Well, my friend Mia and I are going to tell you everything about the pregnancy in dogs.
What should you know?
Here there are 4 puppies.
Everything about your pet
DOGS Pregnancy
As I said, I'm going to talk about everything that refers to the pregnancy in dogs. w.
Perhaps the first striking question that you usually ask is how do we know that a dog is pregnant.
How do you know if your dog is pregnant?
Comparing to the first pregnancy symptoms in women
where one of the first symptoms is the lack of a period
Well, it's completely irrelevant in dogs.
Heat in dogs happens every six months or so.
More or less two heats per year.
Therefore the lack of bleeding during heat doesn't mean that the dog is pregnant.
In addition, heats in female dogs can be irregular.
It can come every six months, but it can also be four to even ten months.
If the heat is deleyed, it doesn't mean pregnancy.
Evidently she has to have contact with male dog to be pregnant.
Thanks to this you can tell if a pregnancy is an option or not.
So how to detect that pregnancy, that already started?
Approximately 20 - 25 days after contact with male, we can do an ultrasound and see if are there embryos.
And surely one of the questions that arise is how long does pregnancy last in dogs?
Normally between 61- 64 days at most.
Some physical changes you can see at home, the more advanced pregnancy, the more visible.
You can obviously see that the abdomen is growing larger.
But during the first month of pregnancy you are hardly going to notice it.
First month you hardly notice anything.
After the first month her abdomen is growing, she is eating more
and she also eats more because she has more needs.
How big her tummy gets also depends on how many puppies she has.
More puppies - bigger tummy.
Other thing that you can notice is the pee.
As puppies are getting bigger inside of the dog, bladder has less space to expand.
So it holds less cantidad of the pee, has less ability to retain the pee.
In the end what we see is that she's drinking more and metabolizing more
as those puppies are growing and she is peeing more,
because bladder has less space left.
And finally, well, you'll notice the nipples.
They begin to mark much more.
The nipples are marked, have a very sensitive skin
and they become larger and more striking to be functional for future puppies.
Changes in behavior
As for the changes in behavior that you can see, there are several changes in behavior,
but they are not constant, in some animals they will be seen, it other not.
It should be clear that I'm going to talk about generalities.
It's true that some very active dogs suddenly become calmer.
There is also very typical behavior - making the nest.
In the last third of the gestation, the dogs always go looking for a place dimly lit
to create there a nest.
Some become calmer, some get more nervous,
but it's common that they seek more protection from the humans
and avoid approaching other dogs or playing roughly with other dogs.
In general as the pregnancy progresses, they become very relaxed.
And, as I told you, they will search for a place where they can give birth to their puppies.
And finally and it's logical, their eating habits are going to change.
You will see that she has more desire to eat.
That is completely normal, because she is pregnant, creating new beings.
In the end she has to eat.
You going to see that she eats and drinks more.
But let's go back to the question you always ask me, how do I know that my dog ​​is pregnant?
To know for one hundred percent, as I have told you before we need to do an ultrasound.
From day 20 - 25 of gestation we can do an ultrasound where, we are not only going to see
how many puppies there is but also are they deformed, is there a heartbeat
and is everything going correctly. And that is the best way.
What other complementary tests can we do? For example, a blood test is phenomenal.
And at the end of pregnancy, when the pregnancy is reaching its last days, we can take an X-ray.
That will also give us a lot of information on how puppies are positioned
and if delivery be without problem.
Care
And if we already confirmed that the dog is pregnant, as is the case of Mia.
And during the evolution of the gestation there are very important things that you have to know.
The first important piece of information that you have to know and I will repeat again
is that the gestation will last between 60 - 64 days depending on whether it is a first pregnancy or not
how many puppies there is, even the breed...
there are several factors that influence the estimated time of the gestation.
Sometimes it's less, sometimes it's more, but you always have to know that it's between 62 - 64 days.
Other thing that you can do, with great care is check-up is everything goes well.
As you see how I do with Mia, she is realaxed, I can touch her, make her feel pampered, cared for,
taking advantage of it, touch to see is there any pain, fever, hot spots, that everything is fine.
You can also touch her breasts, put your hand on the belly.
And it's very cool, because in the more advanced stages
you will be able to see the movement of the puppies inside the belly and also feel it.
And your home must be zen.
She needs tranquility, calm and also the temperatures have to be mild.
Avoid extreme temperatures, cold and heat are not good.
Her place should be comfortable with more or less stable temperatures and as I've told you very calmly.
No screaming, no running, no playing.
It's also very important that your veterinarian tells you how many puppies are coming.
In case of Mia, we've already done an ultrasound and we know that four puppies are coming.
But now imagine that it's time of delivery and we don't know how many puppies are coming
and delivery stops after three puppies.
If she has given birth to three, we can say well, she has already given birth, the delivery has ended.
But if we know that four have to come, we know that one remains inside and there's a problem.
Therefore, veterinary control is always fundamental, to know how many puppies are coming.
Not only how many are coming, but also that the gestation is developing correctly
and that the needs of the mother are covered.
Sometimes in very small dogs that bring many puppies or even large dogs that have many puppies
or if they have bad physical condition, they may need a supplements, vitamins,
special care during pregnancy that you also have to take into account.
Therefore during pregnancy and lactation you have to control their needs.
Diet
You have to know that you must take care of a diet a lot during the gestation.
From approximately day 30 - 35, the diet should change to a special diet, it's usually puppy feed.
This diet has more protein, has more fat, is more nutritious.
Why? Because more or less from day 30, the nutritional requirements of the pregnant dog increase.
But we also have to check if she's not overweight.
It's just as bad as feeding below her needs as when you are doing overfeeding
because it's not good if she will be fat during the time of delivery.
Another important thing about feeding is that it's likely that the day before or even the two days before delivery
she will stop eating. It's something more or less normal.
Also hour before the delivery her temperature will drop.
It helps you to know at what moment the delivery will start.
Another frequent question is about bath.
Can pregnant dog be bathed or not.
If bath is relaxing and pleasant for her, you can bathe her as you normally do.
In fact, it is much better if in the moment of delivery, she is clean,
especially the area of her nipples, because puppies will be breastfed.
It has to be perfectly clean, even though she will clean herself.
Another thing: can she exercise or not?
Easy and moderate exercises - yes.
Can she walk - yes, can she go for a walk - yes.
Can she run? It depends on how she runs, but it's not the best time for her to play with other dogs
where she can be hit or fall, it's not the best time for that.
So if there are going to be sudden movements or she can be hit, it's better to avoid it
because as I said before she needs calmer and more relaxed environment.
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In general, we can help our dogs a lot with creating a nest.
It's what they will look for in these last moments of the gestation
before delivery she is going to look for a place in the house that is calm and peaceful.
We are going to look for places in the house, we don't need to buy anything special,
but underneath a table or somewhere where you know she feels comfortable. It's very important.
Cuniadvice
And the Cuniadvice is that obviously the best measure for population control
to avoid unwanted litters is that the dogs are sterilized.
Always the birth of a dog brings a lot of joy and it's great
but you have to take responsibility for the number of puppies and the litters.
I mean, adopt if you are thinking about getting an animal
and of course if you wanted to breed it, it should be done in a very controlled way.
And if have doubt, the best is to sterilize.