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Whelping Puppies

Whelping puppies is not always easy. Sometimes it takes an experienced helping hand.

Some breeds whelp easy, and some do not. Even some lines of the same breed, will free whelp easy, and other lines, and pedigrees, seem to have repetitive problems.

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What to expect

Your Female will show some of these signs or all of them. If your experience is not normal from things you have read, you should call your vet. Delaying HELP from a Vet could endanger your Dam and pups. This is a time to remember to be Safe rather than sorry

First stage of Labor:

(This stage often goes un-noticed, and takes place in the 24 hours following temperature drop)

Temperature FINALLY drops to 98°F from its normal 99,100,101°F (you should have been taking it regularly for a few days)

If you are really committed, the temperature taking does work.  You will find her temperature around 99 to 101, and as soon as it starts to drop, below 99, and continues to drop. (now you take it every hour or two) ;you have about 12-24 hours from the start of the drop. When it bottoms out, to 98  or 97.9, then you have about 2-12 hours.

You may find your dam much more restless, and not able to get comfortable. She will stretch out on her side.

You may find her eyes different, they can dilate, and she can stare at you.

She may not want you out of her site. She may go to her whelp box.

She may vomit. She may try to have a bowel movement from the pressure. She may urinate frequent.

She will refuse to eat, and seek a quite spot, like a closet or under a bed.

She may have some mucus discharge, and her Vulva area will become puffier.

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The normal body temperature for animals is generally higher than for humans. The normal rectal temperature of a dog is 99.5° to 102.5°F. The normal temperature of a puppy at birth is 96-97°F. The temperature gradually increases with age until it is 100°F at 4 weeks of age.

Second Stage of Labor:

Your female may go to her whelp box, or couch, or wherever she has chosen to have her pups, & start digging.

She may start shivering and Panting, examining her rear, and licking her vulva.

She may have mild contractions, vomiting, pooping and urinating more.

Warning Signs: Twitching, green discharge. (Green discharge is only Normal AFTER a pup is born)

At the first sign of a contraction, give her some calcium. Offer her vanilla Ice cream, or chew a tum and spit in her mouth, or use Calsorb.

Third stage of Labor:

Water sacs present, and break

Shivering and Panting may continue and get stronger. AS well as digging.

Contractions will become stronger and closer together.

Vomiting, grunting and pushing.

Warning Signs: pushing on a pup for over an hour causing exhaustion (more warning signs listed below)
Normal and preferred time, to push on one puppy that is in the birth canal, is 2 to 10 minutes.

A puppy 1/2 out and stuck and breech, must be pulled out, or it will drown. If pushing doesn't get this puppy out within a few minutes.
 

One must be prepared for some interesting scenarios.

It is a great tool to do x-rays on day 55/56, to determine size and number of puppies. x-rays can be done sooner, but later gives you more information on puppy size, and knowing that the last puppy is out is comforting. X-rays may show  a large puppy, and then one can anticipate a difficult delivery, and have the Vet on call. (He should be on call either way, as you never know what problems may arise.) Like these large pups can get stuck in the birth canal. To help the pup along, grip the pup carefully with a clean dry towel, rotate it slightly from side to side and then as the Dam has a contraction, pull steadily downwards and across the Dams belly, towards her head.

I have had a large puppy get stuck in the birth canal, {Pelvic Canal Obstruction} and put the entire litter and Dam at risk. In this case, my Vet called it "A Puppy Stuck in the Door". The Puppy had to come out the birth Canal. His head was out and he was breathing (as Dam broke the sac). I had to hold his head to make sure he did not go back in. He was stuck tight, and contractions stopped. My Vets advise was to get out the dish soap. It worked. All soaped up, I pulled and out he came. Without the dish soap trick, I couldn't pull him out without hurting him-he was just too big for the Dam. The dam was so exhausted, she couldn't deliver the rest of her pups, and contractions stopped... So the rest was a C-section. Saving all puppies, but with another whelping this same situation could take place, but with the puppy breach. A breach puppy that gets stuck in the door, is often born still born, by drowning, or a pinched cord, or ??? If your puppy is still born, try to revive him or her... Often they will come back, but often they will not. Keep trying to revive for up to ˝ an hour, it is not uncommon for a puppy to take 20 minutes, to come around.

Stuck puppies are VERY common. They come out better with lubrication, the BEST way to get them out, is to have a feeding tube, and a syringe. Insert the syringe past the puppy, and push in k-y lubricating jelly.

The pup must come out.

It is also helpful to know, YOU CANNOT KILL a dead puppy, so you have nothing to loose, and everything to gain, by being aggressive and TRYING to save a stuck puppy, as if you leave it stuck , breach, then it will surely die.

