my Rubbells is pregnant.....

Question
QUESTION: Hi I'm new on here and this is the first time thast we have breed Ruby. She is 1 and about 7-8 months old. She was studded on 3rd of Decemeber 2009. And oviously we don;t know exactly when she has got pregnant. Don't know tooo much about how long,but I think it can be anywhere from 1-5 or 6 days for them to pregnate Ruby. She's definately pregnant though now. You can just tell. I have had other breeds pregnant before but only once....a staffy bull terrier. But she lost 4 puppies and only managed to save 3. In the end we had to take g=her to the vets one puppy was blocked and couldn't come out. you could see the little nose and tongue,but the staffy was not big anought to let her pass through properly. I didn't know that she was dead I thought the puppy was still alive. But she has green stuff coming out of her. for a while until we took her to the vets. And because we had waited tooo long I think that's why she lloost all the other pups. It really hurts me to think back about that really. Because if I would have done my research before I would have known to take her to the vets IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!.


But Ruby our Boxer we think that she is about 6 weeks now(i think lol) you never know with dogs as far as I know. My knowledge on this is very small. But last night I was looking at her and seen a string of some sort hanging from her behind. And I went down to look at her and it weas a jelly type yellowy greeny colour discharge. I was soooooo worried I have been on all the sites asking for help...but i though you were the perfect person to ask about this. is there anything wrong with her. I have been checking her temperiture for the last week and se has always stayed around 37-38oc never above. tonight about 5  minutes ago I checked her temperiture and it was 38.0 oc. Is this normal.

i would love some advice for my princesses welbeing. All I want is for her(Ruby to be ok. And of cause her puppies. We don't want anythjign to go wrong with anything. She's our family dog. We have a 2 year old and she is best friends with her always making her so so so so so so so much!!!!!! she's partr of the family.

ANSWER: I don't know your temperatures, as I am in U.S. and outs is Fahrenheit degrees, not Celsius.

There is much preparation in having a litter- whelping. A whelping box, heating lamps, towels, emergency whelping supplies, and the knowledge.

Pregnancy is between 56-64 days- average 63 days.

Take her to your vet for a checkup and xrays to determine how far a long she is and how many puppies she is carrying.

Google "whelping puppies" and "caring for newborn puppies" to educate yourself before it's too late.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So what is the temp in your usa. not in ours oc. what is the temperiture whe you need to be worried?????
what is temp when you know they are in labour??????

do they break waters......
if they do.... how long if you don't see any puppies being born do you have to take them to the vets.....
how long can a labour be for a boxer??????
roughly?????

is there anything that you can tell me that warns me that something is going wrong.????
when a bitch is giving birth and there is a puppy stuck and you can't get them to the vets are you ment to pull the first pup out. Because it is dead or alive maybe.?????

I know everything about looking after the puppies when they are born.I was up every 2 hours before looking after 3 puppies,feeding them. I was even getting the mummies milk. for the puppies as well as welpy(which is the milk powder they give you if the mum won't feed. Well she was trying to swash them behind her back. She wouldn't let them feed our anything. so I milked her boobs and give it to the pups. because it was a bad birth and the first one was dead. and stuck we took her to the vets and she had surgery. and theyw ere all alive but in the end they dies all 4 of them beforewe even got out of the vets.(I'm talking about my Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Not Ruby this is her first litter.  

Answer
Normal temperature is 101.5 degrees Farenheit. When it goes down into the 90's, she would be in labor or early labor. It is a sign.

Not all break water, as each puppy is in an individual sack (placenta) with its own fluids... and another sign of labor is a normal clear-to-cloudy-white discharge, not eating, lazy, pacing, nesting, restlessness, etc.

Puppies can be born an hour between the next, or shorter. But when she is in labor, and the first puppy doesn't come for a couple of hours- get her to your vet regardless of the time of day or night. Talk with your vet and ask if he/she will be on standby for you- or get their home phone number to meet you or come out to you. It is worth it.

Obstructions (such as your other dog) are the first pup only, and can be born eventually, but dead, and if not, the other pups will die to not being able to be born. So seeing your vet is critical.

As I recommended, take her to your vet for an examination and x-rays to see how many puppies and how far a long she is to know her real due date. 63 days is the general gestation period, but can be sooner, or, even longer. But the vet will know and I would recommend taking her back before the due date arrives to be sure the size of pups are okay- no real large pup that can cause an obstruction (the first one to be born closest to her birth canal)...

If you manually pull a puppy out, you can tear her, and you can break the puppy's arms and damage the head.

YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO DO IT PROPERLY! That is putting your sterilized fingers inside her (using petroleum jelly on your fingers first) and grab the pup's shoulders and wait for the mom to have a contraction- and when she is having another contraction, gently pull the pup while she is contracting and pushing...

If you don't do it correctly, you will injure or kill the puppy, and hurt mom.

Check with your vet- and if he/she can come out if an emergency like that arises, you will have all your healthy pups okay.