Wow,I hope to learn as much one day.. I feel better knowing that my son is a tech and he is a phone call away and can be here in 5 min flat..LOL and the head tech is also a dear friend and also a phone call away.. congrats on being such a good and responsible breeder.. I have so much to learn ...

Thats what I was thinking. Developing a good relationship with your vet is a prime importance. My Aunt (a vet) went to school with my vet I have. They were in the same class. The only reason I visit my vet is that my aunt is 4 hours away. I have helped my aunt with numerous animal spayings/neutering and have administered all their shots due to her instruction ever since I was little. So now its a matter of developing a relationship with my vet Paige like the one I have obtained from my aunt.

But I would agree with you Mary. Don't administer anything without your vets recommendation. You have given very good advice here.

You should see the meds and stuff that are delivered to my house just prior to one of my females are due to whelp....My husband thinks I'm anal. I usually don't use any of it, but like to have it on hand, just in case I have a problem. I just don't like to waste precious time getting my girls to ER for stuff that I can have on hand, that is unless I know they need a C-section.

he,he, you had to see all the stuff I got and my son brought me when Taffy was due...LOL my hubby thought that I was opening my own whelping maternity clinic..LOL he said so.. you can never be too careful with this things, specially with the small dogs. and with Taffy we thought that she was spayed her adoption papers said that, and to find out that we was going to have babies was quite a shock to me..LOL but thank God everything went well and she is a spayed happy girl.. and now I am hoping for my silkie girl to be with pups...

If only my husband could see your place! Man he already thinks that I'm going overboard as it is. I've made her whelping bed, I have all my supplies ready for the most part (just need to order a few things from Revival, and DrsFosterSmith), and I am giving her scrambled eggs and cottage cheese. Even my mother in law thinks I'm nuts (her mom use to bred yorkies) by having a whelping bed that holds a heating pad. She thinks that its not needed, but I have repeatedly told her that I only what what is best for my girl when she whelps.

I go to the vet next Wednesday for Raeley's x-rays, and have some q's for my vet, which I will follow up by asking my aunt. Two opinions is always better than one. JMO.

Too funny.

I don't use heating pads either....the reasoning is that pups will gravitate towards mother and she will keep them warm. What I do use is a very efficent space heater that is kept on low and aimed towards the whelping area. My whelping area is off the floor as cold drops and heat rises and completely covered from drafts and peering eyes...

The only reason I am using a heating pad is our house can have drafts. Most of them will be covered, but our furnace no longer wants to work most of the time. It will work maybe 2 days out of 2 weeks. The good thing is we have a coal stove so the house stays at 80 degrees during the winter. So hopefully I won't have to use it much.

I had a heating pad but thankfully i did not had to use it.. I did use an electric blanket under the whelping box to keep the cold from the floor, I used a plastic container and the blanket under it worked wonderful, kept half of the box warm and the other half not, so when mom got hot she moved from one side to the other I am planing on using the same setup now with Chanel.

The whelping bed I made has an area underneath it that holds the heating pad, then I have the same space on the other side for my girl to go so she doesn't get to hot. I'm hoping it works out, if not I'm going to work on a different set-up.

I was thinking the same thing. I hope, for your sake, they aren't charging a high fee, considering you're doing all of the hard work. :(

I was wondering about weight gain and pregnancy. How much do they typically gain and which week do they gain the most. Are they like us where you wake up one morning and they are huge? When would that typically happen if that is the case? Any thoughts or info on prego weight gain would be great!

Typically between a pound to two. I don't weigh them from week to week, but typically they begin to really show they're pregnant between 5 1/2 to 6 weeks....But, it's dependent on the size of the female and how many she's carrying. Usually a new mom, that is of good size doesn't really start spreading until about they are about 7 weeks.

Thank you. I am going to try and get a belly pic up soon. She is 5 weeks....it's very noticable and lovely :) I was wondering about the weight gain cause she is 6 ounces up since last wednesday. I am going to re-weigh her later cause she may have had a bite to eat right prior to me weighing her.

As my breeder has always responded when I've given her weights....was that before it pooped or not.

Lol. That was after a poop and she pooped again a few hours later. For whatever reason she is pooping like mad! Lol. Pre-prego she pooped every evening in the same hour like clockwork. In the last week or so she is pooping three times a day sometimes!

Pressure on the bowel....very normal

Is she eating more? My pregnant girls usually have a increased appetite, especially the last few weeks.

So my girl has about 11 days left and she has gained one pound 4 ounces or so. Her stomach isn't huge by any means...I can't imagine there is more than 3 in there at the most...though this is my first time. Do I need to be concerned about this amount of weight and she still has so much time left? A couple weeks back she decided to stop eating her dry food....so I cooked her up some turkey, rice as well as wet dog food. I gave that to her three times a day. In total the food is more than she would have consumed non-pregnant in a day. What I am doing now is taking her dry puppy and putting warm water on it to make a gravy and she eats that no problem....but still won't eat dry.

