Preparing for a Healthy Litter of Puppies

Preparing for the arrival of your puppies begins with prioritizing the care of your brood bitch. Ensuring she has a clean and comfortable kennel environment, along with opportunities for moderate exercise, should be your top priority. Additionally, paying attention to her nutrition is crucial. Here are some helpful tips to assist you in getting ready for this exciting time.

Proper nutrition is essential during the nine weeks of gestation for the dam. Gradually increasing the amount of food offered is recommended. In the first trimester (0 to 21 days), the dam should be fed a normal amount of her regular complete and balanced adult or all life stages dog food. During the second trimester (22 to 42 days), the food amount should be doubled. In the third trimester (43 to 64 days), the dam should be fed two to three times more than before pregnancy, in small feedings throughout the day.

“A caloric-dense diet, such as puppy food or an all life stages food, is recommended for the third trimester,” says Melanie A. Barnes, DVM, head veterinarian at the Purina Product Technology Center in St. Joseph, Missouri. “A puppy food also is recommended for the first part of lactation. Regardless of the phase of pregnancy, diets should be adjusted based on maintaining an ideal body condition for the pregnant dam.”

Maintaining an ideal body condition during pregnancy is crucial, which involves achieving a balance between muscle and fat. While you should still be able to feel the bitch's ribs, shoulder blades, and hips, her growing abdomen will make it difficult to see a waist behind the ribs or an abdominal tuck from the side, as you would when she is not pregnant. Dr. Barnes advises that ideal body condition can vary for each individual dog during pregnancy. Therefore, consulting with a veterinarian or veterinary nutritionist is recommended to ensure appropriate dietary and body condition management tailored to your specific dog's needs.

As the dam's pregnancy progresses, her abdominal space becomes limited, making comfortable digestive tract expansion and function more challenging. To accommodate this, offering frequent feedings of smaller meals can be beneficial. The increasing body weight of the dam is attributed to the growth of the fetuses, fluid accumulation, development of placental tissues, and the enlargement of mammary glands in preparation for nursing. It is important to note that during the final two weeks of gestation, the dam's food consumption may naturally decrease.

As the dam approaches her due date, it is important for breeders to be vigilant for signs of labour. 

Stages of labour:

One notable indication is a decline in body temperature, which typically occurs around 12 to 24 hours before labour begins. The dam's rectal temperature may drop from 38.6 degrees Celsius to below 37.8 degrees. 

Stage 1: The first stage of labour involves mild uterine contractions and can last from six to 12 hours or even longer. During this stage, the dam may exhibit restlessness, nervousness, shivering, and occasional vomiting. She may also engage in behaviors such as digging or rearranging her bedding.

Stage 2: Stage two labour is characterized by strong contractions lasting 10 to 30 minutes, resulting in the birth of a puppy. If the dam continues to strain for more than 30 minutes without the expulsion of a fetus, it could indicate a problem, and immediate veterinary consultation is advised. “It can be normal for dams to rest for several minutes to hours between delivering puppies,” says Dr. Barnes.

Stage 3: During the third and final stage of labour and delivery, which occurs approximately 5 to 15 minutes after the birth of each puppy, the placenta is expelled. In the case of dams whelping multiple puppies, they will alternate between stages two (the birthing of puppies) and three (the expulsion of the placenta). It is important for breeders to ensure that the afterbirth has been fully expelled before considering the whelping process as complete.

Time flies during the nine-week gestation period, and before you know it, your dam will be ready to deliver her litter of puppies. It is crucial to provide excellent care for the bitch during this time to ensure a smooth and successful delivery and the overall health of both the dam and her puppies.

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