Pregnancy & Third trimester (Day 43 - 65)
It'‘s almost time…
It is almost time! We are down to the last three weeks before the litter arrives and hopefully your girl is looking pregnant, possibly a little or possibly very much so. During this trimester you will see many changes, most of which are quite normal.
What Is Happening in the Third Trimester? The third trimester begins on day 42 and continues until the litter is whelped, typically around day 63 post-ovulation, plus or minus a couple of days. This is the time in a dog's pregnancy when the most observable changes take place; her abdomen expands, her mammary glands develop, and she puts on weight. Puppies are undergoing development and substantial cell division right up until birth. This trimester is when the pups grow rapidly.
They develop hair and nails around day 45.
The pups bones will begin by Day 50 (does NOT mean she needs additional calcium).
Around Day 53, puppy brain development begins.
You should be able to feel the puppies moving by the eighth week. One of the most exciting feelings while you await the litter so enjoy rubbing her belly and talking to her puppies. Her hormones that were steady during the second trimester change a lot during the third trimester.
The third trimester ends with the onset of Stage 1 labor or a c-section.
Towards the end of the third trimester, many bitches will have a small amount of clear discharge from their vulva. It is often sticky so you may find it on her tail or rear legs. This is perfectly normal. Sometimes a bitch may have a green or black discharge. This indicates something is happening with one or more of the puppies. Although many bitches with dark discharges have whelped normal litters, I recommend you contact me right away as a vet visit and ultrasound may be required.
Urination and incontinence. Your bitch may need to urinate more frequently than normal because the pups are pressing on her bladder. This is particularly the case with large litters. Some bitches pee so much that they appear to have a UTI, and might urinate in the house or even leak. Try to manage your bitch as best you can. If it continues we may need to take in a urine sample to my vet to confirm that she doesn’t have an infection.
Diarrhea and vomiting. These are not normal during the third trimester so first, take her temperature (normal is 100-102.5F). If she has a fever or the symptoms continue, we need to take her to my vet. In particular, repeated vomiting can be sign of a problem with the litter so don’t delay in getting her in. Remember, there is a limited number of options that you can safely use to treat these problems so do not let them get out of hand. Swelling of Mammary Glands and Vulva. In addition to her growing belly, your bitch’s vulva and mammary glands will swell toward the end of this trimester. Her vulva will soften and grow to about the size it was during breeding. However, it should not be huge. An enormous vulva, a hard abdomen, and/or swelling of the legs may be a sign of a serious health condition called maternal hydrops, so off to the vet if you see this.
You may see milk dripping from your bitch’s mammary glands by the eighth week. However, “bagging up” isn’t essential to normal milk production so do not worry if your bitch doesn’t look like a dairy cow. Avoid expressing milk from her glands since this can trigger whelping. If she has an over-abundance of milk, check her breasts daily, watching for hardness, redness, heat or an orange peel appearance to the skin. Though rare, bitches can get mastitis before they whelp so be on the lookout. If you see any of these signs, read our Mastitis report, take her temperature, and begin hot compresses immediately.
She Seems Hot All the Time. Bitches in the 3rd trimester are often very hot since the pups increase their body temperature. During cool weather conditions, this is fine but when it is hot out, they can be miserable. Do your best to keep your girl cool. Let her sit in a baby pool with clean, cool water, lie near an air conditioner or fan, or simply hang out in the coolest room in your house.
Thinning Hair. During this trimester, the hair on your bitch’s abdomen will begin to thin. Some lose a little hair while others lose a lot.
Weight Gain. Your bitch will gain most of her pregnancy weight during this trimester due to the puppies’ growth and weight of placentas. Pups and placentas each contribute approximately equal weight to her weight gains during pregnancy so you may be able to determine how many pups your bitch has by calculating how much weight she has gained.
Feeding and Supplements Continue the reproductive diet, food and supplements, that you have been using during the second trimester but increase the amount of food you based on the size of her litter. Split her food into three, four, even five or six meals a day, if she is struggling to get it all down.
Small litter (4-5 pups or less)– feed her 10% more per pup of her maintenance amount
Average litter (5-6pups) – increase her food to 200% of maintenance or twice as much as you normally feed her
Large litter (6-9 pups) – increase her food to 250% of maintenance or 2 ½ times as much as you normally feed her
If she can no longer stomach what you normally feed, try something new. This is the time to get creative to try and keep her getting nutrition throughout the third trimester, up until about two days prior to whelping.
