I'm after a little advice please.  I have just had my girl scanned and apparently she has at least 10 puppies in her.  This is a large litter for her breed and she is very petite.   I was wondering if anybody does anything different with large litters due.  As in extra care for the bitch, extra food etc.  With having a large litter is she likely to whelp earlier than normal, and with her being quite small is there a higher risk of complications.  Thank you.

This is why I scan my girls.  Put her onto puppy food at 6 weeks and you may need to feed smaller meals more often as she gets larger.  Possibly just lead walk if she becomes uncomfortable on longer runs.  Be prepared for an early delivery and watch her closely nearer the time.
Discuss with your vet so they are on standby should you need them urgently.

Thanks Ells-Bells.  She is 5 weeks at the moment and has turned back into a puppy.  She is charging around the garden at times and then absolutely zonked the next.  I'm really not sure how I will be able to slow her down as she gets bigger. Really hoping that her size will slow her down.  When we are out on walks she is pulling hard, would this have an effect on her?

I'm sure she'll slow down as she gets heavier, keeping her fit is important.  Pulling won't hurt her, its just a nuisance

My girl had 12 in her last litter, for her breed, Swedish Vallhund,  the average number is 5-7, she was scanned with at least 10. I found towards the end of her pregnancy she needed to eat little and often. She also found getting up and down interesting in the last week. I slept in our downstairs bedroom with her in the last few weeks and in fact her waters broke on the bed!! She didn't whelp any earlier but her labour took a lot longer. It's a good idea to have some nutri drops for the labour as it's a lot of puppies for them to give birth to. I also had her on a calcium tablet a day once the litter was born. She needed an oxcytocin injection afterwards to help with retained afterbirths.

Her previous litter had been one of 9 and she had to have a c-section after giving birth naturally to 7 puppies. 2 were still right up both horns and labour just stopped. She was absolutely fine in herself but I just wasn't happy, took her over my vets at 11.30pm, he examined her and said he couldn't feel any more puppies. I insisted he x-ray her, which he did without any sedation, and was amazed to find the 2 remaining puppies. A c-section was done and both pups were alive. The senior vet said they could have given her Oxcytocin but in his experience we would have lost at least one if not both puppies.

Be prepared to have to send proof to the Kennel Club when you register the litter. I had to send photographic evidence of them at a day old before they put my registration through as it was such a large litter for the breed.

That's really useful biffsmum.  I will get some calcium tablets, and I already have nutri drops.  I will take plenty of photos for the Kennel Club as well.  Didn't realise you would have to do that but totally understand the reasoning.  We've got some drawers out of a bedroom unit and turned them over with a towel over them.  These make the perfect step up onto the sofa although she actually likes laying on the drawer themselves. I've got a camp bed so I can sleep downstairs with her towards the end.  Really hoping she doesn't need a C-section but I'm worried that she is very tiny, in fact I have a 7 month old which is bigger than her, and with that many puppies she will be as wide as she is long.  I have no idea where the pups will fit in her lol.

I would be worried about overfeeding, last thing you need with a large litter is huge puppies. I had a large litter and took advice from stud owner not to increase until the end food, o changed the food to puppy but didn't add much more until the last 2 weeks and not by much, they came out tiny, but no issue with whelping. They are now a good size and the one I kept is only 9 months and larger than her mum even now. I do reckon if I had really increase the food by a greater amount or earlier and the pups were bigger then we would have had a problem. My bitch is small as well.

> She is 5 weeks at the moment and has turned back into a puppy.  She is charging around the garden at times and then absolutely zonked the next.  I'm really not sure how I will be able to slow her down as she gets bigger. Really hoping that her size will slow her down

Being pregnant isn't being ill and provided she doesn't really exhaust herself, or get knocked, charging around will keep her lean and fit - all good for the whelping.  As for 'puppy food' - I really don't know when this started!!   Puppy food is for PUPPIES.   Provided she is getting a good quality food, and should have been before she was bred even, there's no need to be piling food into her.   Not until you SEE what size her litter is.   You want her lean, not carrying fat through her pregnancy.   Her puppies will take all they need  both before and after whelping and it's the after whelping, going into the second week and up to weaning, that you need to make sure she's getting enough.   And again, her normal diet, plus a bit of extra protein, if needed.

You will, if she's carrying a big litter, have to split her daily intake into several smaller meals, as the litter will be taking up a lot of room inside.

If she doesn't have enough teats, you'll have to regulate the feeding - putting any smaller puppies on first so they get their share before the bigger pups push them off.   And you may be looking at supplementing, half on, half off.   But WAIT.    Scans aren't accurate and only show how many at the time of the scan.   Anything could happen between now and whelping.

" I will get some calcium tablets, and I already have nutri drops. "     By all means lay in what you think you might need, but be warned, do NOT give any extras until you see if this is needed, and on the advice of your vet.

Very well put MamaBas

Thanks MamaBas for your advice.  Very helpful.  I take your points onboard about the calcium tablets and nutri drops. She has always had raw food and that hasn't changed.  I feel that she is getting all her nutriments from that and although her appetite has gone through the roof I am maintaining her food allowance with starting to add a little extra.   I have split her meals from two to three and will move that to four meals in a weeks time.  She hasn't put on any extra weight apart from her puppy bump and looks lovely and fit.  She has slowed down a fraction now....not charging around at the pace she was a week or so ago.  I think it's like you say...wait and see how many in reality, then assess.

It was on the advice of my vet that I gave my girl calcium tablets after having both of her large litters. The nutri drops were recommended to me by my mentor, who has many years experience in dog breeding. I really feel that the drops helped my girl towards the end of her whelping, she had taken 8 hours to deliver 12 puppies (I even thought about taking them myself lol). As you've said there's plenty of time to decide what to do once pups are on their way.