Pre-Eclampsia/Eclampsia (which normally can happen 10 days after whelping, can also happen with a large litter, and more in toy breeds in the last few days of pregnancy. Hypocalcimic shaking & pre-labor shaking can seem the same at first), but if Dam is hypocalcimic, and gets eclampsia, the shaking quickly turns to Convulsions, muscle weakness, muscle tremors, spasms, rigidy and twitching needing immediate Vet assistance before seizures, coma and death. It is wise to give your Dam calcium when pups are 5 days old, (for the next few weeks. The easiest way is one Tum a day. Tums are a great calcium supplement. Eclampsia (sometimes referred to as Milk Fever) is a very serious condition, and can come on suddenly. It is caused from a shortage of Calcium in the Bloodstream.

Uterine Inertia can happen also with a large litter or large pups. She will fail with weak attempts to deliver the pups. She may not even show contractions as her uterus is too stretched. The biggest cause of this, is from too much calcium, in the diet, while pregnant. it is they way to mess up a breeding. NOW, I limit calcium at pregnancy stage, and give it at labor stage, and my deliveries are noticeably better, and less c-sections.

Rupture of the Uterus, torsion or hemorrhage, can happen. The Dam will pass heavy , ongoing flow of blood, from Vulva, this is a medical Vet emergency.

Green Discharge- before puppy birth, means early separation of placentas. Call the Vet. Sometimes this is okay, if the puppy is to come soon, sometimes not. Normally we do not like to see green discharge until After a puppy is born.

If two pups try and come out at the same time, it is physically impossible. This may be a cause for concern. This presentation is best discussed with your Vet. It could be a medical emergency, or things could just fix themselves if you are comfortable waiting. Call your Vet for his advice, as every situation is different. This situation needs an experienced hand. Delivery could progress uneventful, or delivery could get held up and stop.

If you are comfortable to do an internal exam, this is the time. With a gloved finger, you must push the puppies, back up, every so gently. Often, if you push one puppy back, the other puppy will slide into the birth canal. 

Abnormal presentation of 2 sacs

Normal presentation of 1 sac

Sometimes you have to stimulate the contractions, if she pushes so long that she isn't contracting any longer. Doing that is called feathering. It is done with a finger in the birth canal, and you stroke inside with your finger. You can have an extremely easy delivery, right out of the book, but you may also have situations which require experience.

Your Dam could be progressing normally. Deliver 2 pups, and then shut down. So after 3 hours and no pups, and no contractions, you need to outguess as to whether every is Okay, and she is having a rest (which can be normal) or if there is a problem. ((Time to Call the Vet)) On a recent litter, after 3 hours of nothing, we went to the Vets, we got a shot of Oxytocin, and that made a small contraction. We did another shot of Oxytocin under Vet care, and still only a small contraction. The contractions were not pushing the puppies down to the birth canal. We both decided it was time for a C-section, knowing that we could be interfering with nature, and she could start up again. Once the C-section was complete, the vet informed me that the C-section Was necessary, and that her contractions had pushed 2 pups out, and 2 forward. The 2 that had moved forward, were so far up, that she would not have gotten them out. Decisions like this are sometimes hard to make, but it sure feels good in the end, when you called for professional Veterinary help. Remember, if something doesn't seem right, CALL your VET.  I personally do not like Oxytocin, Calcium works much better. I may agree to one shot, or two of Oxytocin, but generally it will cause placentas to detach, and the loss of a puppy.

Premature delivery: Pups born before day 58, have a low survival rate, as the lungs are not developed.

This is a puppy still in the sack, it had just come out when the picture was taken. This particular whelping was a VERY difficult delivery, however all the pups are doing well. The first pup was stuck in a breech position. The dam pushed for 2 hours. All I had was feet. I called the vet, nearly went in at 1am, but I used joe lube, and syringed the lube inside her, and pulled. Pup number three, I am gonna call JOE, as he was stuck the worse, but his head was out. They were 7oz puppies, which are hard for a 7lb dam to get out. Last one born was a breeze. The dam is happy, all is well, I will try and sleep.

C-sections are always the last resort, and are sometimes unavoidable, like if two pups try to come out at once, or the puppies are too large to pass through, or if Dam is just too exhausted to carry on after failing to pass puppies. There are a wide variety of problems you may be confronted with. Keep your Vet posted of progress. Do NOT hesitate to call the Vet if you have questions. You are dealing with life and death and it is better to take all precautions. Do not feel guilty calling on your Vet several times if you are unsure what to do. He is the professional. On Day 58 you should also start taking Dams temp 3 times per day. A Dams temp will drop from the normal 101.4 to 98+degrees when the first stage of labor begins. hard labor usually begins within 24 hours of this temp drop.