One of the signs of pending whelping is an absolute refusal to eat. It's perfectly normal, because she's probably just going to throw up the food that she ate anyway, so don't worry. By about day 61 post-ovulation, don’t worry if she refuses to eat or picks. No Additional Calcium! Do not feed additional calcium to your bitch during this period as it can set her up for eclampsia and whelping problems. That includes yogurt, cottage cheese, goat and cow’s milk, and calcium supplements. Her normal food and supplements will provide all the calcium she needs at this point in the puppies’ development.
Exercise and Training During the third trimester, it's time to back off on exercise. Bitches naturally do one critical strength exercise during this trimester—digging. This is beneficial to her as whelping approaches so there is no need to stop her, except to protect your yard and garden. There are no safe training activities at this point during her pregnancy. She needs to be focusing on her real job of making great puppies. If she is going nuts from boredom, stick with simple tricks or exercises on the flat. Hand touches, sits, downs, scent articles, hunting and tracking are typically quite safe if she wants to do them. Limit Good for the Soul fun to those things she really enjoys and can do safely, short walks in good weather, swimming in clean water, honestly hanging out on the couch. Avoid activities that include jumping, twisting, hard turns or rough play. Be cautious if she is exercising with other dogs so the other dogs do not hit her, body slam, or knock her over. Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 8 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 Deconditioning starts in the third trimester and continues well into lactation but we’ll talk more about that once the pups are here. Care If heartworm, fleas or ticks are endemic in your area, meaning they are regularly found there, treat her with pregnancy-safe heartworm, flea or tick products on her normal schedule. Your bitch should not be on any medications during this period, unless prescribed by your veterinarian and verified as safe for pregnant dogs. If a situation arises where she must be treated, double check that the medication is safe for pregnant bitches. Review this list to see what over-the-counter and prescription medications are safe during pregnancy. If a medication has not been specifically tested pregnant bitches, we recommend you do not give it to her without a thorough discussion with your vet. Continue deworming her daily with fenbendazole if your bitch was diagnosed with roundworms at any time during her lifetime, produced pups with round- or hookworms ,or is a rescue or shelter dog. See the Pregnancy Deworming protocol in Deworming Dogs and Pups. Grooming and cuddling are more than nice for your bitch, they are good for her puppies so brush and cuddle as much as the two of you want. Rub her belly, massage her muscles and tell her how fabulous she is. As in the second trimester, keep her stress low by avoiding all activities and events that are stressful to her, except for essential veterinary care. Alternatively, do many of the activities that she enjoys. If she is a cuddler, cuddle a lot. If she likes to be petted and stroke, then pet and stroke her. Since stress is in the eyes of the bitch, let her tell you what she should and shouldn’t do during this trimester. Vaccine Nomographs At least 14 days before whelping, it is time to have your veterinarian draw blood for your litter’s vaccine nomograph. This test will help you determine when your pups are at risk for distemper and parvo, and when they can respond to the vaccines for these diseases. Nomographs are simple blood tests that estimate the amount of distemper and parvovirus antibodies passed from a dam to her puppies via her colostrum, or first Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 9 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 milk. Nomographs are useful for breeders and puppy owner because they can help predict: • when pups are no longer protected by maternal antibodies and • when they will be able to respond to a distemper and/or parvo vaccines. For lots more about nomographs, read Keep Your Pups Safer Using Canine Nomographs to Better Time Puppy Vaccinations. Feel free to share this ebook with your veterinarian, other breeders and buyers. During a puppy’s first hours of life, its intestinal tract allows antibodies in colostrum to pass into the bloodstream and thus start protecting it from the diseases that its mother is protected from. This process lasts at least four hours but then the gut closes by 12 hours after the pup was born. As the puppy grows up, maternal antibodies break down in approximately two-week “half lives” until they are no longer present in the pup. While a puppy’s maternal antibodies are elevated, they neutralize viruses such as canine parvovirus and distemper viruses. This neutralization keeps the pup safe from these potentially fatal diseases. However, it also blocks vaccines so the puppy will not able to be immunized with a vaccine. Maternal antibodies against distemper and parvo are independent of each other; a bitch can and usually will have different levels of protection against these diseases. In our experience, bitches’ titers can range from as low as 4 and as high as 10,000+. These levels mean a pup’s maternal antibodies can disappear as early as a few days after birth to as late as 20 weeks of age! With these last pups, if we had stopped vaccinating them at 16 weeks, as is commonly done, the pups would not have been protected against distemper or parvovirus!!! In fact, maternal antibody interference is one of the most common causes of vaccine failure in puppies. Veterinarians usually give multiple doses of vaccine every 2-3 weeks during puppyhood because most of the time they don’t know when maternal antibody drop low enough. Nomograph testing helps us understand the best timing of vaccination to ensure a litter will be effectively immunized with the fewest vaccines as early as possible in their life. We can measure the antibodies that a bitch has to pass on to her puppies using antibody titers, a simple blood test. If that test is done at the CAVIDS Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin Veterinary School, a nomograph can then be run on those results, allowing us to predict the optimal time to vaccinate her puppies. Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 10 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 To use nomographs to schedule a puppy’s distemper and parvovirus vaccines, that puppy must have ingested a normal amount of colostrum from its dam during its first 12 to 16 hours of life. If for some reason that did not happen, either due to issues with the puppy or its mother, then a nomograph cannot be used and the puppy should be vaccinated using the more standard vaccination protocols, like those recommended by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association, which can be found at https://www.wsava.org/Global-Guidelines/Vaccination-Guidelines Verifying Puppy Counts There are three commonly used means of getting an approximate count of puppies: Doppler, ultrasound and x-ray. Although fetal x-rays are the most common and yes, the most precise, we do not recommend the routine use of radiation since there is no research showing they are safe long-term. (See our blog posts for more on this controversial topic: How Badly Do We Need to Know? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.) Alternatively, both Dopplers and ultrasounds are safer for fetal puppies and dams when used appropriately. Rather than the casual use of fetal x-rays, we recommend you use them when something appears wrong with your bitch or pups, and you use these safer means of counting puppies during normal pregnancies. Handheld Dopplers. Our preferred method for counting puppies is a handheld Doppler used at home. In addition to predicting how many pups there are, Dopplers are also helpful to monitor the pups’ heart rates before and during whelping so you know when they are in trouble. Dopplers are increasingly available and you can easily learn to use one with a little practice. (See Mod 6, Section 6.6 for videos and audio.) If you breed regularly, the best Dopplers to purchase are Huntleighs. They are an investment so also look on Amazon or E-bay. Look for a quality Doppler with a 2- or 3- mHz probe, a digital readout that gives the actual heart rate, a speaker and a jack for a headset, in case your bitch doesn’t like the sounds from the Doppler. You’ll also need ultrasound or aloe vera gel. You can also rent a Doppler here https://heartbeatsathome.com/digitaldopplers.cfm. One warning! Although it is exciting to hear your puppies’ heartbeats, Doppler’s should be used in moderation. The Doppler uses sound waves to find puppies’ heartbeats so heats up the fetuses slightly. There is no risk if used appropriately, no more than two or three times during pregnancy and again during whelping. Although there is no known Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 11 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 long-term effect of Doppler, there is also no known benefit to overuse. 1 Resist using your Doppler for longer than necessary to count puppies and check heartbeats a couple of times. A second warning! Very cheap Dopplers, under US$100 new, are usually not worth buying. They are slow to identify heart rates so must be kept over a pup longer than is safe. Read our Checking Pups with a Doppler report for all the details about using a Doppler to count puppies and monitor their heartrates. Check out the videos in Section 6.6, Module 6, Your Litter A to Z, to watch a pup’s heartbeat taken with the Doppler. Listen to this audio so you know what a puppy’s heartbeat sounds like. It is a very distinctive sound. Ultrasounds. Alternatively, or in addition to, your vet can do another ultrasound to count puppies and to check heartbeats. Ultrasounds are best done with the bitch on her back in a v-shaped cradle. They can be uncomfortable for bitches well into pregnancy. We recommend you use them only if your bitch is comfortable with the process and your vet clinic, overdue or showing signs of problems. Although not much research has been done on the safety of ultrasound in canine pregnancies, ultrasound has been used to evaluate human pregnancies for four decades so we have a good amount of data on its use. Standard diagnostic ultrasound has no known harmful effects on dogs or people, including mothers, embryos and fetuses. They are the preferred imaging modality for the diagnosis and monitoring of pregnant women and their unborn babies, the highest standard of care during pregnancy of any species so are unlikely to cause problems for dogs and puppies. In addition, ultrasound allows the vet to see inside the uterus and provides much information about the pregnancy. Nevertheless, ultrasound should be performed only when medically indicated.2 Fetal X-rays. We strongly recommend against using x-rays to determine the number of puppies a bitch is carrying, particularly in cancer-prone breeds. Research indicates that x-rays late in pregnancy can increase a pup’s risk of cancer throughout its life. Only under unusual circumstances, very large or very small litters, are x-rays necessary and 1 Avoid Fetal "Keepsake" Images, Heartbeat Monitors, US Food and Drug Administration. March 28, 2008, updated December 16, 2014. 