New here please can someone advise me
 

I appologise if this is in the wrong place but would just like some help, I have been given from an old woman that lives near me a small dog that looks like a yorkie will try to post a picture later. She is approx 2 years old so I have been told, she weighs about 7lbs. I took on this dog as I was told it would be put down otherwise and she is a very loving little thing. The thing I didnt know at the time is she is pregnant and I would say they are due in about a week or so as I can see the puppies moving. What should I do to help her prepare for this and get myself ready. I donot have a vet as my little man is registered with the PDSA but I know they dont deal with pregnant dogs as they dont believe in breeding dogs. Please can someone help me get ready for this event, any help will be great.

Welcome. You may want to put this in the breeders section. They should be able to give you some great advice.

Welcome to YT. One thing doing, in addition to finding a vet who can help you ASAP, is calling around to local breeders to see if any of them will be willing to help you. Explain the situation to them. You don't have much time to get ready. As Patti said, if you can repost your question in the Breeder section, I know there are people there who can help you.

This could be very dangerous for this pg. dog since the father to these pups could be much larger. The pups could be too large for her to have naturally. The Vet. needs to see her ASAP to determine the best course of action.

You have been given a lap full...can you contact a breeder friendly vet and explain what has happened. I wish you the very best in helping this bitch through her whelping...

Dont know any breeder friendly vets, what should I feed her to keep her healthy, she seems very fussy and will only eat tinned rubbish food tried science plan, iams. as my dog eats these but she wont touch them. At the moment I am feeding her tinned puppy food. The old woman her gone into a home and her other dog the male was a pure yorkie and a member of her family took him but no-one wanted her.

Just open up a phone book and start calling vets around you then. Even a "non breeder friendly" one should be able to help you, especially after you explain the situation. Bottom line, she needs to be seen so that you can get a good idea of how many pups she has and their size. Yorkies are prone to requiring C-sections, so you need to be prepared for that, too.

Let me try to PM Mardelin and Woogie to see if they can give you some advice to help you prepare.

Start feeding her a high quality puppy food, without soy as it is a calcium depleter. Feed her 3 meals a day for now and increase to 4 or 5 when pups arrive.

Breeder friendly vets are of course difficult to find....but, get her in to a vet for an examination and x-ray.

Also, the best thing I can recommend is contacting a local kennel club's secretary.....explain that you are in need of assistance in contacting a toy dog breeder to obtain information/assistance from.

In the meantime start gathering supplies.

Basics. An area where that is quiet, away normal household traffic.
The room should be draft free and warm. A whelping box, bedding and enough for several changes. Pee pads. Alcohol, blunt scissors, a digital thermometer, ky jelly, dental floss, hand towels for rubbing down pups, a baby nasal aspirator for clearing out the mouth and nostrils of pups.
A heating pad or lamp with a hundred watt bulb.

I have an empty bedroom that I was going to decorate but it is empty at the moment I could set her up in there, I have only had her for 4 days but she follows me around everywhere even in the toilet so dont know how she would take it if I put her in a bedroom on her own, I have a safety gate I could put on so she could see out but if I am downstairs she wont see me. What kind of box a wooden one or a cardboard one, I have loads of old towels I can rip up. scissors are no problem, have dental floss, I can go shopping for thermometer and ky jelly would any digital thermometer do. I have loads of old newspapers as I never throw them away they are always handy.

Nope, you've got to make sure she is with you 7 x 24. You will be sleeping in the same room from here on out.

However, she must be kept confined at this time, you don't want her dropping those pups willy nilly throughout the house. She also will need to understand that over the next few weeks she's going to be confined to take care of those babies.

What ever you use for bedding, make sure that she can't dig it up after the pups are born....they can smother.

A plastic box is better....you can wipe it down should it get dirty......make it low enough for her to get out of, but high enough the pups can't roll out.

Yorkies are not a breed to just let have their pups. You must intervene to tear the sacs, cut the cords, clear the babies' airways and dry them....and that's at a minimum with a textbook whelp.

One of the best online sources of info is Debbie Jensen's Whelping Guide. Every phase of pregnancy and whelping is covered, and there are some pictures to give you a visual. For some reason, when you google her site, it says that it may harm your computer. Not sure why that is....I've been to her site many times.

The last few weeks is when the pups do most of their growing, so Mom eating well is critical. I agree with Mardelin about the feeding, but even a lower quality food is better than doing without. Her not eating now could lead to complications so make sure she eats. I like to boil up some beef liver and feed my girls. It's very nutrient dense and most any dog will love it. I save the broth and use that, too. Be prepared for her to be picky about food until some time after the babies are born.

Hopefully you can find a vet for her. She needs to be x-rayed so you'll know how many pups to expect and their size. Plus, you really must have a vet in case of any complications and for the care of the pups. And do search for a whelping coach. An experienced person would be invaluable at this time.

Best of luck. You've been dealt a handful.

