circle of Life
 

Well it is official! We are going to be parents!

Tiffany was 5.2 lbs and 11 months old when she mated with Coco on Sept 2nd for the first time. They "tied" 3 times a day up untill and including the 7th when was hit by a truck. We are so excited that something besides our memories of him will live on!

This is her first litter...ours too!

Well this Tuesday, Tiffany weighed in at the vets at 6.0 lbs. Yesterday we felt the pups moving around (we think 2 or 3)! Talk about exciting! It felt like they were playing soccer!

We have done our homework and have things ready to go but I have a few questions ( or rather reassurances needed).

1) I am assuming she concieved the first day (Sept 2) is that a safe bet?

2) Today she is dragging her rear end around on the floor a lot. Does this mean anything?

3) Since there is a 5 day window of her mating When should I consider her overdue?

4) is there any correlation between the weight gain of the mom during the pregnancy and the weight we can excpect of the pups?

Oh as an aside our newest arival "Nicky" who is now about 5.5 months old is trying to suckle every now and then and Tiffany is letting him. It is cute but we are trying to discourage that. He is a piggy and will eat all he can when ever he can! Because he is still a bit of a pup will this be a problem once Tiffany's pups are born?

Thanks

First let me start by saying you bred your lil girl entirely too young.

Conception doesn't happen at the time of being bred, it depends on when she ovulated.

She should have only been bred once a day a total of 3 breedings at the most and skipping a day between breedings. So, you can expect a litter born anytime from the 58th day of her first breeding to the 63rd day of her last breeding; So, from October 30th through November 9th you're on puppy watch. Vet's don't worry until they are about day 69 from their last breeding. That is unless you see anything unusual.

She's dragging her butt, because she needs her anal glands expressed.

No, there is no correlation between her weight gain and/or the expected pups weight.


As far as his suckling on your mom, I wouldn't allow it. He's doing it just for comfort. He should be discouraged as you will have to keep your mom's breasts as clean as possible for those pups.

Sorry you lost your male but you should not have let your female be bred--she was too young.

I agree with everything Mardelin said. Good luck with the whelping and keep us posted.

I have nothing to say, I just want to watch this thread. Hope the whelp is ok.

Well today is day 63. Yesterday Tiffany weighed in at 6.2lbs. She has been reasonably active and in good spirits untill this morning. She has been eating well including this morning. Around lunch there was a 1 degree (celcius) drop in her body temp and she seems quite tired and unable to get comfortable, and just want to be held.

We have been talking with our vet through out this and she is pleased with how things look. We do have the emerg kit and phone number handy just in case!

My wife is home with her and keeping a close eye on things.

I know Tiffany was too young now, we are still learning. We will not be breeding her after this but for now we are all doing our best! I appreciated both the advice and the tone of the previous posts in this thread. Thank you!

Do you know how many pups your expecting?

The vet said it looked like 4 but we thought no way! There was no way she was big enough for 4! Well it seems like since then she has gotten BIGGER! Poor thing is having trouble getting comfotable now. Her rear legs are spread more when she stands or walks. She no longer lays on her stomach.

Well her temp returned to normal this morning and she is running up and down the stairs! she tires easily of course.

Last night she was barking/snapping at Nicky and the 2 cats if they so much as looked like they were going to even think about getting into space! She just wanted to get under our covers and sleep!

The only thing that came out of tiffany last night was a LOT of gas! Oh man couldnt believe something so small and cute could "fart" so much! No it wasn me blaming the dog!

Still nothing! Tifanny's temp droped again last night to 35.9degrees C. (97F) normal has been 37.5C (100F) I am taking the temp from the ear with a fast good quality digital thermometer.

The pups have really moved down alot into the lower abdomen over night.

She was doing some serious digging around in the blankets last night.

She must be pushing a bit now because she is passing a fair bit of gas and a lot of small bowl movements. Mind you this may because of the pressure of the pups.

She is still eating. We are trying to keep herenergy levels up. we are offering her food more often and supplementing it by giving her either scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, or moist canned puppy food.

Hello Fellow Ontarian,

Good luck over the next few days! Our thoughts and prayers are with you!

I am so sorry that you lost you male!

Keep us posted!

Kate

She is in her first stages of labor. Keep an eye for those strong contractions.


Things to watch for:

Constant hard labor for more than an hour with no results
Green or odorous discharge from the vulva
An interval of two hours between pups with occasional hard labor
Any part of a pup stuck or protruding from the vaginal canal
One hour of hard labor and no puppies.
Three hours of no labor between pups and you think there is another pup.

It is a good idea to try to get the first pup or two nursing, because this will cause a releas of natural oxytocin and may help her to begin contractions again to deliver the remaining pups.

Another thing to do if you find her lagging between pups. Glove your hand....apply KY Jelly to your smallest finger and gently insert into the vaginal canal and gently wiggle (called feathering).

Or you can give your girl some CalSorb/Oral Cal Plus if you find her lagging.

Well this looks like it! Tiff had no appetite allday!Around 5pm she seemed off. I took her upstairs to her "spot"She got very wet (water broke?)major nesting and growlingminor shivers and tensnessNow she is having episodes of hard contractions about 15min or so apart and cryingI got her to drink abit but she threw up during a contraction. she will lick water drops off my finger but no more.We are as ready as we can be

Good Luck......Praying for a safe and easy whelp......

Good luck! Can't wait to hear some good news!

I can't wait to hear more. I'm praying for you guys! I hope all is well. I wish my girl was having hers today, alas, she is just really sleepy. Good luck!!!!

The 1 st pup is here! healthy and moving well! Mom is all over the pup cleaning it and licking it. We cant tell if it is a boy or girl yet because Tiff has done so well so far!Tiff chewed open the sack and ate the placenta when it was delivered. We didnt have to do anything except fret! Now we wait for the next one!Tiff is licking the pup so much he/she cant get a chance suckle but after all that work we are just glad she is happy with the baby!