Ok, so here's the deal.

I adopted a dog from the shelter last month. They were not sure if she was spayed but scheduled her to be... her appt was for December 6th. This last week my husband and I have been noticing what we thought might be pregnancy symptoms. I asked around on here and finally got her into the vet today.

Sure enough she is pregnant, and is only about 3 weeks away from delivering!! :eek:

The vet said through X-ray, they could see at least 2 puppies... but there could be more.

I need ANY and ALL help/advice on what I need to do to get ready!!

MM, I am very surprised that the rescue organization didn't spay her prior to allowing you to adopt her. Most will do a health check within a couple of days of bringing them in and don't allow the dogs to be adopted out until they can do a full temperament test on them.

I saw your other post in which you weren't sure if she was pregnant or not. This probably should have been added onto that post instead of a stand alone thread. Labman gave you good advice. You need to get to your public library and find some books on breeding and whelping. Here is a link to AKC breeding steps. Scroll down to the area after mating and read through it.American Kennel Club - Responsible Breeding Steps

I don't have any other information regarding delivery and whelping. If you do an internet search, I am sure you will find a ton of advice. Try to weed through the garbage and find a vet's or responsible breeder's site. I would also suggest you get back with your vet and ask him/her for whatever information they can provide. I am a bit hesitant to suggest you get back with the shelter. I am concerned they may insist you give them the dog back or you give them the puppies. Frankly, after they allowed a pregnant female to slip through their hands, I wouldn't trust them to do the right thing.

As I said in another thread, get some books and read them. Also see Whelping Puppies, Woodhaven Style and Birthing Puppies - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company!

After the puppies are born, it is important to give the mother room to take the puppies aside and lick them until they eliminate. Allowing her to do so, and keeping the area clean, makes a big difference when it comes time to housebreak th puppies.

Ruby, yes I was too... I thought it was common practice to have any animal brought in spayed or neutered. And she is definitely old enough so that wasn't an issue. I thought maybe they were waiting for her to be adopted before scheduling her to be spayed that way if they had to put her down they wouldn't be "out" any money.

But I took her anyway, not even thinking she could be pregnant. And she didn't look it either. It was just this past week she packed on the pounds and got me to wondering. I was just thinking maybe the shelter could offer shots for the puppies or spaying and neutering of them. But maybe your right, and I should just leave them out of the equation.

I have been doing some intense research on the computer. And thank you for the site :)

Labman, thank you too for the links.

Ava is so far along, I need to get these things together as soon as possible. I read that I should be starting Ava on a high quality puppy chow these last few weeks, does that sound right?
Also, is it better that I keep the area on the first floor of my house or would it be okay to have it upstairs in my spare bedroom?

Ugh, my head is hurting!

I know this is a shock but please don't panic. This is a situation that just is what it is and you need to put on your common sense hat. You know your vet is just a phone call away and I would use him to the max if I was in your shoes. I would suggest that you put her in a place that would allow you total control over the situation and keep unwanted "guests" (small children & your other dog) from easily entering her space. She may be sweet now, but when the pups are born, she may not react well to too much activity around her pups.

I am not an expert in proper breeding and whelping, so I won't be much help to you. But, follow the information on the links we have provided. If it says to start feeding her puppy chow, then do so. Sit down and write out "a game plan" from now until after the puppies are weaned. Keep a running list of "to dos" that you will need to do on a daily basis, and keep another list handy for emergency help & instructions if Ava runs into a problem while giving birth. Start collecting a list of questions over the next couple of weeks and call or meet with your vet and get the answers. If it helps, try to put your head into a frame of mind in which you just have a job to do, and do it. Panicking is not an option here. Calm, rational, and logical thinking is what is needed. I know you can get through this. :)

:D Thanks, I just needed some "talking down" I mean to go from Saturday/Sunday night, joking with my husband that Ava could be pregnant, to actually hearing that she really is pregnant, then on top of that she is having these puppies in a matter of weeks!. whew, it was just all very overwhelming!

Ok, going to go snuggle with Mama Ava ;) and take a break haha

Yes, a puppy chow, common brands such as Pro Plan or Iams will be fine. Since she is new to your household and may not be closely bonded yet, upstairs away from everybody may be better. You may bring the down stairs before long. From day one, they need to interact with people. They won't show much interest, but do it.

OK, I'm really really pissed off because I just typed a REALLY long response & the site closed on me =( So here I go again...

I am not an expert. Everything I'm typing is based on my own experience...

