Help!
 

I sure hope someone is on here that can tell me what to do. Katie won't stay in the whelping box with the babies. She ended up going to Max's crate when she had them carrying puppies with her. She was fine there so I left her there and moved him to another crate. Now this morning she starts carrying puppies again and had them all in the bed with me! She is panting and frantic. So then she settled down after I let them stay there. Now that I got up she is moving them again but doesn't want to stay anywhere. What do I do?? Should I just lock her in the crate with them until she settles down? I can't keep letting her move them around but Im afraid she is going to hurt them. She keeps scratching at the towels and dragging them around and such. Any suggestions?

Hi I am new to the site. first of all . Is this her firist litter? If so she maybe confused. She needs to to be in a puppy play pen. (NO GRATING ). Second buy a large cat pan or large plastic pan that they use for puppy litter. These can be purchsed at Petsmart or Petco. Put her in a quiet room, so no other dogs can see her. Third either purchase a heat lamp above her pups or heating pad & put it under the plactic tray on warm. Sit with her & speak softly to her & make sure YOU put each puppy on her nipples & they all nurse every hour till they get what I call apple bellies. Nice round bellies. They must stay warm, as they donot produce their own heat for weeks. Make sure mamma dog has her pit shot right away from the vet. I hope this helps

Amy

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Katie'sMom,

You have a few options from the sound of it. Yes, you could definitely lock her in her crate. Eventually she should settle down, let the pups nurse and so forth. It wouldn't hurt a thing to keep her locked in the crate until she needs to go out, eat, etc. I used to raise Australian Shepherds and since they were much larger than a yorkie, we had a whelping box (baby swimming pool worked great for these guys) and had an exercise pen (ex-pen) around it, so the mother could get away from the puppies when she wanted to, but was still confined in the same area. Maybe you could set up an area around her whelping box. Of course, if she is so persistent, she may just move them out of the box and onto the floor for that matter. It would be worth a try though. Not sure why she would want to keep moving them. Is she in an area that she can see you all the time. If not, maybe that would help as well, since she did bring the babies to your bed. I'm sure she is very attached to you and would like you in her sights the majority of the day. Maybe it would help her to calm down and feel better. Hope this helps a bit.

Nicole

yes this is her first litter and she was doing fine yesterday but for some reason today she just decided she wanted to move them. she usually sleeps with us so I know that is what she wants. I do have a little xpen that i could put around the area with the box but I don't think she would like being in the busy part of the house. I have my grandson right now babysitting so I can't stay in there with her all the time but I think I am going to have to call and have them come and get him if she doesn't settle down.

Hi again.

I think your right the nighttime came & she wanted to sleep with you, so she took her puppies with her. What about putting a few blankets around the ex-pen, so its not so opened around her. I had to do this & she settled down.

Amy

The grandson may well be the reason she is upset. he doesn't have to do anything but she knows hhe is in the house. she also might be moving them cause they are cold. I put my whelping box in my x-peen and that's where it stays with mommy until they can crawl out on their own. kandy didn't want to stay with them either but she didn't move them out of the box. when I would get in the pen to do anything for theem, she did try to take themout of my hands. As far as the nursing, there were lots of times I had to get in and hold heer down so they could eat. She has been a terrible mama. She has been almost completely done with her babies for two weeks now and they are not quite seven weeks old.

can you tell me what her temp should be now? i know before she had them it was running 99-101 but would it be higher now from laying with the pups? i took hers and it is 102. Im thinking that maybe she is getting too hot? It is about 80 in the room and she is drinking a lot and pulling the towels out of the box. I sure hope she isn't getting an infection. She did have a shot of oxy? i think is what it was. I'm giving her cottage cheese and a vitamin so I don't think it should be a problem with the calcium? I have been through a few litters with my lab but they seemed so easy. She is doing very good with them otherwise, staying with them and keeping them clean and being protective. Just so restless. I really think she might be hot but I don't want the puppies to get cold either!

Her temperature is normal at 102. She maybe to hot. The pups do make Mamma hotter snuggled so close to her, but the pups need the heat. Is the room temperature the only heat. Maybe if you use another heat sourse you could put it on the side the pups are on so she's not getting so much heat, but the pups do. I had this problem I felt like I was flipping pancakes, lol. I had to constantly move the heat around her whelping box as she moved around trying to stay cool, but eventually she got the idea on how to keep herself off the heat sourse, & keep the pup warm.

my dixie was sorta like that hun she was so used to being right with us that she was so upset for the first few days when ever i wasnt in the room with her after that she was ok, so what i did was i brought her and the pups in the box to t he room i was in for the first prob 3 or 4 days and then after that she settled down and was ok... good luck hun and hope all goes well for you

i think my heating pad might be messed up because i have it on low and it feels really hot in the box......i am going to go buy a new one and see how that goes. i have a thermometer i can lay in the box to see how hot it is.....what should the temp read over the heating pad?

