Dog Whelping

I was super excited for Ravyn’s pregnancy, as whelping a litter was something I’d dreamed of doing for as long as I can remember. I read every article and watched every video on whelping I could find on the internet. Clearly I am not a professional as this is my first litter, but I hope in sharing my experience I can pass along some helpful information. I learned a lot about whelping and also encountered a fair amount of strong conflicting opinions.

The first debate I discovered was about prenatal vitamins. I read that prenatals that contain calcium could be harmful to your dog because it could possibly lead to eclampsia. By becoming dependent on the supplement your dog’s body could stop producing enough calcium and even inhibit milk production. I found some without calcium and because I want to do everything I can to make things easier for my dogs, I decided to add prenatals to Ravyn’s diet. The additional cost was a factor in the debate for not giving them, but I didn’t find it to be a big enough deterrent.

There are three stages of whelping. The first stage can last anywhere from 8 to 24 hours: Ravyn was in the this stage for about 20 hours, which felt like forever! Usually this will be indicated by a temperature drop of about 2 degrees which is due to hormones as their cervix dilates. It is recommended to take your dog’s temperature rectally twice a day, morning and night. I noticed Ravyn’s temperature drop when I took it before going to bed Tuesday night. It was 98.3 F. She slept all night and all the next day, only waking up to go outside to potty. She also wouldn’t eat on Wednesday, which is another indicator of impending whelping. Around 10pm the next day she started getting restless and panting heavily. During the end of her pregnancy it seemed like she was almost always panting heavily but this was different. It’s hard to explain but you’ll know it when you see it. She was also nesting but she’d been nesting for at least a week so that wasn’t a great indicator. Within an hour of her heavy panting and restlessness, she was having hard contractions and pushing. I had seen videos where dogs screamed as they pushed and I was worried about Ravyn. Luckily she handled it like a champ, and only quietly groaned as she pushed. Within minutes of heavy pushing she whelped a gorgeous blue merle male.

The second stage is when the puppies are born. I was so excited and amazed that she had one so quickly after she started pushing. She licked the sac off and bit the umbilical cord and then we wiped the puppy with a small towel. We suctioned his mouth and nose because his lungs had some fluid in them (we could hear a raspiness when he breathed). Soon after the blue boy was born, another puppy (a much smaller black girl) was born without a sac and we wiped and suctioned her also.

After the second puppy was born, Ravyn went into the third stage of whelping which is the passing of a placenta. There is a placenta for every puppy but it doesn’t always come with every puppy. In Ravyn’s case she had two puppies and then a placenta. I had read to only let your dog eat 1-3 placentas to avoid an upset stomach, but she was so quick I wasn’t able to prevent her from eating any. Thankfully she was fine and had normal stools afterwards.

The second and third stages (when a puppy is born and when a placenta is passed) flip flop back and forth. If you can, try to keep track of how many placentas your dog passes so you’ll know if she retains one. Again Ravyn was so quick to eat them that it was hard to keep track because it looked like she just was cleaning herself.

Ravyn had seven puppies in 4 hours which was amazing! While she was whelping we kept the room around 80 F. Surprisingly this was another area of debate. Some think the room should be kept at 90 F where others believe it should be kept closer to 70 F. A friend told us that it’s important to have the room warm because it helps the puppies that are born with liquid in their lungs. In the following days we brought the temperature down a bit. There isn’t an obvious sign to let you know that your dog is done whelping, but the same friend gave me a good tip of how Ravyn would let me know when she was done. During whelping your dog will be panting heavily and her eyes will get a faraway look, or in Ravyn’s case a crazed look. When she had her last puppy she lost that crazed look and instead looked at me relieved and calm. I worried I would miss the sign, but when it happened it was obvious.