I had my first experience w/ puppies in June 2007... I was told that she would have puppies about 60-65 days after they bred.. The vet said that once her temperature drops below 99 degrees, that means that the puppies will be coming really really soon, 12-24 hours! We took her temperature a lot & it fluctuated a lot the week before (it's normal).

So, June 7th. Her temp is low & then her water breaks sometime in the late evening. We know the puppies are coming so we put Sasha in our bathroom (inside our room), keep the door open (to hear her), but block the door w/ her cage so she can't get out. We decided that the puppies would stay in our step-down shower (doesn't have a door). We got a bunch of old sheets, towels & blankets ready! It is really really really messy!! We lined the bathtub w/ an old blanket & went to bed.
June 8th 1:30am, my boyfriend & I are sleeping & I am awaken by a really faint crying sound. First off, I was told that the mother will make all sorts of noises before/during birth! Haha! Didn't happen! The sound I heard was the first puppy!! I raced into the bathroom & see a puppy still in the sac hanging by the umbilical cord. Sasha was scared & I think she thought she did something wrong. Being the first litter I've ever experienced, I had no idea what to do, so I screamed for my boyfriend to wake up! He came & we broke the sac w/ our hands & cut the umbilical cord w/ scissors. I know that it's a mother's instinct to know what to do, but since we were in there, Sasha wasn't doing it... So that was puppy #1. We let Sasha eat the sac (VERY important because it provides nutrients), clean the puppy & we put the puppy on her nipple to feed. I saw that Sasha had secreted a greenish colored discharge in the bathroom sometime before the first puppy was born (it wasn't there before we went to bed). I know that's a tell-tale sign that the pups are coming within an hour or so...
Sasha stayed in the shower & pushed me up against the wall! She didn't want me to leave! I stayed in the same position for hours! About every 45 minutes or so after that, another puppy would come out. You know that one is coming really really soon because she'll start panting rapidly! It's VERY VERY important that the sac gets broken so the puppy doesn't suffocate!!! If the mom doesn't break it, you MUST!! Sasha didn't break the first 3 or so (again, probably because I was helping her). Once I broke the sac, I let her eat it & eat the umbilical cord & clean the puppy. I would recommend having a piece of paper & pen handy to keep records of times born, puppies sex, color, etc. We didn't, but we had plenty of pics, so we knew which puppy came out in which order. I stayed in w/ her for hours! After a few puppies, she did everything on her own! When I went to bed, there were 8 puppies! Woke up & there were 11 (5 girls, 6 boys)! And they ALL survived!! In the morning, I checked the puppies again to make sure none of them had any deformities or anything wrong with them. They were all in great shape! I took the blanket out of the shower & threw it away (it was filled w/ blood). When you are changing the puppies "whelping box", make sure not to put them on a cold surface because they cannot control their own body heat yet! What I did was put a towel outside the shower & put all of the puppies on that while I cleaned out the shower. I used cleaning supplies & made 100% sure to wash it thoroughly so the pups wouldn't die from the cleaning stuff. Then I dried the shower & lined it w/ fresh linens (either blankets, towels or sheets).


Some websites say to line the whelping box w/ newspaper, but Sasha would not lay on it! She's a prissy princess & wanted soft blankets, towels & sheets. I don't know what kind of dog you have. I think the whelping box would be good for small breeds, but definitely wasn't a good idea for her litter! She's a 65lb pitbull (before the puppies) & had 11 puppies!! The shower was perfect! It gave them enough room to move around, but wasn't too big. Just be careful if you do sheets & stuff because a puppy can get under & suffocate. Make sure to ALWAYS count the puppies!!! I almost stepped on a puppy because it was under the sheet sleeping, but I counted & saw one was missing & looked before I stepped.

Several times throughout the day, you are going to need to clean out the "box". I picked up the poopie w/ a tissue & flushed it down the toilet. For the first few weeks, their poopies were very very little! Also, I tried to clean up the pee as often as I could by using a wet rag (so I didn't have to change the linens every single time after they peed). If any of the puppies had poopie on them, I washed them w/ just warm water in the sink. But make sure to dry them or they will die because they can't control their body temperature (you will see that the puppies will huddle together to keep warm). If they are shivering, turn up your ac b/ it's too cold for them!

