When Should You Take Your Pregnant Dog to the Vet?

In most instances, dogs will safely deliver healthy babies with little or no human intervention--including help from a veterinarian. However, it's best to have a veterinarian check your dog's health before, during and after her pregnancy. You should also consider the possible need for veterinary assistance during delivery.

  1. Pre-Natal

    • Assuming your dog's pregnancy is planned and not an accident, take your dog to the veterinarian before she becomes pregnant. Have a complete checkup for the mother dog, including a fecal examination to ensure she is parasite free, and update her vaccines if it is time for a booster. Ask your veterinarian about prenatal vitamins and what foods will be best to prepare the mother's body for pregnancy.

    Pregnancy Checkup

    • A dog's pregnancy is about 63 days. Your dog will need to be isolated from all other dogs about three weeks before her due date. This helps ensure that she doesn't contract the canine herpes virus, which can cause her body to abort the puppies or cause newborn puppies to die. Just before her isolation begins, it's a good idea to take the mother dog to a veterinarian for a pregnancy checkup. During this checkup, the vet will conduct a radiograph of the mother's belly. This allows for a count of the puppies, meaning you can count them as they are delivered and know that all are born and the mother isn't retaining one.

    Delivery

    • Preparing for your dog's delivery means having your veterinarian's number readily available as well as contact information for your vet, or an emergency animal clinic, if delivery occurs after regular office hours. In most instances, your dog will deliver her puppies without the need of a veterinarian's assistance. However, you need to be prepared to call your vet or take your dog to a vet if something goes wrong during delivery. The veterinarian should be contacted if your dog has strong contraction for 30 minutes to an hour and no puppy is born. Contact your vet if more than four hours pass and no puppies are born, or if only one has been born and you know there are more inside. You should also contact your vet If the mother is in extreme pain.

    Post-Natal

    • A post-natal checkup for the mother dog should occur once her babies are weaned, generally about the same time that her puppies have their first set of vaccinations. During this time consider having the dog spayed. Thousands of dogs are killed in the United States every year because there aren't enough homes for them all. Dogs killed in animal shelters include purebred animals.