You need to get this dog to a vet ASAP. I would bring her into any vet in your area, explain the situation, and see what they can do to at least get her safely through delivery. Then, hopefully when they are ready, the puppies can be adopted out to good homes. And PLEASE get her spayed as soon as she's healthy to have the procedure done.

PS - you've done a really good thing by taking her in. I am sure that some vet will be willing to help you out given the situation. At the very least, it would be great if you had a vet that you could call to walk you through things.

Let us know what happenes please.

I would try hard to find a breeder of any sort for advise as to a vet they might use...I would think if you told a vet that you have rescued this Yorkie and she is having a litter, they could offer advise...where is a "James Harriet" type vet when you need one...boy, was that a life time ago..the vet came to out to our house the house for anything...some things do not get better with time.
I would allow her the freedom of being where ever you are..penning will stress her if she is not used to it..just watch her.

There are several UK breeding forums...
TRY...Petforums.co.uk
Perhaps, there is a breeders near you and who knows a vet.

I would buy a covered cat litter pan- and purchase an electric heating pad to put underneath to keep pups warm....you really do need to find someone experienced with breeding to help you. Best of luck and God Bless for taking this dog in!!

Update
 

So to bring you up to date, got a nice vet who offered to give her a check up free although I will need to pay for any other treatment. He saw her on the 17th Jan and said she had less than a week to go and she was in good health with he reaconed about 3 puppies, I should take her temp every morning and evening and leave her to it, most dogs deliver with no problems. Here are her temperatures to date morning then evening:- 99.1 - 100.2, 99.5 - 99.5,
98.7 - 100.2, 98.9 - 100.6, 98.9 - 101.1, 98.2 - 98.7, 100.4 this morning. According to the vet she is due now. What do you think?

It sounds like she is getting close. I have found that taking temperatures is not a sure thing so you have to always be prepared. You need to watch her very closely. I would not 'leave it to her' when it comes to delivering the pups. Yorkies often need help and it can be risky letting her tear the sac and cut the cord. I have read on YT to many times where the female would not break the sac and the pup would die or the mom would accidentally cut the cord to short, exposing the guts, or they can chew off a foot. Here is a website that can give you some advise as to what to expect when labor starts:
Whelping Puppies, Breeding Dogs

I wish you the best of luck.

You did a good job by coming to this forum to get information And there is tons of good information on the net that will help after the pups are born also. On how to give them a great start. Hope all is going well

Time is getting close...best wishes

Update
 

Just to let you all know she gave birth to 6 babies all by herself and they are all doing well although it took hours.

Congratulations on your new litter. I pray momma and babies do well. Momma will definitely need lots of good food and a calcium supplement since she will be feeding a large litter.

three?
 

So much for the vet's guessing she would whelp three pups. Wow what and underestimation!! I have had to get up to feed the mom during the night to keep her milk producing. She was just so unbelieveably hungry.
She really needs to keep her calories up with that many mouths to feed.
Good luck!

Great news..you are an angel for taking such good care of her.

WOW - 6 pups!!!

Good Job to YOU for rescuing her, she sounds like a doll and I can't believe they were going to put her to sleep :mad:

If I could make a suggestion, when you adopt out these pups, please make it Mandatory that these pups are spayed and/or neutered, so this cycle stops with you ;)

Make sure mom is getting plenty of nutrition, thats 6 mouths to feed, yikes!

Congratulations on the pups!
Can I just ask which part of the UK are you from? Did the PDSA tell you that they do not deal with pregnant dogs? If so that is not true, my BF's bulldog had a c-section at a PDSA hospital and a spay.
I am happy that your girl managed to deliver the babies without any complications but I think the issue with the PDSA is something you should look into. The PDSA are there for people who cannot afford vet care or are recieving some sort of benefit, I find it very unfair that they pick and choose what kind of care animals receive.
Good luck with the babies and please post pictures of them and mommy when you get a chance.

what i have noticed in the past, is that unless you know how the pdsa works, no a lot about the species you are taking in, and can tell them almost exactly whats wrong, they do tend to try and pan you off... i'm not pdsa bashing, they are a great organisation, but when i took my friends rottie with Severe mastitis, they sent her and her owner home 3 times to get different paperwork (she took her to the er vet 1st because she panicked. after being transfered to the pdsa clinic, she was sent home to get the paperwork to prove she qualified, and forgot 1 letter, was sent home to get it, left the otheres there because they had aslready been checked, but was then sent back Again to get the 1st lot!) in this amount of time they wouldnt treat the dog, and even though she isnt a vocal dog, you could see the pain in her eyes- and she was away from her 9 pups.
she also got a lecture for 'breeding' her dog as so many are in shelters; she was rehomed from a shelter - pregnant!
there was also some bad and a little concerning advise given, so when possible, always double check with your usual vet.

so glad momma and babies are fine; i bet they are all adorable! pictures would be awesome! :D