2 Obstetric Ultrasound, American College of Radiology. March 15, 2010, updated July 2013. Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 12 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 even then, they can often be avoided by using Doppler or ultrasound instead. However, if your bitch has fluid retention and it appears she has maternal hydrops get an x-ray! There is far more information on children than puppies. Although a direct correlation is not possible or logical, it is unlikely that dogs are resistant to x-rays when humans are not. The Health Effects of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation by Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR V), National Research Council (1990) found clear evidence that medical x-rays during pregnancy increased rates of both childhood and adult cancers in people. …the 1977 UNSCEAR [United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation] committee estimated the risk per unit-absorbed dose to be about 200 to 250 excess cancer deaths/104 person Gy in the first 10 years of life, with one half of those malignancies being leukemias and one quarter tumors of the nervous system.… The epidemiologic studies also suggest that an association exists between in utero exposure to diagnostic x-rays and carcinogenic effects in adult life; however, the magnitude of the risk remains uncertain. The Center for Disease Control states (emphasis theirs): Whether the carcinogenic effects for a given dose vary on the basis of gestation period has not been determined. At this time, the carcinogenic risks are assumed to be constant throughout the pregnancy. However, analysis of animal data suggests that while there is a strong sensitivity to carcinogenic effects in late fetal development, the stages of blastogenesis and organogenesis are not found to be susceptible. The radiation risk for childhood cancer from prenatal radiation exposure has been estimated, but the lifetime cancer risk is not yet known.3 I know it can be disconcerting not knowing for sure how many puppies to expect. I promise, you can live with the ambiguity. Heck, you are going to find out soon enough how many pups you have. If you simply must know, rent a Doppler and give it a shot but please skip the routine x-rays. When Is She Due? The concept of ‘due dates’ in dogs differs from humans. Regardless of how well we time a breeding, the most accurately we can predict whelping is within 48 hours. This is why 3 Radiation and Pregnancy: A Fact Sheet for Clinicians, Center for Disease Control and Prevention. October 17, 2014 Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 13 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 we use the term “whelping window” rather than due date. If you didn’t use hormone testing or vaginal smears, your bitch’s whelping window can be as long as 7 to 8 days. If you did time your bitch’s breeding closely with LH, progesterone and vaginal cytology, you can narrow that window to 48 hours. For this reason alone, it is worth doing hormone testing and/or vaginal smears. For more on this, read our blog Dogs Don’t Have Due Dates, They Have Whelping Windows. If you did a technical breeding through your veterinarian, say a transcervical (TCI) or surgical insemination (SI), your vet should have given you predicted whelping dates. If you did vaginal cytology, the first day following estrus that more than half the cells are parabasal is Day 1 of diestrus. Figure 3 shows the whelping windows based on breeding events, such as ovulation, LH, etc. Figure 3. Expected whelping dates based on breeding events. If you know her date of: Expect her to whelp: Day 1 of Diestrus 57 days later +/- 24 hours Ovulation 63 days later +/- 48 hours LH Peak 65 days later +/- 48 hours First breeding 57 to 72 days later Litter Size and Breed Effects on Whelping Windows. Litter size also affects whelping dates with larger-than-average litters often coming sooner than small litters. See Figure 2 for an idea of litter sizes by the weight of your bitch but experienced breeders in your breed will have more accurate information so ask around. For every four puppies above the average litter size, whelping will occur a day earlier. So 9 pups is an average litter for a golden retriever. We would expect a goldens bitch with 13 or more, to whelp 55 to 56 days post diestrus. Similarly, for every 4 pups below average, say a golden litter of 5 or fewer, we’d expect her to whelp a day later. A singleton might even come two days later. A few breeds are known to vary even more. For example, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels typically whelp up to three days early and still have normal puppies. Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 14 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 Predicting Whelping Using Body Temperature About four days before her due date, start taking your bitch’s temperature four times a day, using either a good quality digital rectal or a mercury thermometer. Initially, your bitch’s temp should be normal, 100.5 to 102.5F. Around 80% of bitches experience a marked temperature drop as progesterone drops and whelping becomes imminent. This is particularly true if she has two or more puppies, one if she is a toy breed. If your girl is one of the 80%, her temp will go lower and lower until it hits 99.0F or lower, and will stay there for 6 to 8 hours. Some bitch’s temperatures will go as low as 97F. To identify the temp drop, you must have two consecutive readings below 99F. The time of the first low temp starts your clock. This temperature drop indicates that your girl is preparing for whelping and you should see the first puppy within 