Charlene,
No, I had no clue she was going to have six pups. I took her to the vet for an xray on day 56 I believe, and they said just by palpatation, at least three maybe four pups, but they didn't like doing xrays?? (they are very much into the "natural" puppy birth thing and said they would only do xrays if she was having a problem)...
so, Tea' is only 5.5 lbs pre-pregnancy and ended up over 10lbs. on day 60 when she delivered. She started delivering at 10:30 am and delivered her sixth puppy at 7:30pm. So there were up to three hours or so between the very last pups... This was her first litter and mine too. (I have delivered kittens and horses - I know, doesn't compare!).
Tea' was exhausted and retained some placentas (I ended up pulling them out eventually) she had to go to the vet the next morning as her temp was going up...they gave her oxy, calcium, hydrated her and also at that time xrayed as they thought maybe another pup had been retained and that was the reason for her temp going up, but no pup, thank god)..sorry, long story.. but the end was wonderful, they put her on an antibiotic. I was feeding and I am still feeding her up to six-seven meals a day (3am, 6am, 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm) it may sound like a lot but she is skinnier than when she was pre-pregnancy and eats like she is ravenous at each feeding (lean meat like turkey, chicken, cottage cheese, yogurt, puppy chow, cheese and her vitamin in the evening meal).
So to answer the supplement thing, even with six pups, I never had to supplement a single pup. The smallest was 3.5oz. I believe and the biggest was 5.2oz (he was the breech boy
. All were gaining weight from the beginning so I never worried. (and you will worry, I was not only exhausted but second guessed everything I was doing). The gang here at YT was wonderful and helped with tons of questions.
So, good luck to you and your momma and pups and please ask ask ask anytime you have a question!
Debbie
Tea' +6