Sophie Seven Weeks Pregnant
 

Hi everyone, im new on here, but Yorkies are my favorite breed of dogs!
I'm only 16 and i have had two Yorkies. My first one was a boy named Tinkers, he passed away at the age of 10 during a seizure. A couple months after his death we bought an ADORABLE little girl named Sophie. Sophie is now 2 years old and is 7 weeks pregnant! I was just wondering if anyone has any tips that i could use during Whelping, or for after the puppies are born.
I have done a lot of research and have a list of things that i would need for whelping. Here is the list.

The Vets Phone Number
A Bunch of Towels
Paper Towels
A Hemostat for the Umbilical Cords
Gloves
Un-waxed Dental Floss
Colostrum Supplement
A Newborn Puppy Bottle
Syringe's
Heating Pad
Tums and Vanilla Ice Cream for Sophie.

If there is anything else you think i should get or that i need please let me know. (:

Thank you

oh, my,ok, forget about Tums, your girl needs a balance calcium supplement after whelping, I use, Doc Roy's bone tabs,for the puppies as soon as they are born, I give them, Nursemate ASAP it helps prevent the usual fading puppy syndrome,by helping the newborn get a headstart, a bottle of betadine solution for the umbilical cords, helps drying and prevents infections, I dip a q tip in the solution and apply it to the puppies cords for 2 days, they dry and fall off by the third day.
a good kitchen scale, to weigh the babies daily, LOTS of disposable human bed pads, to put in the bottom of the whelping box while mama is whelping, NO Newspapers please, the ink is BAD for the babies, a plastic container with a door cut on the side for her to whelp, make sure you make a few small holes on the remaining sides for air flow, they seem to like the protection of the cave like feel.
Latex gloves, termometer to take the girls temperature, even a week after whelping, she could develop an infection very important to record the temp every day, an estetoscope, to listen for heart beats, Fleece strips to mark the birth order of the puppies, a bottle of Alcohol,a small aspirator and practice the right way to use it, a hair dryer in warm in case you need to help a baby get going, A tube of Nutrical, in case your girl needs it while whelping, ice cream is good but nutrical is BETTER, KY jelly in case you have a breech baby, Alcohol, to desinfect all the utensils before and after use. A weak bleach solution to clean the area before and after whelping, Whelping pudding ingredients to make as soon as she whelps. a bottle of clotisol, just in case you have a bleeding cord. Lots of sheets to change the whelping box daily. I buy two or three sheets and a few towels at my local second hand store and cut the sheets to to fit the whelping box, and wash them in a good soap and bleach solution in the machine and dry them in HOT setting and folden and put them in a good size clean plastic bag until they are needed. the towels I cut to the hand towel size I prefer white towels, wash them with the sheets and put them in the same bag until my girl goes into labor, when she is in stage 2 I take them out and set everything I need up, I don't allow anyone in the whelping room with me, because they can stop their labor if they feel is too much going on around them, I try to keep the noise to a minimum and is just me and my girl. REMEMBER the life of your girl is in your hands litteraly, you need to be calm but alert, because if she needs help you need to provide it, and is not a time to THINK you need to know your limitations and ask for HELP if you think she needs it.. a heating pad, for the babies they need to be warm, no sudden temp changes.and last but not least a tube of oral cal plus, to prevent Eclampsia, she can die if her calcium gets too low while nursing and crashes.
Here is a picture of my setup, this is all I can think at the top of the morning..
and after all this I hope you have an adult mentor to help you thru all this, whelping is not for the faint of heart, is a very difficult time for mama and very stressful for a caring human.
Best of luck..

oh and I forgot to add, and you must have a few thousand dollars in the bank, in case she needs a C-section, which happens often with yorkie bitches. specially in maiden bitches. also make sure you take her for X-rays at day 59-60 from first breeding, that way you have an idea how many pups you are expecting and if her pelvic bone is big enogh for the puppies to be delivered.
hugs,

You will need more than one hemostat I usually have 2 per pup.
Oral syringes and 1.2mm sized feeding tubes
Nutridrops
beef liver
pair of blunt edged scissors. the ones you would buy for children work great
And everything Carmen suggested also

The heating pad does NOT go directly under the puppies. But under the blanket or pads. I also have a small heat light as well.

Your emergency vet on speed dial. As well as your mentor.

Your car filled up with gas - and if you can't find the route to the emergency vet in your sleep - preprogram the GPS.

Goats milk on hand

:thumbup: Yes money in the bank!

Why is it the breeders with the most experience, take this the most seriously? I just can't imagine doing this; I would be so scared for my little girl’s life. Dogs aren't wild animals, once we domesticate an animal; they need our help to deliver the offspring. I hope you read up on “signs of distress”, and know what to look for. Sounds like you are reading bad information if someone is recommending Tums, it has been shown that this is very bad advice and can cause Eclampsia, a fatal problem with mother. I don’t think the ice cream is a good idea either, she might get diarrhea. If you really loved Sophia, you would get her spayed and treat her like a little diva, not a money maker. I hope everything goes well, but if it does, it just means you were very lucky, it doesn't mean you were well prepared.

Oh my....sending prayers for your little girls life and safe delivery of these pups and aftercare.

Who was the stud? Do you know? Larger or smaller than Sophie?

I agree, spay her now.

Please read up and talk to your vet before she whelps so you know what to expect! Have you brought her in for an ultrasound? My neighbor bred golden retrievers for many years and was able to help me a lot through out Lexies pregnancy, but Carmen's threads and posts really helped me a lot. If you haven't already, I would definitely take your girl in to the vet and feed her puppy food. Best of luck!

unless the stud is a st bernard or a golden retriever the size of the stud is not that important, since the female controls the size of the pups from conception to birth, what is important is the size of her pelvic bone, is it able to open enogh for the babies to come out the birth canal, that is why x rays at day 59 or 60 is of most importance. also, NO calcium before whelping, is been proven that too much calcium supplements before whelping causes uterine inertia, and last but not least, you must know when to run to the vet for an oxytocin injection, it helps the girl deliver the litter if she can't on her own, or a c section. this is where a mentor is indispensable, also a mentor always have a few tricks of their sleeve, my mentor, yes i still have one, all this years and a son that is almost a vet, i do run to her for help still, her experience of 30 years of breeding is very valuable to me and he others she mentors.
hugs,

:eek::eek: Good thing mine are spayed (Mia getting spayed) just reading this got me queezy! Um and Carmin, I admire you more now than ever....!!!

You breeders are awesome folks, wow I would not be able to do this!

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Excellent advise Carmen.....and it is so true, regardless of how long we have done this, you can NEVER think for one minute you "know it all"....we must always learn from mentors and other experienced breeders! I was working in a vet office when I was 16, every spare moment I had!....and I dont think I would have been brave enough to breed a Yorkie and deliver the babies.....

Congrats on your upcoming litter; if she is 7 weeks along she is due about the same time as my female.

At just 16 yrs old, seems you are taking on quite a bit so young, but then again you could come from a family that has done this before and know more than we might think. In any case, good luck to you and let us know how it goes & share pics of the pups when they arrive. We love puppy pics!