Puppy Whelping tips

Today I went over to my breeders house to play with puppies. It is Spryte's mom's second litter. 3 boys who are now just 4 weeks old. They are adorable, fluffly little puppies.  They mostly just slept while I was there, but I had fun cuddling them just the same.

While visiting I received a lot of advice for my first litter.  Things like using a hard kennel bottom as the whelping box, with a wood platform on the bottom of the kennel.  Laying a heating pad on this and then either a towel on the heating pad, or even covering it with plastic bed covers for potty training children. What a great idea!

For the birthing cover the kennel with puppy pads and clean them out between puppies.  When puppies are born clean the sack off right away with a towel so they can begin to breathe.  Use a small bulb syringe to suck out fluids in the puppy's airways that might cause him to have difficulty breathing. Warm the pups and get them feeding right away.

Use a hemostat on the umbilical cord about an inch from the puppies body. Leave it there for a few seconds, sqeezing gently before cutting the umbilical cord off with sterile scissors.

Use a plastic container with a heating pad and blanket in it to keep the puppies warm while mom is busy birthing the next puppy.

Let mom eat only two placentas, after that she might get sick.

If mom has stopped contracting, get her up and moving, sometimes the movement will start her contracting again.

Puppies can move to an xpen in the kitchen at about 3 weeks of age. But cover the sides of the pen as puppies can get feet or heads caught in the bars!

Those are most of the tips that I can remember right now.  The nice thing is Leane repeated a lot of the same things that I read in the "Puppy Intensive Care" book. Hearing it twice will help me remember what to do and what to expect.  I am feeling more and more confident about my first litter thanks to all the great advice I have received so far. (and I am more than happy to receive more great advice from all of you pros out there).

Spryte and siblings at 3 weeks of age. Spryte is the middle puppy.