FYI, ALL puppies are born DEAF & BLIND!!! It's up to you to make sure all of the puppies eat. We had 11 pups, but only 10 nipples! So I would take the puppies one at a time & put them on the bottom nipples (have the mom lay on her side so the puppies can get to all of the nipples). Then I would put another 5 on top of the lower 5 (on the top nipples). You need to put them on the nipples. A lot of times they will just be sucking on her skin & not getting any milk. Just hold the puppy & play w/ the mom's nipple on the puppies lips. The puppy will suck. If not, try to open its mouth & place the nipple inside. I know the pups are born w/ the sucking instinct, it's just finding the nipple! One thing that I found really annoying (esp because there were 11 of them) is that after I put 10 of them on a nipple, a lot of them would try to move to a different one or just be sucking on her skin! So I would keep having to move them back to a nipple! And then some of them would try to suck on the same nipple!! If you do have 11 puppies like I did, just take turns & make sure you keep track of which ones have eaten & which still need to eat. You will know if they are full when you pick them up because it will look like they swallowed a baseball!

I don't know about the specific weeks to start weening them off the mother. I also had to make my own formula (in addition to the mother's milk) because Sasha wasn't producing enough milk for all 11! If you decide to give them formula, I would definitely recommend making it because it's A LOT cheaper & it's really easy to do! I just mixed everything up, heated it up & put it in a bottle... If you want the formula, let me know!
When we weened them off, it was a little different for us. We put the formula in a pyrex bowl & let a bunch of them eat/drink out of it (instead of individually bottle feeding them), but this was after their eyes opened & they were walking around. I added dry puppy food to the formula (I let it soak in the fridgerator for a day so it softened up & the puppies wouldn't choke)... I'm getting way ahead of myself here! Lol!!


Some things I had handy when she was giving birth:
camera, sheets, towels (to clean the mess), scissors (to cut the umbicial cord if she doesn't), the tan colored gritty stuff that comes w/ the dogs' nail cutters that stops bleeding (incase the umbicial cord won't stop bleeding because the puppy will die if you don't get it to stop).. Some websites say to put iodine on the umbilical cords, I didn't.

* * Just be forewarned that this is very messy & smelly! It was the most disgusting raunchiest smell I've ever smelt in my life!! 1000x worse than a smelly gym bag! So I kept some plug in air freshners around!

Also, if you have another dog, KEEP IT AWAY! Sasha was very very protective of the puppies. She tried to bite the male if he went near them!

Found these sites to be informative:
Whelping Puppies, Woodhaven Style
Whelping Puppies, Breeding Dogs

Well, I hope that all of this typing is helpful! If you have any other questions, feel free to email me at [email protected]
GOOD LUCK!!!

Oh yeah! The vet recommended to give Sasha a tums daily for the calcium! She loved them & ate them no problem!

flcutiepye...

Thank you so much!! You have been sooooo helpful :):)

Ava is a 50lb pit (well much bigger now!) haha

I felt the pups move for the first time a few night ago :) so I think that means she is close!

I have built her a whelping box and am going today to get blankets/sheets/towels and such.

It's nerve racking because I have NO CLUE when she got pregnant, thus when she is going to have the pups. I have read a lot, so hopefully I will see the signs!

And hopefully her litter is small, unlike yours!! WOW 11 pups... I couldn't imagine!

Thanks again, your advice was very helpful :)

You're VERY welcome! The vet said she would have 5-7 pups, especially because the male was under a year old! But Sasha's hormones are very very good!
About the whelping box, I would make sure it's BIG! The puppies will get big quick (attached pics below)!

Oh yeah! VERY IMPORTANT! DO NOT ALLOW new people that she doesn't know in there! She will be VERY protective of the puppies! She didn't like my little cousin Josh being in there because she's only seen him like 2x before that. Also, she did not like big men being anywhere near them (except for my boyfriend, of course, & our roomate). She will let you know if she doesn't want someone near her puppies! DO NOT let anyone "sneak up" on her & the puppies!
We had a bad incident happen w/ the neighbor! Sasha & the puppies were out back w/ me & she was nursing. Well, my boyfriend was in the front of the house & told the neighbor that he could go see the puppies. The kid came running up from the corner of the house where she couldn't see him (especially because her back was turned) & she went after him! She thought he was trying to hurt her puppies! I told my boyfriend to NEVER ever let anyone run up on her when she has her puppies, esp when her back is turned to them! Thank God the kid was OK & I explained to him that she was trying to protect her babies because they can't protect themselves. I compared it to his mom protecting him from a bad guy. It's also good that the neighbors think she's a boxer! Just wanted to tell you that story so nothing like that happens to you!


Sasha is very very very much a cuddle bug & loves to be affectionate!

A bunch of pics from that night & the next day:

You can see the garbage can in this pic FILLED w/ bloody mess! I didn't know that she was supossed to eat all of the sacs & threw the first 2 away!





It's SOOO cute when their mouth is open & their tongue is hanging out!


If you want someone to be able to go near the puppies & aren't sure how your female will react, you can take your dog outside for a walk & let them go in there while you have her outside. But make sure they are out of there before she gets back or the mom will not like it!

