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Originally Posted by LeiasMommy  Hello, New here.
Currently my Leia is having her first [& last, might I add] litter. We had an oppsie accident on February 19 with my mothers male chihuahua so we'll be having a cross-breed litter (chorkies, if you must), on or around April 23rd. Leia is my baby girl, and very spoiled so I'm trying to make her as comfortable as possible. It's getting quite hard because she is getting so large. She can no longer jump on the bed, and prefers to only lay on her side. She looks miserable, and it makes my heart ache for her knowing she has 3-4 weeks to go. But, she definitely seems to enjoy the nightly belly massages I've been giving her.
I've researched a lot about the whelping process, since this will be my first time also experiencing that, I've gotten prepared with the supplies - bought a whelping kit online that includes everything from gloves to feeding tubes. So my question is, should I make her a whelping box, or not? I've read a lot that people use the "under the bed" plastic containers, but I'd prefer to make one if necessary. If so, does anyone have any "model box" pictures or blueprints so to speak that I can base mine off. I've been looking online but most boxes with instructions seem to be for large breed dogs and quite confusing. I was thinking of something along the lines of having it be a whelping box for the time being and then adding a bottom piece to it to turn it into a bed later on. Is that even a good idea or will germs live on the wood? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
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I don't use a whelping box, so I'm no help with that.
I am concerned from reading your post, however. If your counting is right, I wouldn't expect your girl to be so large as to be miserable at this point. The pups do most of their growing in the last 3 weeks so she will get much bigger.
How big is Leia normally? Have you seen a vet yet? Do you have any idea if she can safely carry a litter? You need to know this as you don't want to endanger her. Any pregnancy carries a risk, but some girls just shouldn't have babies, either due to size, structure, health, etc.
I suggest you take her in ASAP to get a vet's assessment of her condition.