Puppies Puppies Puppies
Woooo, it seems like months since I wrote my last article. I want to take a second and apologize and will do my best to get back on track. As most of you know I do currently breed and produce dogs. Also, most of you know I breed American Bullies. The reason why it been over a week since my last article was because we had puppies. We’ve had a littler being whelped from our Grand Champion female Dolce Vita breed to her uncle who is also a Grand Champion, Beowulf. The reason I am writing this for you all today is to give you a list of things you will need to have on hand to make sure your not caught off guard when you whelping your litter. Now, whether you have you female give birth naturally or a c-section this list will change slightly so we’ll focus on things you need once the pups are home with the mother.
List of Items needed
- Whelping box- For obvious reasons. The expecting mother should spend her nights leading up to her due date sleeping in the box to get used to it. It needs to be big enough for her to move around but not so big a pup can wander too far away from her or her siblings and get cold.
- Fresh rags– these are useful at any time, cleaning up little messes or helping the mom clean the pups. You are there to PICK UP THE SLACK when mom can’t keep up.
- Heating lamp- The pups require an external heat source. Think of it like this, they just were in their mother who’s core temp is constantly about 101 degrees on average. Now out of the womb, the temps fluctuate with them being so young they can catch hypothermia quick amongst other ailments.
- Milk replacement– Just in case the mother’s milk hasn’t come in or she refuses to feed them, or whatever the reason. Do not allow your pups to skip a meal even for a couple of hours.
- Couple extra sheets- I like using an assortment of sheets rotating daily for the first couple of weeks. This keeps a clean environment for the mother and pups and me since I’m literally by her side all day and all night for the first couple of days.
- Wood chips or shavings- (not for pups under 4 wks.) you do not want your pups to get anything in their young lungs besides air. The first couple of weeks they pull themselves along the floor, if it was covered in wood chips they would breed it in and could cause a lot of problems.
- Mounted security camera – this is for the times you can be right by the mom’s side. You always want to keep an eye on pups and mothers.
- Small bottles with small nipples– just in case you need to hand feed the pups.
- Good Kibble and supplements– Now you don’t absolutely need supplements, but you most definitely need a good kibble. Its all to make sure the mother keeps up her energy and has enough calories to sustain herself and feeding pups.
- Time– To do this correctly you need a whole lot of time. As the breeder, you have a responsibility to every single puppy to ensure they are all healthy and well feed.