24 to 36 hours, rarely 48 hours. Record her readings on the Temperature Chart, which you can download from Module 6: The Third Trimester. Watch your whelping window through this time. If your bitch is one of the 20% of dogs that don’t have a temperature drop but she is 63 days post ovulation, assume she isn’t going to have one and use the other Whelping Rules to determine when you will head to the vet. You need a good thermometer for this--it is worth trying to find mercury thermometers, though they are rare because of the risk of mercury poisoning should the instrument break, or investing in a good digital thermometer, which typically cost US$10 or more. Practice taking your bitch’s temperature several times earlier in the trimester so both of you are comfortable and you know how to use the thermometer. If you have not taken your dog’s temperature before, check out Wikihow’s good photo essay on doing so. When taking a rectal temp, use lots of K-Y or similar lubricant on the thermometer. Ensure you insert them about half way up the thermometer to get an accurate reading. If the reading seems off, take your girl out to potty since feces can lower the temperature recorded. Give your dog lots of treats for putting up with you. Have a second person around to help, if needed. If your dog is clicker trained, click her for being calm while you do this. Plot her temperature on the Temperature Chart. Print out the chart and keep it near where you will take her temp each day. Mark an X to show her temp after you take it, either in the cell/box for even numbers or on the line for odd numbers. Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 15 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 Preparing the Bitch for Whelping A week out from her due date, groom and bathe her. Now is the time to get her cleaned up—toe nails trimmed, ears cleaned, coat shining—before the big day. Tim the hair around her vulva to reduce vaginal discharge being spread around your house. If you are using a Doppler, you can shave her belly to improve your speed and accuracy before and during whelping. If you have a dog with feathers on her tail, trim her rear feathers as puppies can get wrapped in them. You can also wrap it with Vet Wrap once whelping begins if you don’t want to trim it. If she hates grooming, then proceed slowly, a little at a time rather than increase her stress dramatically while she is pregnant. Spend quiet time with the bitch in the whelping box every day, beginning about 10 days out. You can feed her there to help her feel more comfortable in the box. We hang out with our girls in the box a few times a day, reading or watching TV. Preparing Your Space, Supplies and Gear for the Whelping The third trimester is the time to prepare your gear, supplies and whelping room for the arrival of your litter. Ideally, you have everything ready at least a week prior to your bitch’s whelping window so she can get accustomed to it before she goes into Stage 1 labor. Visit Your Vet. If you did not do these things during pregnancy confirmation, you may want to visit your vet and: • Get two to three doses of oxytocin for clean-out shots, with guidance on how he/she wants you to use it. Many vets will preload the syringes with the dose for your bitch. Not all vets will do this but it’s worth asking. • Get injectable calcium to use as Stage 2 begins to strengthen uterine contractions during whelping. • If you have never tube fed a puppy, ask your vet talk you through the process. She or he might also be able to give you tubes and syringes in preparation. • Confirm your vet’s schedule around the time of whelping and how he/she wants you to handle problems and emergencies (call, go to emergency clinic, etc.). • Review C-section procedures. Should you go to the emergency clinic or can you call? Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 16 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 Whelping Area. At least one week out from whelping, set up the whelping area in a quiet, warm, draft-free area of your house or kennel. If you have other dogs, you want to be able to keep them out of the room with the dam and puppies during whelping and for a few weeks after. Even if dogs normally get along well, that relationship can sour once pups arrive. Given how much your dam has put into her puppies, respect her need for security. For more on setting up your whelping area, go to: • Preparing the Nursery (document) • Designing Supportive Environments for Your Litter (video) Whelping Supplies. Gather and organize the whelping supplies on the whelping list here. If you have whelped before, it’s time to get your gear out to clean and check over. • Whelping Supply List I often talk to people who are reluctant to invest in the entire supply/gear list but in many cases, these items can mean the difference between a pup’s survival. When you think about it, they are relatively inexpensive when compared to the value of a puppy. Cook for your pups and mom. It’s is also time to hit the kitchen. Make Myra Savant Harris’s puppy formula, liver water, and Mother’s Pudding. The recipes are at the end of this report. Freeze the formula and liver water in ice-cube trays so you can thaw what you need during or after whelping. Freeze the Mother’s pudding in ½ cup containers. You will have much more time now than you will once the pups start arriving. Prepare for emergencies NOW! Now is also the time to organize the supplies that you will take with you if you need to go to the vet during whelping or for a c-section. Having everything packed and filling your car with gas will make those stressful moments go more smoothly. • Things to take to the vet’s during a whelping Whelping Contact List. Prepare