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Originally Posted by Sugar's Mom  Barbara, I used to have mine fixed that way but I found my mamas (especially a couple) wouldd get away from the babies where they couldn't get the teat or their little legs couldn't run her down and I had to be very careful of low sugar problems in the babies. I have got so now that I put them allin the x-pen. The babies can't get out of the whelping pan until they are about three weeks or so old. When they do that, I transfer them to a smaller area where she can't get away from them and I do the taking in and out every two hours thing. That way I make sure that when she IS in with them that they can catch her and eat. BTW, I love the picture of the babies looking out!!!!!! |
Dee, luckily I have never had an unattentive momma. Mine are the opposite. If mine are in the living room and they hear a peep from the pups they will run to check on them. At night the mom is in the x-pen but she does have her own space.
The reason I would never leave a momma confined with the pups is because we had a freak accident one time. I had a 8 lb momma in an x-pen with her pups and we had gone out to eat and when we came home one of the pups was in distress, gasping for air. This was a 5 week old pup. We took her to the emergency room and they did x-rays and it showed the puppy's diaphragm was ruptured. We figure the puppy was probably laying on its back sleeping when the momma, in her excitement of us coming home and wanting out, starting jumping up and down and must have landed in the middle of the puppy's belly and ruptured her diaphragm. So for that reason I always have it where the mom has a space of her own at one end of the x-pen so if she does want out and is jumping up and down the pups are not under her feet. Mine stay in the whelping box until they are about 3 1/2 to 4 weeks old. As soon as they start walking I remove the whelping box. Here is one of my happy mommas and her babies in a bottomless whelping box. I love the bottomless boxes because I can just set the box on top of the bedding and not worry about pups getting lost in the bedding. I will usually just put a small baby blanket in the box with them. The whelping box is setup in an x-pen.