peaceful

I'm with chocolate...no need to worry..... Maiden bitches can exhibit nesting, digging behaviour on and off for a week leading up to a "normal" whelping. I hope Raja is not worrying needlessly now due to the ideas presented on this thread. She has an "easy" whelping natural breed. Ellz I also dont think you need to withdraw offers of assistance to your friend. I hope you will still be available for support. ...and I look forward to hearing about all the new litters born in June.

Ok ok ok ok ok ok ok I guess we will find out soon enough when things start to happen.

I understand your concern Ellz and I dont think your advice to tread carefully is unnecessary either. Usually when temperatures are taken of bitches in whelp it is done over a lengthy period of time to get a baseline of her "normal" in whelp temperature so when it drops "considerably" you know its getting close. As far as I can see from looking back through this thread Rajacadoo only began taking her girls temperatures on the 21st of this month...today is the 24th.... not really enough to state categorically that a drastic temperature drop has occurred allowing for differences in levels of excitement in the bitch which can alter the temperature, also allowing for calibration of the thermometer and human error.

So sorry to hear about your troublesome time Ellz. I'm sure there are lots of horror stories out there and I've had my own as well but I'm sure that these are the exception rather than the rule. Most litters are straighforward and trouble free. Rajacadoos breed are easy whelpers as chocolate has already stated.

I wouldn't worry. She will have them when she is good and ready. I dont take temperatures anymore....so if you didnt take her temp. you would never know when it dropped and wouldn't be worried at all The only time I would worry is if she has gone overdue. Good luck

Peaceful, your info makes perfect sense... I know that there is no Oxytocin till after the first baby, is it the same with the calcium, none till first pup is born ??? I'm not sure....but I give my girls some if they are straining and nothing much is happening....it seems to work and have no ill effects....certainly wont rupture a uterus or anything horrible like that.... Only give oxytocin if the vet advise you too (but not before pups) no matter what they say

My girls eat right up until they start delivering....sometimes have a little spew from all the pushing but they dont refuse food Think your girl will start today RAJACADOO goooooooooood luck!!!!!! let us know when it starts as I'll be checking on here regularly if I can .

I wash our vet bedding separately...dont want wee wee smells on my other washing

RAJACADOO says...." was by giving calcium during the whelping process, can interfere with the bitches ability to produce her own adequate amounts of calcium, directly after delivery, so leaving her a sitting duck for problems... Her body is expecting the calcium supps to continue, so it takes a while for her to start producing her own calcium . The other thing she mentioned was it takes so long for the body to process the oral calcium, its of little use at the time when the bitch needs it..." ......What your vet has said is true if the bitch is given supplemental calcium during her pregnancy and can lead to her developing eclampsia.... not true of during labour though.....she can utilise the liquid calcium and it does help with contractions. The puppies nursing from their mama also makes her body produce natural oxytocin so helps to keep the contractions going. If oxytocin is given BEFORE any puppies are born it can rupture her uterus.....a big NO NO.... 2 different vets I have been to in the middle of the night whelping emergencies have given oxytocin before any puppies were delivered and both times resulted in dead puppies and 1 time almost a dead mama bitch as well. Will never allow a vet to do that to one of my bitches ever again!

6 weeks for a few minutes and then slowly build up the amount of time left on.

Dont get the sire and dams names and rego numbers wrong... check the birth dates send correct amount in a cheque NOT Cash

No at All Breeds Shows and Yes at Breed Club Shows. There are enough All breeds shows week in and week out for the committee not to HAVE to show at their own club shows. If Breed club show committees could not enter their own specialty shows most clubs would not get enough entries to justify running the show. As long as judges are not chosen by the same committee members and are not met by them prior to the show there should be no problems. Of course there are always those that are going to do the unethical but hopefully those are in the minority and they usually get found out somewhere down the track.

PAYPAL is easy and the fees much cheaper.

Congratulations to the winners !!!!

Congratulations on an awesome win. Its great to see the numerically smaller breeds doing so well!!

Do any of the powers that be know if the Spitz Breed show tomorrow at KCC will be inside or outside?? TIA

If she is licking her boobies it probably means she is producing milk so is close to having her bubbas :-) The remedy is to whelp Sorry couldn't resist!!

Poor girl and poor poor puppies. I'd hate to imagine the trauma this bitch was going through all by herself restrained on a chain and no help or warmth. Maybe she ate the pups to protect them from her owner. Horrible horrible, just makes my heart break thinking about it. When I have puppies due I take time off from work for a full week before the due date and then another 2 weeks at least plus I make up a bed in the whelping room and sleep there for 2-3 weeks. Edited to add: I forgot to answer the question...No I would not let this person near any of my dogs again. You've carried out your end of the bargain and the rest was up to him to give due and proper care.

Mine always eat the afterbirths almost before they are even fully out.....pretty gross!!! which makes it hard sometimes to count them but I usually give the job of checking and counting placentas to my helper. Have never had a problem with the mum after eating them all and I believe we should let instincts take over in this instance. I think I read somewhere that it helps to uterus to contract better to expel everything?

You really should stick to the same lab doing all your progesterone testing as the machines can be calibrated differently and if not done properly could most likely result in an incaccurate prog level. This is the reason why its always recommended to have all prog tests run at the same lab and with the same vets. Even then sometimes you'll get an inaccurate result due to machine calibration not done correctly but if doing a test every day over a period of time you will find the right level (if that makes sense?)

The weather doesn't look too good for it

Yes I received one today and it scared the hell out of me

I have 4 boys collected. These are their post thaw motility rates Boy 1 is 80 % (3 years old) Boy 2 is 60% (3 years old) Boy 3 is 75 % (7 years old) Boy 4 is 60 % (2 years old) They say the younger the dog the better the post thaw motility can be but as you can see from above not always so. So it could pay to have them collected younger rather than once they are older ( as in over 6 years old) edited to add ages of dogs

We have never done a prog test on a pregnant bitch...I wouldn't want to stress her out. Ultrasound will tell you if she is in whelp or not.

You should get a frozen semen report at the time of the collection or shortly after about the semen quality. If your not getting this I would be asking why not???? Motility is how mobile the sperms are and if they are swimming in a forward direction and not just around and around in circles afterall they wont be able to find their way into the uterus if they cant swim up there. Morphology is the most important thing....this is the amount of normal healthy sperm cells. Post thaw motility and number of live sperm post thaw should hopefully be "fast" and of "excellent" quality.