How much did your dogs gain and how many pups did they have? I hope her pups aren't getting too big.

First of all Nature has it's own way of dealing with things. Eating does slow down, she doesn't have much room left in there. You may try giving her some whelping pudding....scrambled eggs, etc. I know it's frustrating when they do this, so we attempt to make anything that will entice them. I'd steam Chicken instead of turkey.....I've done baby food, gerbers chicken sticks.....

Usually on the first litter they don't show, her muscles are still taunt.

Good Luck

It sounds like you are doing just fine with her diet. I would rather see the momma gain weight during pregnancy because after they have pups they sometimes will lose a little weight. She still have plenty of time for that belly to grow.:)

Thanks very much for the ideas and reassurance. I wish I could see/feel them moving around so I know they are doing well. I guess I have to wait for that to happen yet. I just REALLY hope that the homecooked foods wasn't too much and that the pups gained too much. I had to feed her....and she loved it so much :)

Do you give a full one egg scrambled daily in the last 10 days or so? Or how often?

I will print out the whelping pudding today. This can be giving during end pregnancy as well as during and after whelping I assume? I will check out the recipe and ask questions if I have any on it.

Thanks again :)

It is my understanding that you should provide extra calcium once the whelp is done...or during even. In what form of food would be the best and how often and how much? How about Nutrical or Nutrical Puppy? Any and all info would be great. Amounts would be great. Thanks.

Here's something that you should keep on hand

Oral Cal Plus

To keep eclampsia at bay, so it never comes at all… forget everything about giving tums, cottage cheese, cheese, icecream.. etc. It’s useless. The body needs the calcium to be delivered with the correct ratio of Vit D and Phosphorus or it doesn’t absorb it, it’s useless. Pet Cal has this correct ratio. Another thing that has it is, believe it or not.. a scrambled whole egg! Of course everyone knows not to start calcium until the litter is whelped.. no giving it to PG bitches… I do give some calsorb during whelping If things slow down on a larger litter, but never before whelping. Make it a general practice to scramble your bitch an egg every day, and depending on weight, give ½ to a whole pet tab per day. I gave it to a 8 lb bitch ½ in the morning ½ at night…this is the “daily dose” for about a 20 lb dog who was NOT nursing a litter…so just fine for ½ the size, but nursing a litter. I would grind up the pet tab in the food processor and put the powder in the egg when I scrambled it. Also, plenty of sunshine.


Also, check your dog food for Soybeans, soy protein, or anything related to soy in any way. For SOME reason that is not completely understood by me (many menopause supplements contain soy, or are soy based, so this seems to be a contradiction).. soy protein can interfere with the absorption of calcium in dogs. If your food has soy of any sort, change to a food that does not for the duration of the weaning of the litter.

Have the following recipe on hand to give after the whelping and maybe during......

1 12 oz can of goats milk
equal parts of distilled water
1 egg yolk well beaten
1 Tablespoon of Karo.

The whelping pudding is given during the nursing process. About 1 to 2 tablespoons a day. I give this to pups during the weaning process too.

Nutri Cal is ok.....but, it does tend to cause loose stools. I prefer NutriDrops, much faster absorbing. My practice is to rub a couple of drops into each newborn pups gums, along with giving them a 1/2 tube of Benebac (probiotic) before putting them to mom's breast.

thank you for this information girl.. I do the egg every other day as per my holistic vet recomendation, I am on my way to order the ora cal hubby keeps laughing at me for buying everything ...but I feel better prepare than sorry...;)
hugs,
Carmen in nj

You can get the oral cal plus from Revivalanimal.com. You can still purchase the Cal Sorb, but it is yucky tasting and most the time the girls will vomit after administering. The Oral Cal Plus is better tasting.

I had horrible luck in getting my finicky girls to eat that scrammbled egg.....This time around they were so bad with their eating, I resorted to spoon feeding 4 times a day.....from the time they were about 3 weeks pregnant.

thank you again, My girl is not a finicky eater, she really likes her egg, I give it to her as a miday snack, every other day.
she is on her 45th day today, and looks like her belly is growing by the day..:cool: I went to revival already, hubby said i have them on speed email..LOL their catalog is on my night table..LOL :D .
hugs,
Carmen in nj

Good Luck and praying that she won't deliver on her 58th day....love those pups to bake a bit longer.

Don't feel bad, I had a fold up picnic table with all the supplies ready, and a refrigerator shelf ready with the meds......Towels, blow dryer and medicated shampoo ready in the bathroom with a space heater there so it would be nice and toasty in there when I went to clean her up. Come whelping time my bedroom looks like a hospital room.

me too... I am taking her for xrays on day 56, hopefully she will hold until day 59 or later, she is a maden bitch so only time will tell..:)