She is the size of a small jack russel. Im going to have her scanned just to see if everything as it should be.
Im serious about the extra nipple thats grown, As all the others are big at the moment this one has grown the size they were normally before she got pregnant. This is all so much confusing me. Looking forward to my vet sheddings more light on everything.
Im off there now, will update later

Hi all
Been to the vet this evening and everything is super!! Princess is doing fantastic, He thinks she has a week to go, As for the new nipple, She just has 9 nipples. Its not un common. As far as the vet can see there are about 6+ puppies, The scan was not really all that good. We spoke about a c section etc and he said he thinks all will be fine but give me emergency telephone numbers just incase i thought things were not going so well.
Princess is now sleeping after a LONG day at the office, she does not seem to be so uncomfortable today. Must be the new bed i bought her today hehe

Does anybody know where i can get a puppy berthing kit?
Also whats in these kits?

im so glad everything is good with princess. do u have a poundland near u, they have in their baby section an emergancy kit incase the baby comes on the way to the hospital and it has scissors to cut the cord, the suction thing for clearing mouth and nose it has some other stuff too.

when memphis finished having her pups i found all i had used was some srting to tie off one umbilical cord that wasnt chewed properly. clean towels and that was about it. its amazing how much the dog will do her self.

I think there is a poundland in swansea. i will give them a call tomorrow and see if they have one. I went out to buy new towels and small blankets today. im getting really excited now!!!! Going to call doctor for some prozac ready for when they are old enough to start training and are running all around he house hehe.

So good to hear that Princess is doing great!!! 6+ puppies - WOW - that will be fantastic. Just a word of warning, my Breeder friend kept 5 puppies from one of her girl's litters. Well, suffice it to say, they kept her VERY busy for some time. Two of the girls were such monsters when together but angels apart (she nicknamed them 'the evil twins). They are all over a year old now and good as gold but she said she'd definitely think twice about keeping a whole litter again. Housetraining one puppy at a time was enough for me - but 5 (or even 6)!!!! Still, as you have so much land, they can run around and wear themselves out once vaccs are done, so that they sleep alot (here's hoping)lol!!!

Anyway, birthing kits. I looked at those but the advice that I got was that you hardly need any of it, so it's a bit of a waste; particularly if you are not going to breed in the future.

I just bought new towels, a pair of rounded end scissors in case I needed to cut the cord (some people use cotton instead of scissors, I believe, if needed), an aspirator in case pups need fluid cleared from nose, etc., also I bought some sterilising fluid to make sure everything was nice and clean. Also, I bought electric heatpads for the whelping box. They are very good. I think that was it but I'll post again if I remember anything else. They mostly do it all themselves, clever little creatures but I just wanted to have stuff on hand, in case.

Funny about the 9 nipples! Have never heard of that.

It won't be long now until you have lovely puppies and Princess will be so much more comfortable!

Just had a heat pad off ebay. Now for the whelping box??? Should i buy a whelping box or would a 36" traveling crate be ok? My vet said a dog bed would be ok but i would rather get a little more solid advice from more people who have done this before???

I know its going to be hard to start but im seriously looking forward to having these pups around. Princess was a nightmare when she was a puppy, you could not leave her for more than 5 mins without her getting upto something naughty, At the time i owned 3 pubs and come to work with me all day everyday, Was fantastic because all my customers would keep her busy if i was busy so then she calmed down, and as you can guess is a very social dog.

Hope Mum is doing good today.

Whelping Boxes - I just used one of the disposable ones like they sell on eBay. It was okay but I think a box you could wipe clean would be nice. Probably look down that route next time I breed.

I think pretty much anything is okay so long as the box is high enough at the sides to keep the pups safe but lower at the front, so Mum can get in and out as needed, without any struggle. The travelling crate you are talking about sounds as if it will be fine.

Hi
Mum is great today, I have taken the day off to put wooden flooring down in my living room and she wants to try and help, She will not leave my side and keeps jumping on my lap if i kneel down hehe.
Onto the crate, It has a removable bottom tray that can be removed to clean. I was also wondering where would the best place be to put the crate? Would near a radiator be the best place?

Arrrrh, don't you just love it when they try to "help" - imagine having six of them jumping around you when they feel like being "helpful" like I do - mind you, you won't have to IMAGINE much longer, it is likely to be reality

Anyway, the crate, I have just realised what you meant, when you said about the removable bottom tray. I personally wouldn't use those, though I understand some people do. I would like to have really easy access to the pups, so a whelping box is really easy to access. Also, in one of those crates, you can't use the pig rails (well unless anyone has an idea of how to attach them to a crate successfully). Just in case you haven't come across pig rails, they are the rails that go around the inside edges of the box, with enough room between the rail and the bottom of the whelping box, for the pup to wriggle under, if Mum is lying on top of them whilst she's asleep or something. Maybe your pups will be a bit bigger, so perhaps pigrails won't be necessary, perhaps somebody with some good breeding experience on here might like to help on that one.

You can pick the disposable whelping boxes up, if you decide you want one, really easily. Lots of places do them online (eBay have some Sellers on there that do them). I imagine it would be about £25-ish for the size you would require.


I don't think I would put the whelping box next to the radiator but pretty close by, so as to keep the little lovelies warm. It is important to make sure the temperature doesn't drop at night in the room, so if it were me, I'd leave the heating on low all night.

Just wanted to say, I am by no means experienced. All that I advise you is what I have read, been advised by my Mentor or other breeders and the one whelping. I just wish I had more experience to share! I know it's pretty scary the first time you breed.

I really think it's a poor show that no breeders on here have shared their vast experience with you .

Anyway, I am sure it will all go just great for you. Your Vet sounds very good and when that book I advised you to get (Book of the Bitch) arrives, you will find lots of information in there. It really is a fantastic book.

Haha she has been funny, She aint much help now though, Poor little miss princess has gone to bed.
I think as far as the whelping box goes i would much rather buy one that can be cleaned rather than a disposable one, Disposable does not make me think that is would be any good.
As for my vet, he has been fantastic, Im popping back there before the weekend just to have her checked over again.
Just hope that she does not start having pups before the whelping box gets here