Some more pics, just so you can see how quick they grow! These pics are all when they are 1-3wks old.



Daddy LOVES the puppies:


This was my favorite! He was the first to walk!




Cutest "milk" moustache ever! Daddy was VERY helpful! He would lick the puppies clean after they ate the formula!
'

Mommy did not like daddy near the puppies & he knew that! He was very cautious around her!

Another thing, we really didn't remember when they conceived. We forgot to write it down... We just monitored her temp for like a week & 1/2. And we just looked for the signs. The tell-tale sign will be the water breaking & the other stuff will be on the floor (not sure what it was)..

In a well structured pack, the mother will allow other dogs around the puppies and even help grooming them.

Oh my gosh!! Those pictures are SOOOO cute, you have some beautiful dogs :):):)

I have been reading that when you start feeling and seeing the puppies move in the mom's stomach birth is about 7-10 days away.

Well the pups have been kicking like crazy... it's getting closer!!

I am just worried about keeping them warm... what worked well for you?

They huddled together to keep each other warm! I also closed the air vents in the bathroom some so too much cold air couldn't get in there! They also like to snuggle up to their mom to stay warm. The blanket really doesn't help their body temperature, except if it's over a tile floor (like our bathroom floor is).

Sasha did not like Tyson in the bathroom where the "whelping box" was. She was perfectly OK w/ him cleaning the puppies up after they ate when they were in the living room! Labman said about a "well structured pack", but that is the first & only time she ever acted like that to him or vice versa. Actually, another dog tried attacking Sasha & Tyson stood up for her! And they are together all the time, cuddling on the couch or playing! I was just letting you know about my experience in case the same thing happens to you!
GOOD LUCK! LET ME KNOW if you have any other questions!

Oh yeah definitely... I have Lennox, who is still a puppy himself (about 8, almost 9 month old) and I know he is going to go ape when Ava has her puppies.

Her whelping box is in the same room her and Lennox sleep in but I am trying to phase Lennox out of sleeping there with her to prepare for the puppies.

I know I am going to be in for a challenge because Lennox is going to want to "play" with the puppies :( so I babygated the room so he won't be able to get near them.

I will keep you updated :)

I wouldn't worry too much about the other dog wanting to play w/ the puppies. My 85lb Tyson was GREAT with all the itty bitty puppies! He would rollover on his back & let the puppies jump & bite all over him! IT WAS SOOOO CUTE!! Sasha didn't like Tyson to be in the bathroom where the "whelping box" was, but she was perfectly ok w/ him playing w/ the puppies anywhere else!! We would let all 13 dogs outside to play! And Tyson was also a good helper because he would clean the puppies after they ate formula!

Sasha wasn't producing enough milk for all the pups & only has 10 nipples, so we had to get formula! I wasn't going to spend a ridiculous amount of money to buy the formula, so I found a site to make it for cheap & it's really simple to do!
Also, when they get big enough (& have teeth), we would make a pitcher of the formula & add dry puppy food to it & let it soak in the fridge for a day so the hard food would soften up...

All 11 puppies lived & are VERY healthy!! I bought everything from Walmart because they are A LOT cheaper than any other place (including publix)...
* * * * Here's the formula: (11 Calories per CC)

- - 10 oz. of canned evaporated milk or goat's milk (not pasteurized cow's milk - this will cause scowers - dogs cannot drink normal cow's milk) Goats milk is by far the best to use. Wall Mart sells it. (I bought a red colored can of evaporated milk for around $.50 a can)

- - 1 raw egg yolk (I did add some of the white part in as well, just for the nutrition content--- the yellow is used for the fat value)

- - 1 cup of whole yogurt (avoid skim or fat free if at all possible)-- NO FLAVORS! PLAIN YOGURT regular!

- - 1/2 Tsp Karo Syrup or Corn Syrup (NOT HONEY!! )

So what I did was got a pitcher & filled it up w/ the whole container of yogurt (4 "servings" in a tub), mixed w/ 4 cans of evaporated milk, 4 raw egg yolks & 2 tsp karo syrup... You just mix all of the ingredients well & then put everything in a pitcher. The formula will not spoil for a week in the fridge. We would pour some formula into baby bottles & warm it up in the microwave for the first few weeks! Then, when they were big enough, we put the formula into a pyrex glass bowl, heated it up in the microwave, then placed it on top of towels on the tile floor! At first, a lot of the puppies would walk into the formula bowl, but you just have to watch them!
It's A LOT CHEAPER than buying the petstore's formula & it's good for them!