Care of the Mother |
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Canine Reproduction The Series DVD Explains how to prepare and assist a bitch whelping a litter. Shows you step by step what you need to do during the birth. |
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| Canine Reproduction The Series DVD Video Buy 29.00 Jensen Whelping Guide - Digital E Book! Buy 10.00 Debbie Jensen Las Vegas, Nevada 702.989.5398 Pacific Time Email Debbie Jensen |
Letter to You Why I became an Imperial Shih Tzu breeder Whelping Photos See pups as they are born Heat Cycles First days of heat Pre Natal Care of pups Care of the Bitch before and during Pregnancy Mating your dog Best days to bred your bitch The Stud His ability to produce sperm and mate and artificial insemination Is she Pregnant Signs she is pregnant Java Due date Inside her body fertilization to birth Due Date Chart Puppies are usually born 61 days after conception Temp Chart Taking a dogs temperature and recording her temp to predict her whelp day Print Temp Chart Taking her temp to determine whelping time Whelping Supplies Hemostats, bulb syringes, towels tons of them Labor Stages Digging, Shivering and Panting See a Live Birth See my Shih Tzu deliver a pup Hard Labor Begins Whelping the puppies Aspirating Throat & Nose Removing Fluids from the nasal passages Umbilical Cord How to cut the umbilical cord Difficult Whelp (Dystocia) What to do if shes in distress What Can go Wrong - Movie Distressed Pup and Mom Care of Bitch Discharge, Retained Placentas, Eclampsia Puppy Care Fading Pup, Bottle Feeding, Tube feeding, Vaccinations Weaning the pups Giving the pups food Disease of Dogs Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvovirus Worms and Fleas Roundworm, tapeworm, Coccidia, Fleas & Giardia Selling Your Puppys Placing your Puppies Terms of Breeding Common breeder terms we all should know More Whelping Photos Imperial Shih Tzu by Jensen Imperial Shih Tzu breeder since 1976 Now Chinese Imperial Dog |
Temperature Puppies are born time for you to relax. Thought you were done taking her temperature? Not even maybe.. Now you need to monitor the mother temperature. Why? The temperature of her body is tool to warn us if she has a infection. Your bitch's temperature dropped right before she went into labor. Now it should rise to 101 to 103. Slightly elevated temperature is normal just after having puppies. What is not normal is a temperature reading above 103. This indicates an infection somewhere in her body. Many of the infections can be deadly to your dog... Discharge Monitor her discharge. Bleeding a few days after whelping is normal. If it is a brownish red this is ok. If it is pus streaked or foul smelling it can indicate a vaginal infection like Meteritis to Pyometra. Retained Placenta In the past I worried about a retained placenta much more then I do now. Sometimes it needs to be monitored When you take your dog in for her physical after she has whelped her litter. Make sure you have important information the Vet may need, such as a chance of a retained placenta and the temperature of the dam. Your Vet may give her a injection of Oxytocin to help her expel the placenta. Oxytocin also helps stimulate milk production. ( I use a teaspoon of dark beer to stimulate milk production ) Eclampsia ( Milk Fever ) Eclampsia can occur before delivery or up to 6 weeks after delivery. Often it appears in the first 3 weeks after delivery. It is caused from a deficiency in her body own natural calcium supply or from receiving to high a dose of supplemented calcium. Symptoms, are glassy eyes, restlessness, nervousness, whining, muscle twitching, rapid heat beat, shivering and teeth chattering. If nursing is what is causing her calcium supply to become depleted, puppies must be removed and hand feed. If you are giving her a supplement of calcium at to high of a dose, you may have caused eclampsia. Severe cases are treated with serum calcium injections by your Vet. Careful medical supervision of the treatment is important as an overdose or to rapid administration can cause her heart to stop. This condition often recurs with each litter. Bitches who have had eclampsia in the past may be given calcium injections prior to and after whelping. My dog Hoghead had eclampsia. I was laying on the floor late one night, I was watching TV and eating potato chips with my dogs. A little later, I heard a loud, roaring noise, I couldn't tell what the noise was but I thought it must be a plane getting ready to dive bomb my house. Then I figured it was the furnace getting ready to blow. I ran to the furnace ( not thinking just what I planned to do if it was my furnace getting ready to blow ) I stopped and found Hoghead laying on her side stiff, with her teeth chattering so loud it scared the _____ out of me. First I thought she was having a convulsion from a potato chip lodged in her throat, then it hit me....Eclampsia. I picked her up and flew to the Vet. Thank god he saved her in time. He gave her calcium intravenously and when I brought her home, she wasn't allowed to nurse her pups anymore. Hoghead had 5 litters since, but with calcium added to her diet ( at just under the recommended dose ). I usually took her pups away at birth or a after a few days. Some I gave to other mothers, and help them with the additional load by periodically hand feeding. Hoggy never had Eclampsia again. Hoghead is retired now and spoiled rotten with love. Mastitis Mastitis can occurs when a mother has a small litter or inverted nipples. Milk is not drained out of the breast and they become engorged. Breast will appear lumpy and hard or may be inflamed and red. The dam may have a high fever, refused to eat and depressed. The infected breast may be filled with bloody pus. Do not allow pups to nurse on these infected breasts cover them or wean the pups. Antibiotics should be given to the Dam and the puppies. To prevent mastitis make sure the pups nurse on all teats or milk them yourself. Engorged Nipple Photo is provided by Matthew Gomen age 14 who someday hopes to be a Vet. Good luck to you Matthew Gomen . We need special people like you to help our cherished dogs  Acute Metritis Vaginal infection acquired during whelping or from retaining a Placenta or Fetus. Signs are high fever, above 103, diarrhea, depression, refusal eating, vomiting, excessive thirst. Thick. bloody and foul smelly discharge. The bitch needs to be treated with antibiotics. Mastitis if left untreated will lead to spaying or death. The pups need to be watched. Puppies may be affected and may have diarrhea and cramps, they will need antibiotics and to be hand fed. ( I give my pups yogurt and it relieves stomach cramps.) Check for Mastitis , they can go hand and hand. Pyometra Is a Uterine infection classified as open or closed. It can occur anytime in the heat cycle. Female who developed Pyometra during pregnancy will abort. Open Cervix Pyometra is just as it sounds, the cervix is open allowing the uterus to drain, sticky, reddish pus which may be fowl smelling. Closed-cervix Pyometra- pus cannot drain causing excessive thirst and urination, a high fever and a tender abdomen. Vomiting may also occur. All Pyometra in the past led to spaying or death. Today's treatments for Pyometra constists of flushing the uterus and administering prostaglandin injections. Bitches can be bred after treatment. |