Things You'll Need
- Iodine
- Clean towel
- Phone number of veterinarian
- Puppy vaccines
- Milk replacement
- Feeding syringe
Instructions
Birthing
Create a whelping box that is big enough for the mother and the puppies and has high enough sides that the puppies can't get out. Line it with newspapers and put towels and old blankets or sheets over the newspapers. The box should have a heat lamp near it to help keep the puppies warm.
Look for signs of a difficult birth in your dog: straining for an hour without birth, four hours or more between the puppies' births, weak labor for over two hours, a puslike or bloody discharge or production of dark green or bloody fluid before the first puppy. Call your veterinarian if you see any of these signs.
Break the amniotic sac, clean mucus out of the puppy's mouth and nose with the towel and cut the umbilical cord if the mother doesn't do so herself, as soon as the puppy is born. Disinfect the umbilical cord stumps with the iodine.
Move the puppies to a warm place out of the way while the mother is having labor pains.
Let the puppies nurse between births when the mother isn't having labor pains.
Feed the mother after all the puppies have been born, then take her for a walk to relieve herself. Watch to make sure she doesn't have another puppy.
First Eight Weeks
Feed the mother two to four times more food than she was eating before the birth. Feed her good-quality puppy food, but avoid feeding large-breed puppy food.
Check the mother's mammary glands and nipples for redness, hardness, discoloration or discharge. Contact your veterinarian if any of these develop. You may have to bottle-feed the puppies if the mother has problems with her mammary glands. Bloody discharge from the vulva is normal, but it should darken and gradually disappear in a couple of weeks.
Make sure that the puppies have rounded stomachs and sleep without a lot of fussing or moving. If they are whiny, they may not be eating enough and may need milk replacement in addition to their mother's milk.
Clean the whelping box at least daily by removing and replacing the dirty bedding. Use this time to check and make sure the puppies' feces are brown and solid without being too firm.
Weigh the puppies every day to make sure they are gaining at least one gram per pound of the weight they will be when full grown.
Use the heat lamp to keep the temperature in the whelping box at 85 degrees for the first three days, then lower the temperature to 75 to 80 degrees. Take the mother's temperature to be sure the heat lamp is not warmer than she is, or the puppies won't go to her to nurse.
Remove dewclaws and dock tails between two and four days after birth, depending on your breed's standards. In 12 to 15 days, the puppies will open their eyes. At about two weeks, their ears should open. They should be walking normally by three weeks of age.
Begin playing and interacting with the puppies daily after they are a couple of weeks old. Expose them to children, noise, people outside of your family and anything else they will see when they are weaned. Handle their mouths, ears and feet daily. After 10 weeks, separate the puppies for most of the day if they do not have new homes so they do not become too attached to each other. Allow them to play together for short times every day.