6 Vital Actions To Take Care Of Your Pregnant Dog

Taking care of female dogs during their pregnancy is a complicated yet important thing we should pay intention to.

First, make sure that your dog is over one year old. Take your dog to the vet before deciding to let them have babies. Some hospitals also do coupling arrangement but this is not recommended for the dogs.

Then, follow these 6 things below to make sure your dogs have the safest pregnancy period.

1. Get vaccine before pregnancy

The immune system of a pregnant dog directly affects its puppies’ immune ability. The immunity of the mother will pass down to the puppies right through the very first drop of milk.

Therefore, it is important to have your dog vaccinated before they are pregnant. Do not give vaccine to dogs during their pregnancy.

2. Watch out for parasite

It is bad for dogs to have giardiasis in their stomachs or veins right before getting pregnant. The mother dog with helminthiasis will pass down to the puppies through wombs and breast milk. Getting rid of fleas is also an important step before the puppies are born.

3. Nutrition portion

Carrying and raising babies cause the need of nutrition of the mothers to highly increase. For the first 6 weeks of pregnancy, do not give them portion exceeds.

However, starting from the 6th week, their weight and meal size will start gaining, but remember to keep it at a gain of 25%. Some wouldn’t eat well, even suffer from morning sickness for 3 – 4 weeks.

After birth is the real time to boost nutrition for the mother dogs. If they’re too skinny, you can awaken their appetite by moisturizing the food or adding many different flavors to the meal.

4. Take your dog to the vet

Female dogs should be taken to the vet after 30 days of pregnancy if they weren’t checked before. Some vets recommend taking X-ray 3 weeks in advance, to predict the number of the puppies so you can be aware.

5. Help them do exercises

Fast and intense running or jumping is extremely dangerous. But simple exercises and walking will help your dog maintain a stable health and physical strength.

Obesity is a potential danger when it comes to the parturition so you need to control the mother dog's weight by doing exercises with her and pay attention to her need for calories. In the last 3 week of pregnancy, the mother should be isolated from other dogs at home and outside.

6. Welcome the puppies!

Prepare a clean place for the mother dog to give birth. Next is to make a nest padded with towel or old clothes. After a few puppies are born, give them some space to enjoy the moment but still check to see if there are any puppy left or if she has any difficulty in giving birth. During the 3rd and 4th week, let the puppies learn to eat. During the 6th or 8th, the puppies are totally over breast milk, so your dog will be back to her pre-pregnancy meal portion.

Reference: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-care-for-a-pregnant-whelping-female-dog/