As soon as you know your Dam is in pre-labor, it is wise to contact your Vet to make sure he is on call. There are so many scenarios. In case of anything out of the ordinary, consult your Vet. This section is here to let you know, that you can have 6 different litters, and be given 6 different scenarios. Some books say do not let your pup have heavy contractions for more than ˝ hour without producing a pup, some say 3 hours. Some say 4. Each Whelping is different. You cannot put time limits on, as every situation is different. You must study, and know the warning signs of problems and there are many. If something doesn't seem right, contact your Vet.  ""Sooner is Better than Later""

Even after the whelping is finished, problems can come. A new Mom, may have doubts about these puppy things, especially if she had a hard whelping The faster you get all the pups nursing the better. They will get the needed colostrums, and the Dam will produce hormones that will actually turn her into a better loving mom. Keep her fluids up, and give her a bowl of warm broth. Some puppies do not take to nursing, BE PREPARED to be up around the clock. Feeding a slow starting puppy that just will not nurse. Have Canine Puppy milk replacer on hand. Hand feeding one puppy happens, but the worst one must prepare for is feeding an orphaned litter.
Are you Prepared to do this as a breeder ?????????? There are so many questions to ask yourself before you breed your Dam, as very frequently things go wrong, and being prepared and educated can save your Dam and puppies lives.

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Here are photos of two pups being born, one Breech and the other Normal

Day 60 temp dropped to 98* @ 2pm......... So I new in about 24 hours contractions would start.
up all night.>>>
At 2:30am she started crying, grunting, panting, and frantically nesting.
3pm she vomited and contractions became quite noticeable.

6pm she started pushing puppy # 1 (the largest puppy). There was presentation of the puppy's water sac.
 

1 hour is usually the limit for pushing on a single puppy. She pushed>> it came out a little, and then kept going back in. It was a big 7.5 ounce plug.

It didn't help when Dam broke the sac and out came only 1 foot the next push,,, (one foot is not good) So I pushed the one foot back in, and feather'd the birth canal to stimulate a contraction... because she was not contracting anymore, I was able to get both feet in the birth canal, and kept stimulating contractions with my finger.. and on the next contraction, I managed to grab both feet, and pulled towards the Dams head, along her stomach,,, And out he came,,,,, with a fair bit of discomfort to poor Mama. Being out of the water sac, and given the situation, I was expecting to have to revive this puppy, But Happily he came out strong and thriving.......

After the Dam has strained for some time only one foot appears, like the above picture, suggesting that the pup is in an abnormal position, an inexperienced person should NOT attempt to remove the pup. Call your Vet. Any delay could risk the life of the puppy and the Dam. In an emergency, and when there is no time to get to the Vet, the only helpful action is to attempt to push the pup back beyond the neck of the womb, in the hope that the puppy may get into a better position, or to grasp both feet.

It is very important to know how to revive puppies and get them breathing. Not all puppies come out, cry and start breathing. This also takes experience. Puppies need to be rubbed vigorously till they cry and start moving. Some are born and cry easily, but very often they need extra help, and it sure feels good when you know what to do. You will need to get your Vet to show you how to get the fluid out of the pups nose and throat. A centrifugal force drop done by swinging the puppy down between your legs (holding head VERY secure) is a very useful tool to learn... You do not shake the puppy, nor flick it. The movement is not jerky, but a smooth down swing with a slow stop. Constant exchanging of warm blankets is also needed. If puppies get chilled in the first days of life, there is a good chance they will not survive. The box needs to be 85 degrees. Puppies are very susceptible to heat/cold. Have your heat pad on, and hot water bottles filled.

 

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Normal Whelping

Presentation of puppy #2 (1/2 hour later) normal presentation, head first.

Presentation of puppy #2 - normal birth

Puppy #2 is born

Video clip of removing the sac from around the puppy - The Pup is out, the sack is broken and removed from the face IMMEDIATELY, so the puppy's first breath is air. Normally I pick up the pup, and rough him up, before the cord care, but here, I stalled a little, getting the cloth, as I was trying to get it on film.”

And then I used one hand to rough him up, and other on the camera.

Basically as soon as the pup is out, REMOVE the sac from the head. With my breed (Havanese), I do ALL cord care, as the dams are too aggressive, and cut them too short.

If the pup is out, and the placenta is still inside, you need two hemostats.

Clamp the two hemostats on, and cut between them with scissors. THEN, one pair will stay hanging out of the Dam, and the other pair will be on the puppy.

These 3 photo's show cord clamping, BUT the placenta is out. REMEMBER, the placenta does not always come with the puppy, it may come 2 to 50 minutes later.

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An owner went to the vet, as her large breed dam wouldn't tend to the puppies. The Vet GAVE the dam a tranquilizer, the dam went home and killed 2 puppies. In my opinion, you NEVER give a dam a tranquilizer, she should have been given 3 tums for calcium, and that is all.

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Courtesy of MistyTrails Havanese

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