Whelping p/t 2

The next thing you have to be watchful for is Mastitis, this is an infection of the milk gland, the infected area may become swollen red and hard, it is useless putting any of the pups on this teat as the milk is harmful to the pups, if you call your vet and he suggests putting the bitch on antibiotics you may find you have to raise the litter by bottle.

You can try and draw off some milk from the infected area and dispose of any milk from there, to try and ease it and release the pressure as your bitch will be finding this uncomfortable and she will be stressing out as she cannot feed her pups.

Always make sure the dam has sufficient drinking fluids as this will increase her milk flow for the pups. Puppies should gain weight straight away, so the dam has to be in tip top condition to give them the requirements they need to thrive. Good food good vitamins especially if this are a large litter.

The dam will look after the puppies totally, she will nurse them clean up after them, so be very aware of keeping puppies nails trimmed so not to cause the dam any discomfort.

It is only when the pups get onto solids that she becomes more against cleaning up after them.

For the first few days the pups do nothing but squeak, feed off the mother pee and pooh, then their eyes start to open, at three weeks old they are becoming more mobile, so it is important that they are in a safe area where no harm can come to them and no draughts to give them a chill.

They then start to play with their litter mates and investigating their surroundings, attempt the odd bark and yelp. This is a good time to add toys to their area for them to play with.

It is never too early to start toilet training and newspaper is quite useful, it is easily disposed off.   Putting newspaper down for the pups will get them used to where their toilet is and at a later stage the paper can be moved towards the door until it is outside.

Then their teeth start to arrive which can bring yet further discomfort to the dam whilst she is still feeding them, so not only has she got numbers of teeth biting her she has nails digging into her as well, as whilst the pups are feeding they manipulate the milk from the teat with a pumping motion with their feet.

From around three weeks we always try our puppies with goat’s milk to encourage them to lap.   Goats milk we have been told is the nearest thing to their mothers milk , whether this is true or not remains to be seen, however Cows milk is not good for puppies and we have always had satisfactory results with the goats milk.

From 2 weeks they should have had their first worm treatment, all puppies are born with worms, and it is not advisable to worm the mother at this time whether she is due or not, just concentrate on the pups for now, the dam can be wormed at the time the pups leave for new homes.

On the other hand it could all go belly up, the dam may struggle to give birth and the vet may have to do a section. ££££'s. There may only be one pup and it could be a white pup!

So if your thinking of breeding a litter to make money- forget it!

You have to fork out for a stud fee approx £250- 300. and sometimes more.
Then there is the extra care for the dam before the litter- which doesn't come on the national health.
Then when the litter is born lets say you have 4 coloured puppies and 3 whites, whites don't usually sell as the same price as coloured ones, but they still have to be wormed, still have to be fed and no matter how many times you tell them to not eat as much as the others they wait until your back is turned and eat more!

On a more serious note all of my puppies white or otherwise all get the same treatment, all get the same food and nothing is skimped with any of them.

It is not a money making scheme, it can be a heart breaking one, it can be a time consuming one.

So always have your vets telephone number to hand.
You can never have enough newspapers.
Old Towels etc.
A good sized whelping box for the dam.
Bottle of Vodka if you feel the need.
Water for the dam.

And- Don't forget these little new born puppies have only got their mother's immunity and are susceptible to infections very quickly, don't be tempted to show all neighbours and friends your newest family members until they are at least 3 weeks old, infections can be carried on the shoes, through someone having a cold, all manner of things. So just because they are there one day with their mother they could start to fade as quick as you like and you could end up with nothing.

Before you venture on the path of breeding do your homework first. Ask your vet, ask breeders for advice.