ETA PUP-DATE!
Firstborn, male. 1.39 lbs 3:20 AM Pup 2, male 1.1 lbs, 3:55 AM Pup 3 female, 1,25 lbs, 4;20 AM Pup 4 female 1.1 lbs 5:20 AM Pup 5 female 1.1 lbs 5:50 AM Forgot to mention “surprise” Pup #6 1.1 lbs Female; born sometime between 8:30 AM-10:00 AM. LOL Had thought for sure 5 was it, took care of our girl, changed to fresh bedding, etc. Laid down for a nap and when I woke up, Pup 6 had arrived and been all taken care of by her mom. 🤗
Disregard below:
My dog’s due date is tomorrow. . She is showing all the signs of first stages of labor: temp dropped to 98, doesn’t want to eat, slight panting, vomited small amount this morning, dilated I’d say about a 3 or 4 out of ten, is getting in and out of the whelping box, carrying around as many of her stuffed animals as she can fit in her mouth, etc. This is her third litter. And she is huge. Vet said 5 or 6 pups in the oven but that they are extraordinarily BIG. I have 100% organic castor oil which I use for many purposes. Just occurred to me that castor oil is an old school method of getting labor started. I’m thinking of giving her a teaspoon or two. Yes I know it will make her poop. But that’s kind of the point. Any anons have experience in this sort of thing? I just want to help her along a bit, in a gentle way. Thoughts?
Nature knows best. Dont interfere with an animal's labor or birth or cleaning babies etc. Let mom handle all of it.
100 percent. You’re right. But I do think I’ll be spending the night in the whelping box. Or she on my bed.
Give her a hide-away like an open closet.
Oh, believe me, she and her pups have the coziest set up ever. Her custom-made double decker two-part whelping box is all set up, complete with rubber matting, whelping blankets, and drop-down gate for her to get in and out of as she pleases. The box is in a temp controlled 12 x 12 side room with tiled floor, partitioned with custom fencing and a gate. Off of that room is an enclosed porch, which will be partitioned off before the pups eyes are open, insulated with insulation board, rubber matting and wood chips for the pups to use as a poop porch. (Cleaned at least a dozen times a day with clean chips applied as needed.) The portioned area will have a drop-down gate which we will lift up when we want to let the pups play in the fenced backyard, but never, ever unsupervised because we have coyotes in the area. Although the coyotes generally do avoid our property bc we have a lot of dogs, there was one time in Jan of 21 when her pups had just been born when a whole gang of coyotes were literally singing in the corner of our backyard, less than 50 feet from the house. 😱 Anyhow, yes, we have made everything as comfy and private and as safe as we can possibly make it.