it came out so i grabbed it and started helping it. had it crying and sniffing and i thought it would of drove kuma round the bend but she seemed to know something was wrong and just lay calmly watching me as if she knew i was helping it, i feel like crying with relief thought id lost her for a good 10 mins.

Congrats to you, what a lot of little ladies.....It must be the season for them   ;)
Guess you are in for a busy time.
Karen :)

hey all think we're finally finished. shes just had her only little boy a fawn/black and white again it was touch and go getting him breathing but hes ok now, hopefully the final count is 6 little girls 1 little boy (god help him)

kuma gave birth to the 1st male fell asleep for a solid 3 hours woke up and popped out a second male so we on 6 girls, 2 boys lol dont no where their coming from lol

Hey, just got back in, that is fantastic, I am so pleased for you, you must be shattered and so must mum.  At least he has now got a choice of boys.   Huge congratulations and hugs to you and mum. :)  I am getting so excited now, just getting my girls whelping room ready. 

lol thanks she has done SOOO well but shes absolutely shattered, im knackered so god nos how she feels, i have a sneaky suspition she still isnt finished tho, although i can feel anything in her belly (i couldnt feel anything before pup 8 lol) she still panting and wide awake so dont know whats happening yet. thank again and good luck with your litter xx

well done claire

you must have been so scared trying to revive them i thought it was bad enough waiting to hear good new about my two in the c-section. so glad you worked on them for so long some may have given up but they are so worth it i am loving every minuet now i have a a bit of sleep, hope you can get an hour or two tonight.

my be a glass of wine and sit down is in order.lol

well done

Wow ,you did say your breed are slow whelpers ,I now consider myself lucky my girls are finished whelping in a couple of hours. Congrats again.

thanks everyone well shes completely finished now, shes been fast asleep since about an hour after last one was born which im really not suprised at shes absolutely exhausted. I was frantic when i kept trying and they wouldnt breathe as i lost one exact same way last litter and was devastated, nothing worse than losing a puppy youve worked so hard to get here healthily, but thankfully i was told to give up after about 20 mins but i didnt or they wouldnt have been here was the best sound ever that first cry.
Well their all happily feeding and dozing just going to try kuma with alittle mince, then TRY and get some sleep upto now i cant as every noise i hear i jump up incase shes decided to suprise us again.
thanks all and i can officially say this website has kept me sane today, typing away has given me something else to concentrate on hence all the posts lol il let you know how the babies progress at vets at 2.30pm tomoz for check-up its gonna be hilarious lol kuma, me, 8 babies and my sister in a ford fiesta.  CAMERAS AT THE READY THIS IS GONNA BE GOOD lololol