Hi Guys

My gorgeous girl had a litter of 7 puppies on Thursday night and thankfully all are doing well.  I am aware that I should be keeping any eye on my girl now with regard to post delivery discharge ect, the one thing that I am a little concerned with is that she is doing quite a bit of excitable panting especially when she is with her puppies do you think this is a sign of anything I should be watching for or is it she is just excited and having the central heating on constantly to keep her pups warm is part of the problem.

Mine have sometimes done this and it can be because of the extra warmth. This might seem a bit obvious but she doesnt want the loo does she? One of mine has 5 week old pups and I found she would hold her bladder as long as possible rather than leave the pups in the early days to the extent that she used to pant heavily. Always eased off as soon as she had been to loo.
Could be something else but hopefully nothing to worry about. I am sure other people will feedback too. HTH
Good Luck with the pups

Could be when the womb contracts, may be stronger when pups are feeding?

I find this perfecly normal.  All my girls have had panting, some very heavy, for quite some days after whelping.  When I mentioned it to my vet, he did mention how much work their bodies have done, huge hormonal changes etc.  My worst girl was like it for a week, and was like a train puffing.  There wasn't anything wrong with her when I had her checked over.

Hi Guys

Thanks its really put my mind at rest.

I find my girls are extra panty for anything up to 7 days after whelping - usually it reduces significantly after 4/5 days or so.  Good to take her out on a lead for a wee if she is reluctant to leave her babies (mine also pant when they need the loo) and also ensure you don't have it too hot - pups should be loosely piled togther, not spread around the box or tightly packed - if they're spread round the edges seperately then it's too hot and tightly squeezed together being too cold.  I like to keep the central heating on during the night on a medium temp at this time of year, but I also put a heat pad under a corner of the box so if they're cold they can all gravitate to the heat but move away if they're too hot (mum included).

Something else to note - one of my girls always gets mouth ulcers on her flews from licking the babies and the panting which dries her lips out.  She pants for about 7-10 days - worried me sick the first time she whelped but did it again on her second litter so have come to the conclusion that's just what she does.  I give my girls Arnica during whelping and afterwards for about 2 weeks as it helps with bruising and recovery plus the lip ulcers won't be fixed with antibiotics as it's the licking combined with the panting which causes them - maybe you might like to give her some too.

Congratulations btw :-) 

I have noticed panting a lot for 7 days after whelping.

It seems to come hand in hand with milk production and I have also noticed it starts to get a bit worse when they need to loo for some reason.

Also, if you take her temperature you will generally find it is about a degree higher than normal for the first week or so after whelping.  I have always assumed this is to make her body warmer to keep the pups warm.  I also find the panting generally stops within a couple of days of whelping, unless she is poorly or wants to go to the loo.  One of my bitches was panting more or less continually during the night, about 5 days after whelping.  Her milk was all clear and there was no hard gland, but I was worried enough to take her temperature several times, and by morning it was rising.  I took her to the vet, although she was already on synulox following a caesarian.  While I was waiting with the bitch in the car for the vet to arrive at the surgery (Sunday call out - sods law), I found one of her teats was producing slightly off coloured milk, although it was not hard or swollen at all, so that was the source of the trouble.  She had an injection of Baytrill and a 2 week course of Baytrill and was fine.  If I hadn't taken her temperature and kept checking her milk, she would have been very ill.

The panting is likely to be nothing if she has been doing it since whelping, and as previous posts have said, it does occur at let down of milk (about 3 days).  But if it starts again after that, do take her temperature as a precaution.

can you use an ordinary human temperature probe I have a small blunt ended oral probe would that do to do a rectal temp and what should her temp be??  Also this morning shes brought one of the pups into the front room from the kitchen as though to show us her we told her to get back in her bed which she promptly did, is this normal?? She does seem a little cross with them today sort of whinging at them the noise your grown up dog makes when they are dreaming...  I bet you can tell this is my first litter!!!! but am grateful for any advise.

Yes, I use a normal oral thermometer.  Just ease it in gently.  A dog's normal temperature is around 101 degrees ( approx 39 centigrade).  Generally it seems to run at 102 after whelping.  That is quite normal.  I have just realised your bitch is 3 days post whelping.  that is when the milk really lets down big time, and they often become very restless, trying to bury the pups, frantically digging and panting.  it will pass!!  If you put her usual bed with a good pile of bedding in front of the whelping box she will often get out and dig in that, which saves the pups from being buried!  If you have some calcium, it often helps at this time to give her some as there is a big demand on her calcium resources when the milk comes in.  But panting and restlessness at 3 days is something that often happens. 

