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Whelping Puppies
Preparing Your Bitch for
Mating
It is important to feed your brood bitch
a balanced diet. She needs adequate protein and carbohydrates,
which should include all the vitamins and minerals needed
to supply a balanced diet. You can prepare her meals
yourself using fresh meat and whole meal bread with
fine minced veggies, or but a high quality dry food
such as Eukanuba or Science Diet.
After mating continue feeding her as
before until about 2 weeks before whelping, at which
time you should increase the amount of food by 25%,
and split her food into two feeds daily. This is because
there's not much room inside her for a large meal and
a belly full of rapidly growing puppies.
When your brood bitch comes into season,
worm her with a good quality broad spectrum worming
preparation. Also take her to the Vet for a culture
and sensitivity test, to guard against any possible
vaginal infections.
You should take her to the stud dog
by about the 8th or 9th day of bleeding so that the
“stud master” can monitor her progress and
ensure she is mated on the correct day. Generally they
will mate at the 14th day, but they can be ready as
early as the 8th or as late as the 24th day. You can
get progesterone tests done to get it exactly right
if you wish, especially if using frozen semen.
Preparing Your Bitch for Whelping
She should be wormed at 4 weeks after
mating and again 2 weeks before whelping. She should
also be vaccinated either prior to mating or at about
2 weeks before whelping. This will protect the puppies
from viruses while they are suckling on her. The anti-bodies
will pass from her to the puppies in her milk.
She will stop eating about 12 to 20
hours before whelping. At this time you should ring
your Vet and let him know that she will whelp in the
next 24 hours. Ask him if it's OK to call him at any
time of the day or night if she has any problems.
Make sure you have plenty of clean newspapers
on hand as whelping can be quite messy. She will start
panting, pacing and tearing up her bedding (newspapers)
a few hours before the contractions start. The first
pup should be born within an hour or two of the start
of the contractions. If she goes 3 hours and there's
no pup, call your Vet.
The Whelping
As soon as the first pup is born she
will settle down to her job at hand. The pups can be
born in their sac or out of it. They can be born head
first or tail first, it doesn't matter. Generally they
will be born head first and still in their sac. If you
have a problem with a pup getting stuck, try and help
her by gently pulling the pup as she pushes. Don't try
and pull a pup if she's not contracting though. If in
doubt call your Vet.
All the puppies should be born in 8
to 15 hours, but they could take as long as 24 hours
in some cases. When she's done, take her for a walk
to empty. You may have to lift her or put a collar and
lead on and force her to leave her puppies so she can
empty. Give her a drink of milk with some electrolytes,
but don't try and make her eat straight away. She will
be very tired after whelping. Her appetite should be
back about 12 hours after she whelps.
After Whelping
Clean the whelping box up, removing
wet and bloodied paper. Replace it with a piece of carpet
that you tack to the whelping box floor. Carpet will
keep the puppies warm underneath, and give them a good
surface to grip on while suckling. Make sure the whelping
area is warm, but not hot, and certainly not cold.
For the next 2 weeks all you need do
is feed her. She will begin to eat a lot after about
3 days, so be prepared. By the end of the second week,
she'll be eating 4 to 5 times her normal diet. Keep
plenty of fresh clean water available for her at all
times.
You should start feeding the puppies
some food from about 4 weeks of age. With a big litter
you may need to start feeding from as early as 3 weeks.
You can feed them the same food as their mother eats,
but be sure it is minced fine, as you don't want them
choking.
Feed them 2 to 3 times a day to 3 months
of age, then twice a day.
Care of Puppies
Worm them with a worming paste at 2
weeks old, then again at 4 weeks. Use tablet wormers
from 6 weeks onwards. Change worming formula's to prevent
the worms from building up immunity to the preparations.
Trim their nails and dew claws on their front feet each
time you worm them to prevent them scratching their
mother while suckling. If you don't trim their nails,
she will probably wean them early.
Give the puppies some meaty bones to
chew on and fight over from about 6 to 8 weeks of age.
This helps prevent stomach upsets at the critical weaning
age.
If you follow this advice, you should
have very few problems whelping and rearing a healthy
litter of puppies.
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