Pregnancy and Whelping

Week 1 to 3
Week 4 to 6
Week 7 to 9
The Whelping

Week 1 to 3

Once the mating has successfully taken place it is important to keep a close eye on your bitch. On occasions bitches have been known to decide they quite like this mating business and wander off looking for a mate to take matters into their own hands.

Your attention to diet is now required to ensure that your bitch is having a good quality food plus any supplements required. Your veterinary surgeon will help you decide what is best for your dog.

Be very careful not to indulge your bitch by excessive feeding. Extra feed at this time is not required but may be introduced from around week 6.

Dietary Supplements relevant to the particular breed of your bitch, or size of dog, should be strictly adhered to and product label instructions should be followed very carefully to avoid potentially severe abnormalities in your puppies.

Exercise should remain normal at this time, as it is important that your bitch remains fit and healthy.

A creamy coloured discharged may be noticeable during this period that is of no concern.

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Week 4 to 6

You now have an option during this period to take your bitch for an ultra-sound scan, blood test or urine test, to confirm whether or not your bitch is in whelp. It is very difficult to determine the exact number of puppies present from an ultra-sound scan.

It is normal procedure to contact the stud dog owner to let them know whether your bitch is confirmed to be in whelp or not.

Your bitches muscles and ligaments will start to slacken and her waistline may start to disappear. Continue with her normal exercise routine to keep her fit.

If your breed of dog is a docked breed and you require your puppies docking, it is important to organise for a veterinary surgeon to do this within 3 days of birth. However, if your vet has a ‘no docking’ policy there are vets who will provide this service. See this leaflet from DEFRA for more information before taking any action – click here.

Start to plan the provision of your whelping box. Do you want to make one yourself or are you going to buy one?

You should decide where you’re going to put your whelping box. Because a puppy younger than 7 to 10 days old can’t regulate its own body temperature the whelping box should be kept at a constant 26o to 30oC degrees centigrade, (80o to 85oF). One solution to this is to place a heat lamp directly above the whelping box approx 36inches from the base (depending on the size of your bitch) ensuring that your bitch can’t knock the lamp on entering and exiting the box. Obviously, as with all electrical appliances, extreme care should be taken to assure safety.

Introducing the whelping box in good time will give your bitch ample opportunity to make her nest and come the big day she will be relaxed in her new environment.

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Week 7 to 9

By now you should be starting to increase the amount of food your bitch eats, probably from two meals to three meals daily. It is better for your bitch if you increase the number of feeds rather than the amount of feed as stomach room becomes a problem when her puppies begin to increase in size and weight.

Some breeders would recommend changing your bitch onto a puppy food diet working on the principal of high-energy and low bulk intake.

At this stage some breeders recommend that you should worm your bitch. It is best to seek veterinary advice on this matter.

It is important to inform your veterinary surgeon that your bitch is due to whelp imminently and also to check out their emergency procedures - just in case.

You will find that as the due date approaches your bitch will naturally slow down and she may decide not to go quite so far. Keep an eye on her while out walking to ensure you don’t over-exercise. Nature has a wonderful way of regulating this in later stages of pregnancy.

Avoid your bitch jumping over or from high obstacles.

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The Whelping

It is usual for your bitch to go off her food a day or so before whelping, her temperature will drop slightly from the normal 38.5o C to 37.5o C. She will become decidedly uncomfortable and may feel the need to continually relieve herself.

As the birth of the puppies becomes imminent you will notice her start to shiver and have slight contractions of her abdomen. It is possible that her waters will break which is quite normal.

During the whelping it is important that you keep as quiet and relaxed as possible. Anxiety can easily be transmitted from you to your bitch.

Once contractions become very frequent she may start bearing down (pushing). You need to monitor this period of time. If this stage of whelping continues with nothing happening it could result in complications. After approx 45 minutes from her starting to push a quick run around the garden can sometimes shake things up and get things going.

There is no set pattern as to the length of time it takes a bitch to whelp. Veterinary Surgeons normally recommend that if 2 hours of bearing down produces no results and your bitch is becoming exhausted then advice should be sought immediately. He may suggest that you take your bitch to the surgery because if there are complications then they have everything to hand. He may be happy for you to continue as you are for a while longer. Alternatively, he may feel the need to intervene. The importance of trust between you and your veterinary team is important in making this experience as stress free as possible for you and your bitch.

It is worth noting that many bitches prefer to whelp in the middle of the night and you must allow for her to relieve herself before, during and after.

Observation is the order of the day with quiet noises of encouragement. When the puppies emerge always ensure that there are no obstructions to the mouth and nose by removing all mucus. Usually the bitch will sever the umbilical cord by chewing it, however, if this does not occur never cut the cord with scissors, but rather use thumb nail and finger by rubbing firmly across the cord encouraging it to tear. The cord should be no shorter than 4cms (1.5”) from the naval. Most puppies are usually born head and front feet first but will quite happily come out backwards.

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