your whelping contact list. That includes phone numbers, addresses and driving directions for your vet’s, including the ER. These last are helpful in case someone else is driving while you care for your bitch and/or puppies. Include on this list: o Your vet’s o Emergency vet’s o Whelping volunteers Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 17 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 Take Care of Yourself! Finally, take care of yourself during the third trimester. Get plenty of rest and build yourself up physically and mentally. Your bitch is going to need you to be at your best during whelping and over the first few weeks the pups are here. Avidog Whelping Rules We have a few rigid whelping rules that we stick to NO MATTER WHAT. These rules have been designed to keep our bitches safe during whelpings. By sticking with them precisely, we ensure that exhaustion, ambiguity, sleep-deprivation, second guesses or anything else that might hinder our judgment, do not cause us to unintentionally put our bitches at risk. Note that for each rule, we are not “on our way for a c-section.” We are on our way for a checkup by a veterinary professional. Specifically, we want the bitch examined and an ultrasound done to confirm the heartrates we have been monitoring on the pups with our handheld Doppler. If any pups’ heartrate is below 180 beats per minute (bpm), we will immediately do a c-section. X-rays are usually less helpful at that stage but if your vet feels it is essential to understand what is happening to the bitch and her pups, do one. Which vet do you use for these exams? Any vet that you trust AND has an ultrasound machine that can get actual puppy heartrates. Whelping Rule #1: At the Vet on Day 65 Post-Ovulation. Our first whelping rule applies if you know your bitch’s ovulation date. Without a confirmed ovulation date based on progesterone, LH testing or diestrus smear, skip to Whelping Rule #2. However, if you know when she ovulated, you want her to be seen by a vet if you have not seen pups by Day 65 from ovulation, Day 67 from the LH peak, or Day 57 from the first day of diestrus. Placentas can only sustain the pups for about 65 days, after which they begin to deteriorate. Unfortunately, this can happen with no outward signs so use your calendar and get her in to a vet. Whelping Rule #2: At the Vet Within 36 hours of the Temp Drop; Pups Within 48. Our second whelping rule is that we must see the bitch’s first visible contractions within 36 hours of the first of two consecutive temperatures under 99° F (37.2° C). So if her temp was 98.8° F (37.1° C) at noon on Friday and 98.3° F (36.8° C) at 6 PM the same day, we must see visible contractions by midnight on Saturday since the start of the temperature drop was at noon. If we do not see any visible contractions by that point, we are on our way to the vet, either our regular vet or emergency clinic. Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 18 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 Tied to this rule is that we want the puppies born within 48 hours of the temperature drop. Placentas deteriorate quickly at the end of the whelping window, resulting in fetal death and stillborn puppies. Whelping Rule #3: A Pup within 2 Hours of First Visible Contraction. Our third whelping rule is that we must see a puppy within two hours of the FIRST visible contraction that our bitch has, regardless of how mild the contraction appears. This rule applies to every puppy so the clock restarts at the first visible contraction after each pup is born. Write down the time of the FIRST visible contraction your bitch has. Now figure out how far your vet is from you in travel time and count backwards when you need to leave the house to be at the vet’s at the two-hour mark. Start whelping assistance actions 20-30 minutes before leaving for the vet to see if you can reposition pups that might be stuck. See below for more on these actions. Again, we are going to the vet for a checkup of the bitch, the puppy in the birth canal and the rest of the litter. We use our vet’s assistance in ensuring the pup that is in the birth canal is born quickly, whether that is using injected calcium, oxytocin or a c-section. If your vet gives your bitch an oxytocin shot, DO NOT GO HOME!!! Stay nearby, even in the parking lot, in case the pups aren’t born quickly. Oxytocin can be helpful in triggering uterine contractions but those contractions are disorganized and can cause early detachment of all of the pups’ placentas. If your bitch is given an oxytocin shot while whelping, you must follow all of the Whelping Rules religiously to ensure the safety of all of the pups, especially those higher up in the uterus. Whelping Rule #4: A Pup within 45 minutes of Sustained Contractions. Our final whelping rule is that we want to see a puppy within 45 minutes of sustained visible contractions, those that come every few minutes. Productive labor will typically produce a puppy within 30 minutes of onset, but we will wait as long as 45 minutes. Bitches can exhaust themselves or their uterus by sustained, unproductive labor putting themselves and their pups in danger. After 45 minutes of ongoing visible labor, we take action. That said, sometimes bitches will have several contractions quickly before taking a break and going back to sleep. This is not sustained visible labor so falls until Rule #3 not Rule #4. Whelping Rule #5: Every Breeding/Whelping is the "First." Bitches do not necessarily follow patterns on seasons, breedings or whelpings. Look at every one Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 19 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 with fresh eyes rather than what your bitch