hi again
i asked a question the other day about my girls temp, she is now on day 55, today she is refusing to eat and has hardly moved from her whelping box, she is very reluctant to go out for toilet and she has been panting on and off since this morning, i have had a feel of her tum ( which seems to have doubled in size overnight ) and it has gone rock hard and feels like there is a football match going on in there, Could this mean that things are on the move and if she does whelp today would pups be ok being nearly a week early ?

I know pups can be absolutey fine born on day 58 (and that is counted as normal and not really too early) , I'm sure somebody else will come along if they have exeperience of earleir than that. Don't forget though, your girl may well have another 36 to 48 hours to go, the panting stage tends to last that long. :) Good luck!!

thanks goldmali, i have heard that panting can last that long,, i have just set my campbed up in her room next to her whelping box and think i will be staying with her in there from now on, i have had a babymonitor set up the last few nights but think i should stay with her now, i now have my whelping kit already and i think that apart from a bad case of butterflies in the old tum im mostly prepared :D i think im a bigger wreck than the dog right now !! is it just me or does the last couple of weeks seem to drag for everyone ?

my girl is still refusing her food today and has been panting on and off and constantly licking her vulva and teats, she has been very restless and wont let me out of her sight today and she is peeing every five minutes ( is this normal?), i have given up on taking her temperature as it is all over the place, so i think now the only thing i can do is to watch her closely for the obvious signs, could i be in for a sleepless night ? the first of many to come :D

i feel such a wally right now i was looking at my calender and realised i got my girls days wrong when asking if pups would be ok if born now because on tuesday i thought she was only 55 days after double checking she is actually 60 days in whelp from her first mating today, when i was counting the days i must have missed a few days somewhere :-S. its a good thing i tend to write things down or i would be lost,

Well good luck looks like it won't be too long now. :D

ty brainless,
she is still much the same today very restless and cleaning herself alot, she had a tiny bit of breakfast this morning, but i cant get her to eat more than a few mouthfuls, her vulva is very puffy this morning so i think it definately wont be much longer now :D

would just like to ask is it normal for a bitch in whelp to look smaller in the tummy when she is close to giving birth, my girl has gone slimmer around the sides of her tum but  has dropped quite low down underneath. she has eaten very little and has vomitted a couple of times today but its a yellowish phlemmy liquid, maybe thats down to how little she has eaten im not sure.
any advice would be appreciated

The puppies will be moving down into the lower end of the womb in preparation for birth so all her organs will be affected & the yellow sick is usually from the stomach. Sounds fairly normal to me, as long as she is drinking she should be ok. I would add a little glucose to her water for energy

thanks moonmaiden :D

Sounds like she's starting - let us know how it all goes! :-)

well i definately think that things are on the move, she has been sick a few times tonight, constant heavy panting, she is up and down like a yo-yo and wont let me out of her sight, i will keep you all posted :) my stomach is in knots here :D
would just like to know though is it normal for a bitch to have a great deal of wind when in labour :s lol

How are things going, i think my girl is similar to yours at the moment
Good luck Sally

hi,
nothing yet, she seems to be in fits and starts the longest she has has settled for is half an hour at a time, no contractions or pushing yet just lots of panting licking and peeing and moving about, i have a funny feeling that it is going to be tonight or early hours in the morning lol :D my OH let me go and have a few hours sleep but i feel shattered lol

Sounds like it won't be very long now!!!

i would like to ask if it is normal for a bitch to pull her fur out in places when in whelp we noticed this morning that she has pulled the fur out of a patch on her leg, it wasnt there yesterday, i know she hasnt got fleas or anything medical causing it as she was only checked over by vet the other day, could this be part of the nesting? i do know that some animals do pull there fur out to line the nest but im not sure if dogs do aswell

i think things could be on the move she has started pacing the room and moaning when she pants :D im so excited :D:D

good luck again ,wish it was me I am so impatient !

Wish it was me, and my puppy hasn't even had a first season yet!!! :-D

Any news yet?

nothing yet she seems to be in fits and starts lol will keep you all posted :)

Never seen this in a bitch but female Rabbits tear theri hari out from theri bellies to make a fur lined nest which is incrdeibly warm, as their babies are born bald.

This si probably a reaction to the discomfort/pain.  Give her some newspaper to shred, as self mutilation can become a bad habit.  I take a newspaper, tear along the spine and then tear into strips frpm the spine down.  Put lots of this ihn the whelping box ans she will dig in it furiously.  The advantage to having the paper shredded like this is it is easier to remove wet paper like this and top up with more during the whelping.

thnks brainless will do that :D
still nothing yet, she still eating very little and is panting on and off and is spending alot of time in her whelping box only coming out for a drink or a wee, her poo is semi and alot lighter in colour but not runny, she keeps bawking as if to be sick and has a great deal of wind, i took her templast night and it was 99.4f have taken it this afternoon and it has dropped to 98.5f so i guess things are going to happen soon :D i guess we just have to be patient and wait for nature to take its cause :D

well still nothing yet,today is her due date from first mating, she seemed to calm down yesterday other than the odd bit of panting and restlessness, how long after the temp drop do pups usually arrive?, i have read that it is between 12 and 24 hours, it has been nearly 24 hours since hers and still nothing. at the moment she is sleeping soundly, we havent seen much mucus discharge but then she is cleaning herself every few minutes so it would be hard to see any.