Pregnant female, need advice - Page 1

Hi guys, Today would be day 57 of my female's pregnancy from the first breeding date. I know this is not an exact science but we do not have progesterone tests here. This is her first litter and at around 5am she was feeling a bit uncomfortable and didn't know what was happening. My gut instinct was that she may have had a few contractions and panicked since it is her first time. I spoke to her and she relaxed and went back to sleep. There was a little bit of whitish discharge. She had her breakfast and is now in her whelping box. He stomach is big and she looks uncomfortable but no signs of any contractions. Vet will be coming in the evening to check up on her anyways. I guess I wanted to know if this was normal and if you guys think she may have the puppies in the next 24 hours or if she has a few more days to go. Thanks Again, Mav

Maverick, it is normal for a female to have a clear/white discharge at this time of her pregnancy so don't worry, yes she is a little early to have her puppies but she still may hang on a few days.

Have you started to take her temperature yet?

You need to start now and keep a record and it needs to drop atleast 1 whole degree.

Start now and then you will have a baseline.

Have you had an ultrasound? Xray for numbers?

Good Luck for an easy whelping.

If she is that close to whelping she's a bit unusual in having eaten breakfast - in my experience they usually go 'off' their food a bit right before the event, she may yet go nearer to day 62.  Good luck with the litter, whatever. 

I have a female that had no temp drop and ate a full dinner only 1/2 hour prior to whelping.

She had 3 litters and all went the same ate, no drop of temp and whelped within an hour or so of eating.

Me too, Dogshome.

I had a female that had pups on day 56 of her first breeding, I was so nervous that
it was too early, all 8 pups were super healthy and regular sized, what a relief!

I have also had females that don't loose their appetite and continue to except food right
though whelping!

Sometimes you can feed vanilla ice cream to help if contractions are slow,
but usually the first litter are no problem cause the bitch is young & healthy.
   Good Luck!

I have always heard females will go off of their food before whelping... and experienced that in my previous females.  However, nothing is 100%!  My female who just whelped two days ago never went off of her food!  She happy and eagerly ate dinner the night before and whelped the first puppy around 8am the next morning.  

I also had a female in the past that her temperature never dropped.  I took it like 4 times a day and it never dropped at all let alone a full degree.  

Good luck Maverick.  

Mirasmom - same here. Had a bitch go on day 56, but she had 8 pups and all were healthy and survived. 

It is very normal for them to go off food. I try and doctor the food to keep them eating as much as possible, though.

Thanks everyone for the advice, much more relieved now. Vet just finished checking her, and said she is fine and should have the pups in the next few days. Now its just a waiting game :-) so excited. Hope all goes well.

Thanks again.

Mav

So today would be 61 days. She ate her dinner last night, but the whole night she was restless. Digging up the papers in her whelping box. She didnt eat her breakfast this morning, and was restless most of the morning. During lunch i tried giving her some food and she did not want it, but had a little bit of cheese and yoghurt. Funny thing is that towards the afternoon, she got quiet and slept. Now its around 7.20pm and thats her dinner time but she refused her food again. Went outside for a bit, of course i was watching her carefully, and is now back in her whelping box resting. What do you guys think? puppies tonight or there is still a few more days to go?