When my bitch tried moving puppies with her last litter, it was because I'd got them too hot (it was a summer litter in the middle of a heat wave, and we'd tended to have winter litters before).  As Air says, the way the puppies were spread about the box should have given me a clue, but I was puzzled because I was rearing the same way we'd always done, keeping them warm (too warm!) in the first few days.  The bitch was anxious and didn't settle, and if left unattended, would try and move them right out of the room.  She knew better than I did.
Years ago, we had a bitch that developed eclampsia after whelping.  Her behaviour was very extreme - she was shaking and panting and hallucinating, staring into the corners of the room as if there was something there.  She did not respond to our voices.  She also moved her puppies about.  It doesn't seem that your girl has anything like this, but do watch for hysterical or manic behaviour as it can be a sign of fever.

Yes, a fair bit of panting is normal, it's both because of the extra warmth in the whelping box and I believe the milk production.

Thanks for all the advice she has been going out into the garden and trying to get under the shed!! But we are keeping an eye to make sure she does not take any of the pups with her.  We now only have 6 pups the little man (titch) the smallest of the litter passed away this afternoon he is the one that she never really took to she kept picking him up quite roughly as if she wanted him out because she Knew he was not just right...  Its been a steep learning curve but all the rest are doing really well so fingers crossed..

I was really worried when my bitch did this

the mum was constantly panting for about 1 and 1/2 weeks, she looked to be hot (it was the one hot week we had this summer haha) so we just put some blankets in the freezer and everytime she got out of the box put the blanket on her.. we were so worried that we took her to the emergency vet at like 3 in the morning (as she was also restless), paid over £100 to be told that its perfectly normal and she'll be fine.. they could have told me over the phone, but noooooo haha!!

she also tried to get behind the barbeque at any opportunity.. sounds like your shed problem. Maybe trying to find a new place for her babies, make sure the temperature is so that the puppies are not hot enough to spread themselves out everywhere, the bitch might think that its too hot in htere? i dont know but thats the problem we had anyway.. we made sure the room was at 70 instead of 75 and we had no more problems with her trying to get behind the barbeque.. just a thought..

sorry to hear about the pup, its amasing how they know when something is wrong.

Just one thing...don't use the thermometer AFTER you've used it on a dog! ;-)  Seriously, like others have said it's all quite normal!

Whoops too late my boyfriends been running a temp!!!!!

Only just looked at your posts we had similar with one of our girls lots of panting but then started to get frantic digging whining etc especially in the early hours of the morning, after frantic phone calls it turned out she needed calcium, we used the liquid variety which acts really quickly I just used to syringe it down her, we had to use it for about a week gradually reducing it. My friend also had similar with her last litter & calcium again did the trick. Hope they are all doing well now, it is amazing how they know when something is not right with a pup.

Yes, I always have a fresh bottle of liquid calcium when a bitch is due to whelp.  Even with a small litter it does help around the 3rd day.  It seems to settle the bitch quite quickly.  But if it is a small litter I ease off with the amount of calcium after the first few days.  I know the demand on the bitch is greater around the 2nd to 3rd week, but by then her system seems to have become used to it and there is usually no bother.  With a decent sized litter I keep on with the calcium (at strictly the amount specified on the bottle) until the pups are eating a couple of meals a day, then gradually ease off with the amount. 

Someone who used one of my dogs had a terrible time with her bitch at day 3, she was so restless with digging in the garden, burying the pups under the vetbed, even crying.  I told them to get some liquid calcium from their vet.  But he insisted that they brought the bitch in for a blood test to check the calcium level.  It was slightly low, but within acceptable level, and he said they should bring her back daily for the next couple of days so he could keep an eye on her - not a good idea with a newly whelped bitch who is unsettled anyway.  I drove to their house with a bottle of calcium and the bitch settled down within hours. 

When do you usually have your pups vaccinated my vets say it is 6 and 8 weeks I thought it was 8 and 12 weeks??

It depends on the vaccine used. Where I work we vaccinate at 8 and 10 weeks, usually.

Information about Nobivac here. Canigen seems to be the same.

my pups have their 1st vaccination at 10 weeks, then 2nd at 12.

Puppies that are going to other homes between 8 and 9 weeks I advise to leave it 3 to 4 days after they pick up the puppy.

Puppies I am keeping or running on I vaccinate 9/10 weeks then 11/12 weeks.

I personally would not vaccine before 8 1/2 weeks.