How To Predict when your dog will help her puppies.
Whelping is when a female dog gives birth.63 days is the average length of dog pregnancies.Predicting when your dog will help you prepare your home for the arrival of her puppies.If you work with your vet and look for signs that your dog is about to help, you can make this prediction.
Step 1: Measure the level of the female reproductive system.
The hormone progesterone is used to maintain pregnancies.Its levels go up at ovulation, then go down shortly before whelping.Your vet will know when your dog is ovulating and when the whelping date is because of the amount of progesterone in the blood.Your vet will take daily blood samples to measure your dog's hormones.It will take about 62 to 64 days for Whelping to take place.Whelping will occur in one to three days when the dog is pregnant.
Step 2: Measure the levels of the hormones.
There is a hormone that stimulates ovulation.Your vet will be able to predict when your dog will help with its blood levels peaking at ovulation.It can be difficult to miss the peak of LH levels because they peak for only a short period of time.The vet may prefer to measure only the hormones.
Step 3: Determine when your dog is tired.
The reproductive cycle of a female dog is out of heat.It lasts 57 days.Your vet will take a sample of the inside of your dog's vagina and look at the vaginal cells with a microscope.Each phase of a dog's reproductive cycle has different vaginal cells.Your vet will predict whelping in about 57 days if the cells indicate diestrus.
Step 4: Your vet will perform an exam.
After your dog is 25 days pregnant, your vet will be able to detect the puppies' heartbeats on an abdominalogram.Your vet can estimate the number of days until your dog will help.
Step 5: Let the vet take the x-rays.
Between 42 and 52, your vet will be able to see the fetus on an x-ray.Fetal bones are not developed enough to be seen on an x-ray before day 42.Your vet will tell you when your dog will help in the next few weeks.
Step 6: Take your dog's temperature.
Predicting whelping with a drop in body temperature is one of the most reliable clinical signs.Your dog's body temperature will drop between 8 and 24 hours before you help.When your dog is pregnant, take her rectal temperature twice a day.When her temperature drops at least 1 degree, keep track of the temperatures in a log.
Step 7: Take notice of personality and behavior changes.
At the end of her pregnancy, your dog will probably act differently.She may become restless, prefer to be alone, and demonstrate her behavior one day before whelping.A female starts building a nest or safe area to care for her babies.Dogs are known to drag papers and blankets to a quiet area.The day before she whelps, your dog may start panting.Some dogs can become extra sweet and loving before they help.
Step 8: It is possible to detect a decreased appetite.
Dogs will start eating less if they are within a day.This doesn't happen with all dog breeds.The day before she whelps, your dog may eat as usual.
Step 9: Take a look at your dog's vagina.
One day before whelping, your dog's reproductive system will start to swell.It is possible that it will start leaking a clear mucus.mucus can get on your floors if you don't put extra blankets on the floor.
Step 10: The area to prepare is the whelping.
Half the battle is knowing when your dog will help.Prepare for the whelping process as well.Prepare an area in your home where your dog can give birth and nurse her puppies.The area should be warm, quiet, and secluded.The area should have blankets, a scale to weigh the puppies, and a pen and paper to record notes.Puppy formula and feeding tubes for puppies that aren't nursing on their own.
Step 11: Only when it is necessary.
There is no need for human intervention in most whelpings.Too much help from you makes your dog nervous about giving birth.If the mother is tired or inexperienced, she may need your help with the whelping process: Tearing the placental membrane from the puppies' mouths and noses.
Step 12: If there are problems, contact the vet.
If there is something wrong with the whelping process, contact your vet as soon as possible.Call your vet if your dog is late.There are other reasons to call your vet, such as intense labor for 20 minutes, but a puppy hasn't been delivered.