zoey's doing great
 

zoe is doing great. had 3 girls yesterday. first one took about an hour the others took minutes. we did have a 4th but she did not make it :( had everything i needed and made the whelping pudding. she is eating fine and so are puppies. one is rather skinny. kind of long but skinny. took her a while to warm up but she is fine now. was wondering how often to feed zoe now?? thank you to all who responded and jim the site really helped me feel confident. :) God bless if anyone wants to see pics i have them up on my facebook. let me know.

Glad to hear all went well. Congratulations on the girls! Sorry to hear about one not making it. I guess you were off in your counting but it sounds like you handled it all just fine.

Did you notice if all the placentas came out? Typically they do but it's not uncommon for one to be retained. That can be very dangerous for Mom as an infection will set in quickly, which can be fatal. You can take her in to your vet for an oxytoxin shot, which will clean her out and also help the milk to come in.

Good to hear Zoe's eating already. Don't be surprised if she gets picky on you for a few days. It's normal but you must get her to eat. Boiled chicken, boiled liver, scrambled eggs and goat's milk are some of the things I use when I have a picky Mom. Also, a little diarrhea is common for a few days after giving birth. I would try to get her to eat 4 times daily and make sure she drinks plenty of water. Sometimes they won't get up from their babies to eat or drink so you may have to cater to her for a couple of days. Also, get her on a calcium supplement at this time. That's very important to ward off eclampsia. I give mine 1/2 of a tab twice daily with a meal. The ones I have are 1 tab for every 20 pounds, but, since she's nursing, the 1/2 tab twice a day is a good dosage.

The pups are a little mis-shaped just after being born. By the third day you should see them plump out some and also notice a sheen to the coats. Just watch out for the little one to make sure she gets a chance to nurse as sometimes the bigger ones can push them off.

It takes about 3 weeks before they can regulate their body temp so they need to be in a warm environment....draft-free...along with a heating pad. Just position the pad so Zoe doesn't have to lie on it but the pups can get some warmth.

Do you have a good scale to weigh the babies with? They need to weighed daily and you should see some increase every day. Tails and dew claws should be done by the third or fourth day if they are thriving.

Best of luck with the babies and keep us posted on their progress.

Congrats on your babies

zoe digging
 

goodmorning . ok have a question. zoe is wanting to be under the bed again digging. i have her and puppies in my room. she leaves her box to dig under the bed and races back if pups make any noise or if i walk over to look at them. anyone know why she wou:confused:ld want to dig again?

How is she doing now? I'm not a breeder but want to bump this as you didn't get a response. Could there be another pup in there and did all placentas come out?

hello :) well she isn't digging anymore. she seemed anxious to dig from about 2am this morning up tuntil mid morning then ..nothing. she is eating drinking and has started going out in the backyard more. she will go out to "make a round" and then come back anxious to get back to the puppies. sometimes she just plops down right on top of one of those babies. i keep thinking she is going to squash one good. so the digging..i don't get it. we'll see if she does it tonight i supposed.

She could be digging under your bed because she wants to move her pups. She could want a little more security (in her mind) for them. Also, since you have them in your room, I'm assuming it's comfortable enough for you. That would be too cold for the pups. I keep mine in a separate room (my computer room) so they are away from the traffic of the house. Also, I can keep a tight eye on them since I get on the computer a lot. For summertime pups, I don't air condition that room (keep the vents closed) and still use the heating pad on low setting.

ok thx. we don't use air and i've kept room completely closed. its pretty hot in there and i have the heating pad on all the time. but i will see what other arrangements i can make for her.