Pregnant king charles help

lessers

Hi

I have 2 king charles dogs a male and a female, The female is pregnant and is due the 11th of june (going from the first day they mated). I have never had a pregnant dog before and was woundering what do i need to get for when she is going to give birth?
Do i need to keep the male away from her and the pups and if so for how long?

Any tips or advice would be much appricated.

Thanks

cloudy day

Not wanting to sound offensive lesser, but you should of had one or the other fixed so this wouldn't hapen if you have no experience. That said, you should buy yourself a good book, book of the bitch is ok for guidlines.

You need to count from date of mating for your est date of delivery. Ideally you should have a red light for heat or a pad. You should keep the dog away from her, she should have her own place.

You need to prearrange with somebody experienced to be on call to help you or failing that you need to arrange with your vet to call. By the sounds of things you will not even know to recognise when she goes into labour or if there is anything wrong with her. Sometimes a first put can get stuck if it comes backwards.

Magenta

lessers wrote: »

Hi

I have 2 king charles dogs a male and a female, The female is pregnant and is due the 11th of june (going from the first day they mated). I have never had a pregnant dog before and was woundering what do i need to get for when she is going to give birth?
Do i need to keep the male away from her and the pups and if so for how long?

Any tips or advice would be much appricated.

Thanks

Should you not have researched all this before allowing them to mate?
Did you do health checks for syringomyelia/heart problems? King Charles have been heavily overbred and a very significant proportion get heart problems.

jen_23

Just had a quick google and came up with a few things.

1st http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=R6YaIryq0iIC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=whelping+king+charles&source=bl&ots=l-YSwRWWqQ&sig=BIvQ4q_2gITeO-zAKA-AKwyupJs&hl=en&ei=KWogSszMDsrRjAe_1-SrBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#PPA87,M1
It's a book preview on google you don't get the entire thing but you get a few pages.

2nd http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/dogbreeding.html
Gives a nice checklist.

3rd http://www.breedadog.com/pregnancy.asp
a concise guide to breeding

4th Interesting link on yahoo answers
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080531204648AABa1sI

Also found this to take note of
'Attention to puppies

Puppies will not usually require attention from the owner of a normal bitch, who has whelped successfully by herself. However, in short-nosed breeds, e.g., Pekinese, King Charles spaniels and English Bulldogs, it is sometimes necessary to attend to the umbilical cord, if the puppy is born intact, or attached to the foetal sac (or "puppy-bag") as the membranes in which the puppy lies when in the womb are called. The cord should be tied off about a quarter to half inch from the puppy's navel with sterile cotton (i.e., boiled cotton) and the membrane or "bag" side of the cord cut with sterilised scissors. The stump should then be dabbed with tincture of iodine.'


If you haven't already you really need to get on top of your research. From what I've read your talking a lot of hard work and that's if everything goes well let alone goes south.
I would if I were you as the pups are due soon go to your nearest bookshop and get swatting! (don't online order as you don't have time to be waiting)
I don't breed dogs myself but I do know how much hard work they are.
Esp for breeders who care about bettering the breed and not just a quick way to make a bit of money at the expense of the family pet.

I would ring your vet and ask him to be there for the delivery just in case there are complications esp as it is my understanding that during the birth if anything does go wrong your beloved dog could die.

Good luck and keep us posted with how you get on.

looserock

lessers wrote: »

Hi

I have 2 king charles dogs a male and a female, The female is pregnant and is due the 11th of june (going from the first day they mated). I have never had a pregnant dog before and was woundering what do i need to get for when she is going to give birth?
Do i need to keep the male away from her and the pups and if so for how long?

Any tips or advice would be much appricated.

Thanks

You need to get her used to the place where you want her to have the pups, probably best to make her sleep there from now on, if you don't she could choose to have them anywhere.

The heat lamp or pad is essential or maybe a hot water bottle.

Plenty of rags or old towels, its a messy job.

A sturdy cardboard box, best to put the already born pups in while she is pushing another out, place heat lamp over or pad/ hot water bottle inside.

Pups may come out inside their sacks, you need to tear the sacks, get the pups out, clear their airway, tear the cords, not cut, leaving them about five or six inches long.

The pups may appear lifeless, you need to rub vigorously to stimulate them to breath.

good luck.

edit You do need to keep the dog away from them as she will be very aggressive toward him, probably for six or seven weeks.

cloudy day

Just to be sure, the hot water bottle. You would treat it as yourself. Like for burning.

Wrap it in say a towel so the heat is muffled. A lamp or pad really is the best buy though as you'll need it for a while.

P.s I know a woman who has been breeding happy healthy K charles for years and with no health problems.

Arcadian

cloudy day wrote: »

P.s I know a woman who has been breeding happy healthy K charles for years and with no health problems.

What's the kennel name? I'm sure the SM & MVD researchers in the UK would absolutely love to get in touch with her because as far as I know they have yet to find a line with zero health problems

cloudy day

Arcadian wrote: »

What's the kennel name? I'm sure the SM & MVD researchers in the UK would absolutely love to get in touch with her because as far as I know they have yet to find a line with zero health problems

i'll tell her to give them a call. since wow, really, she seems to be the only one that has happy healthy eldery K charles outside of the U.K. They must be breeding real s**** or looking in the wrong places if they can't find any that are health free.

Morganna

Gosh i hope both parents have been health checked and the bitch is at least eighteen months old.You will need a heat lamp and vet bed.Make sure the bitch is getting calcium.The gestation period for a bitch is 63 days though 59days can be the norm.You will needto be with your bitch while she is whelping .A good book is dog breeding a guide to mating and whelping by kay white.Really though it would have been better if u had done your research before mating them .Good luck with your litter.

Magenta

cloudy day wrote: »

They must be breeding real s**** or looking in the wrong places if they can't find any that are health free.

Oh there's plenty of King Charles lacking in health, since 50% of them have heart disease by the age of 5.

http://www.cavalierhealth.org/mitral_valve_disease.htm

Call me Socket

Ok, it wasn't the most responsible thing allowing them at it with no consideration to the consequences....but @ the couple of people giving out- it's done now and can't be undone, and Lessers is trying to do the right thing now and prepare for the birth and she probably will have learned her lesson afterwards, so really- what's the point in verbal bashing at this stage?

Lessers- have a read of these links, you may find useful info in them.
http://www.irishdogs.ie/Forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6926&title=links-to-informative-websites

cloudy day

50%. can't see how those figures could possibly be correct. you would have to do the ENTIRE population of cavaliers. including all the ones in pet homes.

Also it's documented that there are many dogs with minor murmurs but they do not actually affect a dog.

so a cavalier that's 7 yrs old and has been fit and healthy all it's life would be considered a dog with no health issues.

also there is suspicion that the reasons these health issues are such a problem with a VARIETY of breeds is that they were actually introduced in the first place by what most of us would consider to be bad breeding practces but were once favoured. ie inbreeding and breeding from these dogs with KNOWN health issues.

cloudy day

Lessers

i hope evreything goes ok for you with the dogs. I'd talk to your vet first about giving a calcium supplement, there's are views that it may not be the best thing to do.

looserock

cloudy day wrote: »

Lessers

i hope evreything goes ok for you with the dogs. I'd talk to your vet first about giving a calcium supplement, there's are views that it may not be the best thing to do.

+1

evrumum

jeez guys lessers has come on asking for advice not to be beaten down. isn't it better that they bothered asking and obviously care??