or her mother or sister did previously. Don’t assume your bitch will do what she did last litter. How Rigid About These Rules Are We? Many breeders ask us if we really stick to these rules. We do, absolutely! To the letter! We believe these rules have kept our bitches safe during a wide array of whelpings over the past 38 years. One of the remarkable things about bitches is how stoic they can be when things are going wrong. Puppies can be stuck and even her uterus ruptured, but she may be showing no outward signs. In fact, some bitches appear to sleep during this. The whelping rules keep us focused on both our bitch and the clock to ensure we have good outcomes. Sadly, we have had fellow breeders violate these rules and lose puppies, their litters and even their bitches. We have lost puppies but none of our bitches have ever been in serious danger during a whelping. Honestly, we’d rather take an extra trip to the vet, than risk our bitch’s health or life. Troubleshooting Although most canine pregnancies go off without a hitch, problems can arise. Here some ideas about what is normal, what to worry about, and what to do. My bitch has a vaginal discharge. • Straw-colored or clear, odorless discharge. A straw-colored or clear, sticky, odorless discharge is normal during this period but any other discharge should be checked out by your repro team. • Bloody or smelly discharge. Bloody discharge in the third trimester is cause for concern. It is often a sign of pyometra, a serious uterine infection. o Take her temperature. A healthy dog’s temperature should be between 100.5°F (30°C) and 102.5°F (39.2°C). If her temperature is 103° (39.4°C) or above, take her to the veterinarians. o Monitor her water intake and urination. If she is drinking or peeing more than normal, take her to your veterinarian. o If a and b are normal, then wipe her vulva a few times a day to examine the discharge. If it is the color of tomato soup, contains puss or smells badly, take her to your veterinarian for complete blood count (CBC) and abdominal ultrasound. Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 20 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 o Other symptoms of pyometra include anorexia, vomiting and malaise. • Green or black discharge. A green or black discharge indicates placental detachment so it is likely that one of the pups likely has died. This often is a singular event that the other pups survive without problem. Keep an eye on your bitch, monitor her temperature and take her in to your vet if the discharge changes and/or she is running a fever. My bitch’s vulva and nipples are swollen. This is normal during pregnancy so unless the vulva gets hugely swollen, just keep an eye on her. Although it is rare for bitches to produce milk during the second trimester, it is not unheard of and is not a problem. My bitch won’t eat. Most bitches eat well but a few become very picky or refuse most food. If your bitch is not eating, first check her temperature to be sure it is normal. Then try these techniques. If they aren’t working, take her in to see your vet to ensure nothing serious is happening. • First, try warming her food to body temperature. • If that doesn’t work, try removing all supplements and just feed her normal food. Gradually add back in the supplements later this week. Usually starting with the probiotic, then the vitamins, and finally the fish oil. • Finally, try adding to or replacing her food with other options for a short period. You may have to play around. Some bitches prefer bland food while others want more pungent options. Here are alternatives that have worked for other Avidog members: • Fresh Pet refrigerated food • Canned or frozen green tripe (Tripett) • Eggs (raw, cooked, scrambled, boiled) • Fresh, canned or bottled fish (tuna, salmon, sardines, herring) • Canned dog food • Canned cat food • Baby food (meat or poultry) • Raw or cooked frozen dog food • Chicken hearts, livers or gizzards • Chicken breast (be sure to increase her calcium if this is what she will eat) • Beef—steak, ground (be sure to increase her calcium if this is what she will eat) • Bacon, ham, liverwurst • Dog treats • Rice (cooked, white is better than brown) • Oatmeal (cooked, NOT instant) • Bread, pasta Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 21 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 My bitch needs veterinary treatment—medication, surgery, a vaccination, etc. • To see if a medication is safe for your bitch, check out this list. Your vet may choose to use a medication that is not on this list if the benefit outweighs the risk but be sure to discuss this decision thoroughly. • The only vaccination we recommend during pregnancy is the canine herpes virus (CHV) vaccine. Do not boost her with distemper, parvo, Lyme, lepto, etc. If she comes in contact with a rabid animal, you have no choice but to boost her but know that there are great risks to her unborn puppies in these circumstances. • If your bitch must have a surgery while pregnant, speak to your vet about the possible complications to the puppies. My bitch is getting fat (or skinny). • Toward the end of the second trimester, your bitch’s abdomen will begin to slacken and the pups will begin to drop. Often her mammary glands will also begin to enlarge, too, sometimes make her spine more evident. All of this is natural and not a sign of getting fat. • However, if your bitch is putting on fat over her ribs or developing a neck roll, it’s time to cut back on her food. Fat bitches have a more difficult time whelping so don’t let that happen. You want her in good weight and condition when she whelps but not plump. • If her ribs begin to show, it is time to increase her food calories, volume or both. If she’s eating well, simply add more food or another meal to her day. If she won’t increase how much she is eating, then try to add more calories. Something as simple as a little butter or olive oil will up her energy intake. If she isn’t eating well, go through the My Bitch Won’t Eat section above to tempt her. My bitch has diarrhea or is vomiting. There are few over-the-counter and prescription medication appropriate for pregnant bitches so here are the steps you should take: • Fast her for 24 hours to rest her gut. • Give her one Fortiflora CanineTM probiotic packet, made by Purina Veterinary Diets, per day for seven days. Fortiflora is very effective on diarrhea, even for dogs on other probiotics. Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 22 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 • Ensure she keeps drinking by offering her diluted chicken or beef stock or even soup. • Give her slippery elm or slippery elm syrup. To make this syrup mix 1 rounded teaspoon of slippery elm powder in 1 cup cold water, bring to boil while stirring, turn down heat, stir and simmer 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, add 1 tablespoon of honey (prefer all natural) and let it cool. Store in glass container in fridge. Dosage: For dogs under 25lbs, give 1 to 2 tbsp; 25-50lbs, 2 to 4 tbsp; 50lbs and over ¼ cup to ½ cup. Dose 4 times a day. • After fasting, introduce a low-fat, easily digested food such as boiled chicken or beef with white rice. Do not use brown rice. • Gradually increase the quantity of food and begin adding in her regular food. Early labor and abortion. Although uncommon, abortion does occur in dogs. More likely fetuses are resorbed, mummified, or stillborn but infections, toxins and luteal insufficiency can cause fetuses to be passed. • Pathogens like brucellosis, canine herpes virus (CHV) and parvovirus can cause abortions in dogs. • Toxins that cause abortion in dogs include those used to end unwanted pregnancies, like cabergoline • Luteal insufficiency occurs when the corpus lutea, which formed on the ovaries during estrus, regress too early, causing a drop in progesterone. This drop triggers spontaneous labor. If the bitch isn’t in her whelping window yet, her progesterone levels can be supplemented to enable her to maintain the pregnancy so if you see abdominal contractions, get her to the vet immediately. Often puppies are aborted without any obvious signs from the bitch but you also might notice abdominal contractions or green, black or bloody vaginal discharge. If you find an aborted fetus or your bitch passes one in your presence, we highly recommend you take your bitch and the fetus to the vet. If your trip to the vet will be delayed by hours, refrigerate rather than freeze the fetus and any other tissues. Your vet can examine your bitch to see if the unborn pups are still alive, as well as draw blood for brucellosis, herpes and other testing. The puppy should be submitted for Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 23 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 analysis. As difficult as this testing may be, the information it provides may enable you to save the remaining puppies and breed your bitch successfully in the future. Recipes Myra Savant Harris’s Puppy Formula • 10-ounce can of condensed goat’s milk (or condensed or evaporated unsweetened cow’s milk) • 1/3 cup strained liver water (see below) • 2 raw egg yolks • 1 Tablespoon mayonnaise • 1 cup whole-fat yogurt, the best quality possible • 1 teaspoon Karo syrup • 1 dropper baby vitamins (from any drug store) Make ahead of time, freeze in ice cube trays and store in a plastic freezer bag. It will stay fresh refrigerated for 7 days, and can be kept frozen for six months. When you are ready for a feeding, simply thaw the number of cubes you need and warm to 100⁰ F. Remember that you are after calories, so choose the highest fat content that you can and don’t dilute the canned milk. Liver Water Place a small piece (8oz) of calf or beef liver in a sauce pan, add approximately 1-1 1/2 cup water to cover liver. Gently boil the liver and water until the liver is no longer bloody. Remove from heat. Remove piece of liver from water, this may be fed in small pieces to your bitch. Strain the liver water through either a coffee filter or fine mesh strainer. Liver water may be frozen in ice cube trays, then placed in zip lock freezer bag for future use. When frozen it should last 6-12months. Fresh liver water should keep 3-4 days in the refrigerator. Liver water can be given to a fading puppy either 0.5cc to 1.0cc every 30 min, or you can even substitute it for a whole tube feeding at 0.75cc per 1oz puppy weight. Pregnancy and Third Trimester Page | 24 www.Avidog.com © 2020 Avidog International, LLC Revised 7/20/20 Liver water can also be given in small amounts to a stressed bitch/dog that needs extra calories and nutrition as well. Mother’s Pudding You’ll use Mother’s Pudding during and after whelping, not before because it has too much calcium in it. Most bitches love it post whelping. Some will also eat it while pups are coming. Regardless, it’s really helpful to have it made ahead of time so you aren’t spending time in the kitchen during these critical times. There are many recipes for Mother’s Pudding but I use Magda Omansky’s version. • 1 packet vanilla pudding (NOT instant) • 4 egg yolks • 1 Fenugreek tea bag • 4 cups whole milk (which is twice the amount the packet asks for) Mix the pudding powder with milk, add yolks, mix well, and cook stirring constantly. When it just starts to boil turn it off and put a teabag of fenugreek in. Take the bag out after about 2-3 minutes. Cool the pudding and give it to the bitch