My Girl Just Had Puppies - First Litter - Any Advice Welcome.

[Zbbal]

My sweet cavachon had her litter today. This is her first litter. There's six puppies, all no more than four inches long. I've never had a female dog until now, and I was wondering what advice you could give me. My mom lives 300 miles away, so I can only use advice she gives me through the phone. She's told me to go down every 30 minutes or so and make sure all the puppies are feeding or sleeping. The pregnancy was unplanned, and we don't have a lot of money at the moment.

I'm nervous as heck, and I need to know what else to do. Naphtali, my cavachon, is young -just over a year old- and is trying her hardest. I want all the puppies to live, so any advice is welcome. -panicking-:nilly:

[Zbbal]

Anyone?:1zhelp:

[londonloco]

There are many whelping sites online. Google whelping and read. Like anything else, it's a learning process, especially since this is your *****'s first litter. Make sure you're feeding the mom enough and the right food...she needs extra calcium to produce milk. Good Luck!

[Zbbal]

I've been to a few of the sites. Lots of good information. I'm just wondering if anyone had some secret tips or wisdom that I wouldn't find online.

[pongo]

just be sure the pups stay warm, low body temp is the number killer of young pups. since you are in TN I don't imagine there will be much of a problem with it, she is in the house? feed her puppy chow as she will need the extra calories for nursing, get pups dewormed at 2 weeks. hth

[Zbbal]

When I came home I almost yelled at my dad and uncle. They'd turned the AC on high because they were afraid of the puppies overheating. I gave them a look and said, "Puppies need it to be 85 degrees." So I had them turn the AC down and I put a huge comforter over the cage. They're in the basement which is generally a lot warmer than house, and five or so degrees cooler than outside. I've feed her twice since I got home and she keeps gobbling it up. I have a shallow dish in the cage so she can have fresh water, but that the puppies won't drown. The biggest problem at the moment is that she occasionally steps or sits on them. I keep going downstairs every 15 to 30 minutes to make sure everything okay, so I can help should something be wrong.

[JAY973]

Congrats, Do you have any pics of the pups?

[Zbbal]

None yet, but I'll have them up as soon as take them.

[montanafish gal]

Your doing fine and it sounds like your female is doing pretty good for a young mommy. Keep doing what you're doing, checking consistantly and making sure the pups stay together, warm and are all getting to nurse. She may be a new mommy and fumbling a bit but natural instinct is pretty amazing and she knows what to do.
The water dish in the cage makes me nervous. if she can get out of the cage on her own, I'd move the water dish out away from the pups.
6 pups is a lot for a young dog so a trick I have used is to take a Tum and crush it up and put it in her food once a day. The extra calcuim will help a lot.
Congratulations and look forward to some pictures!

[Zbbal]

Thanks. I'll post pictures tomorrow.
The water dish isn't with the puppies reach. It made me nervous at first too, so I moved it.
I was thinking that I'd get her a giant bag of puppy food and let her eat some of that, and what's leftover will be used once the puppies get older. I just might try the Tums idea.

[dixienut]

puppy chow is a good food for mom it has extra calcium and vitamins etc. for her,.. just make sure she's not sitting on anyone as its hard for her to keep track of them and she is really tired,.. lots of fresh water and good food,.. also try giving her some cooked ground turkey for a bit of a protein boost..

i had a litter of 10 Pyrenees pups 7 lived,.. and had to bottle feed them,.. mom had no milk,.. so keep he healthy and the pups should be fine,.. after a bit she needs wormed so call a vet and they will let you know about vaccinations and wormer's,...

[Zbbal]

I sent my dad on a mission this morning to get puppy formula, a regular baby bottle, and a thing of Tums. I just can't afford to get a big bag of puppy food right now.

So far everyone is doing good, and they've made it more than 24 hours so I'm feeling more confident. One puppy mysteriously got out of the cage and ended up a foot away on the cold cement crying between 3AM and 7AM. When I got up at 7AM I quickly put the puppy back with the litter and made sure that the cage was all sealed. Other than getting little cold -he was still warm when touched-, the puppy seems fine, but I'm keeping an eye on it.

[Zbbal]

Okay, so in the end we got Hartz Milk Replacer and a Hartz puppy bottle. Mixed some of the Milk Replacer in Naphtali's food since it said you could give it to nursing mothers. I'm going to wait a few days and then I'll give the puppies the bottle if they need it.

[jackiomy]

You sound like you are doing a good job. My only suggestion is to make sure and watch for fleas. Pups can get anemic really quick if you have a flea problem.

[Zbbal]

Will do.

Pictures will be up in an hour or two.

[londonloco]

Your doing great. Cottage cheese is also a good source of calcium. I would go to Walmart and purchase a food scale. Weigh the pups, same time, every day. You should see weight gain daily. If a pup goes two days in a row with no weight gain, then start to think about feeding them the Hartz milk. I wouldn't feed them unless you think there is a problem, mama's milk production will be affected if you start feeding the pups.

[Zbbal]

Okay, so here's some pictures of the puppies. Some are really blurry, but that's a combination of poor lighting and wiggling puppies.

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[Lady G]

AWWWW, soooo cute!!!

[montanafish gal]

I have raised pups for many years and your puppies look very much like nice healthy fat well fed pups. Just keep doing what your doing by keeping an eye on them. Mamma dog seems to know what she's doing. Please don't worry about bottle feeding unless it's absolutely necessary. Its so easy to get fluid in their lungs and have it turn to pnemonia. I think your pups will be just fine. Congratulations!

[Zbbal]

Thanks.

And Montanafish Gal, don't worry. I won't unless necessary.

[londonloco]

Puppies, I along with every other person in the world loves puppies. Just whelped (hopefully) my last litter during the 2009 holidays. They are delightful! You're doing a great job. Keep them warm...mama can deal with feeding them.

[Zbbal]

Thanks.

Slowly but surely our family is placing claim on the puppies. My mom that lives in another state mentioned missing my dogs when we lived together, and that she'd want a puppy. My cousin came over today and said she wanted the lightest brown puppy. And of course, I plan on keeping one of the puppies.

[ConnerFish]

Don't mean to be a buzz kill but if you keep a male please please get him or the mom or both fixed. I had a friend that had dogs that just kept breeding and in-breading and getting hit by cars. Every litter they would keep one of the cute puppies and then it would grow up and a new litter would be there and they would want to keep one of those. Let's just say it was horrible and they finally got taken away (best thing for them). Sorry, don't mean to be a b***h, just really bothered me they did that. Oh and SUPER cute! Makes me want a puppy :) But I already have two 'big puppies'. Oh one last thing, do you know what the father was? Just curious :)

[londonloco]

How are the puppies doing?

[laurarichard]

Good luck i've never had puppies before but they are so DARN CUTE!!!