Sound like you have some good advice.
She maybe confused as to where she should be or maybe trying to hide puppies from your grandson.
Set up your X-Pen set up in a quite room, with whelping box, food and water, and potty papers.
I would try to keep things quite and your grandson away from her.
When she figures out she can't go anywhere, she should settle down.
Were all placentas acounted for???
Keep a close eye on her temp, If she does settle down a trip to the Vet maybe in order.

I am not sure what the temperature the thermometer should read. I just keep it on low under the whelping box. Are the pups on the blankets or is mamma still moving the blankets around? I usually check the warmth of the pups by holding one & making sure their at a comfortable heat in my hands. Maybe instead of blankets in the wheling box you could try a triangle flat bed with a small edge on the sides it keeps them snuggled together then mamma can't move the blanket around. I had my mamma contantly putting the pups on the whelping box bottom & losing the pups in the blankets. Gosh the first few days trying to make everyone comfy is so hard, but it gets better their all so different.

Well for now she has settled with them on my bed. I put rolled up towels around them and made a makeshift snuggle bed for now. I am going to go to the store and buy a couple of those and try instead of the towels and blankets, because she just keeps rooting them off of those. Thanks for the advice. I guess she just feels more secure there with them because that's what she is used to. They go in the morning for dew claws and tails so that should be an experience. Thanks for all the help everyone. I was just really freaking out this morning thinking she was going to have puppies hidden everywhere on me. LOL I guess I am going to have to use the xpen with her although I was hoping I wouldn't have to because she is used to having her run of the house.

Your welcome & I am glad I could help. Now that things have calmed down a bit. CONGRATULATIONS ! with your new babies.

Its hormones! Bell did the same thing after her first litter. She should clam down soon.

I just wanted to update everyone on Katie and pups. We went to the vet yesterday for dew claws and tails. They did great except that they were very whiney for the rest of the day. Katie did not like that one bit. She was so nervous and jumpy and the only way I could get her to stay with them was to stay in the bedroom petting her. She kept looking at me when they whined like I was supposed to do something. LOL she really is spoiled bad. Everything was going fine until about 2 a.m. and then she started moving them again.......in the box out of the box.....wanting out every hour or so...I finally put them back in the bed with me at 5 a.m. because I had to have some sleep! The vet said that she was starting to get mastitis in her upper teats cuz we can't get the pups to nurse on those and her sugar level was a little low. Calcium level was fine. She tested all this to see if maybe some of that could be causing her behavior. We are giving her extra vitamins and nutrical and trying to get her to eat more but she just won't. I have tried and tried and can not get any of them to latch on to those upper teats. I just don't know what to do. The vet milked them while we were there and it took 3 of them to hold her to do it. She is just so stressed, and hates going to the vet anyway, although I love my vet and she is great with her! Finally after hours of trying to get puppies on, I milked them a little and left her alone. I guess we will be going back to the vet today? Sorry this is so long but I just had to vent a little. I haven't had much sleep for the past 4 days! I think it is even harder than us having babies! LOL

Sorry your going through this, if it helps, you're not alone. London has been moving hers also(6 days old) and she's really anxious too. I've brought my air mattress into the living room to sleep. Sleeping in the bedroom was nonexistent with her coming in asking for help. Last night I did catch her with a baby climbing out of the expen 2 times.

I came home from dropping my children off at school yesterday and a puppy was missing, I found her underneath the bed with ripped up foam as bedding. I know it's natural for them, but still scares me.

London gets anxious when a puppy with a tummy ache cries. She'll wake them all up, licking, pacing, carrying off and such. If everyone is quite, nursing or sleeping and beside her, she's happy. I'll sneak away the puppy with gas and try to burp him and then she's fine with the rest.

Good luck to you, hope you can get some sleep real soon!

wow it is really great to know that she is not the only one acting like this. I know my getting anxious is probably making her worse. I thought that she would settle down after the pups did later in the night but she actually got worse. It seems like my bed is the only place she feels comfortable in. I just really don't want to sleep with all of them but I think i may have to in order to get any sleep! The first place she took them was to her toybox this morning and put them in with her toys! lol i dont know why she picked that spot. I guess I was worried that she is hurting them carrying them around like that because they get so upset and crying. The other thing she keeps doing is scratching all around in the bed and trying to cover them up but she just keeps doing it and making them cry....she actually stepped on one of them this morning and i fussed at her. They just want her to lay down with them and then every time they got settled she would get up again. I just don't understand what is up with her.

Awe, bless her heart, she put them in her toy box. When the babies are laying and nursing I sometimes just have to hold her head down and pet her, talking to her til she lays down, then she looks very relaxed. I want her to get use relaxing and letting the puppies sleeping. She's laying right now really well. She only like's it if the puppies are nursing. If they're sleeping, she's flipping them up licking their butts and walking around them. I know they're suppose to pick them up by the neck, but when they're so small, I know they're getting picked up at the stomach and that's just not cool with me. I'm not leaving her for long periods of time and when I pick up kids I crate her and put the puppies on the heating pad.

yep thats what i was worried about is the way she was being so rough and picking their whole body up. i just hope she will settle down and stop the moving around.