Thank you for the replies. They only mated once (well one time when they came home and he was out of his playpen - unless he has learned to climb back into it! Which I cannot even believe he got out!) I received the blood test results today confirming her pregnancy, I waited to panic until I knew for sure she was pregnant.
C C Kent replied that the dog will not be able to whelp the puppies. What exactly would be her problem, would it be the inability for her hips to separate at this age? More physically taxing? All of the above?
Honestly, this morning I was leaning toward spaying her. I was thinking this morning that dog births are exactly like human birth--horrible, extremely risky, having to get cut and vacuum sucked, the need for an entire medical staff and hospital, a high chance of c-sections, excruciating pain. After googling everything I could, you-tubing births and researching, tonight I am leaning towards letting nature take its course. (Dog births don't look quite as bad as human births). But I just want to know if it is physically impossible for a 7 year old yorkie to whelp puppies unharmed? Or how likely is it that complications will arise? How likely that they will be life-threatening to the mother? Am I absolutely stupid to not terminate? Could it possibly be riskier to terminate the pregnancy? Basically, I guess do the risks outweight the benefits at this point?
This is why I sought out the advice of seasoned yorkie breeders. I figured everyone here would know better than anyone about when a yorkie is too old to have puppies, or your own personal experiences.
In terms of raising the puppies and the devotion and time required, yes, I have it. I do actually work from home so I would be here 24/7 and, should we take that course, I will devote everything to raising healthy, beautiful puppies. I can stay up all night and bottle feed if that is necessary.
Also, are there vets or "dog midwifes" who on call 24hrs to assist or is this totally unreasonable to expect? |