pregnant 7 year old poodle

Question
yeah i was wondering if my grandmas dog who is an 7 year old poodle mix can have her babies and live cause she is do at the end of this month and we would have gotten her puppies aborted cause she is so old and if there is anything i should do when she is giving birth

Answer
Hello Joseph,
Your dog should be ok giving birth to her puppies if she is healthy already.  Make sure that you give her a proper diet (maybe even give her some hamburger or cottage cheese once in awhile) and before the puppies are born you might want to get her Vet checked to be sure that she is in very good health before the puppies come.  

Here is some things that you might need to know when the puppies come so that you can help your female.

Dogs are usually pregnant 63 days from the first breeding.  You should start to see and feel the babies moving, around the 45th day or so.  This is also when a Vet can tell on an ultrasound if puppies are present and how many are there.  

You will know she is getting close to birthing when she starts to get a waxy substance on her nipples.  

If you feel comfortable taking her tempature (rectally) you can start taking it twice a day around the 60th day that your dog is pregnant.  This should give you a normal temp of around 101.5 (a dogs normal tempature).
As she gets closer to birthing, her temp will drop some and when it gets to 98.0, she will have puppies within 24 hours, though she can have them before it drops all the way to 98.0.

She might also start "nesting" or looking for a place to have the puppies. You might want to think of a good place for her to have the puppies, and start to get it ready for her.  Put some towels or old blankets down for her, and top it with some newspapers (birthing is a very messy job, so use several layers of newspapers for the actual deliverly and you can throw them away as they get soiled).  Introduce her to the "nest" and let her get comfortable with it, so that when the time comes, she will be used to the "nest box" and will use it rather than the middle of your bed or inside your closet.

To be ready for when the puppies come, you will need some supplys to help the mother in her birthing process.  

Puppy Supplys Kit:
TOWELS-you can never have enough towels.  They come in handy to dry the puppies off and to help clean up the female in between the births.
PAPER TOWELS-helps clean up the afterbirth.
DENTAL FLOSS-used to tie the umbicial cord to keep it from bleeding.
SCISSORS-used to cut the umbicial cord after you tie it off.
NAVAL IODINE-used to dip the stub of the umbicial cord in.
INFANT BULB NASAL ASPERATOR-also known as the Nose sucker.  This is used to clear the fluid from the nose and mouth of the puppy.
PEN AND PAPER-if you want to take down time of birth, color, sex, and weight of puppies.
NUMBER OF YOUR VET-just to have it on hand.

Instructions when the puppies start to come.  
You will first see the mother start to push and you should see a puppy start to come out, hopefully head first.  When the puppy is out, tear the sac away from around the puppys face and use the nasal bulb to suck mucus from the nose and mouth.  If the placenta (afterbirth) isn't out yet don't pull it out, it should be delivered within a short time after the puppy is born.  Go ahead and tie off the umbicial cord with the dental floss close to the puppies belly.  You can then cut the cord away from the placenta.  After this is done, the mother may eat the placenta. Its ok to let her.  Its natural and actually healthy for her.  Do watch that she doesn't eat it until its off the puppy.  Some mothers will try to bite the umbicial cord themselves and they can either get it too short or can tear the puppies belly, so its best that you cut the cord for her.  
Next dry the puppy a little bit with the towel and make sure its breathing (see below if puppy isn't breathing or having trouble) then you can put the puppy down by its mother and let her lick it off some.  
Now, watch for the next puppy.  
Sometimes the births happen fast, sometimes slow.  Be prepaired and walk yourself through the process a couple of times so that you are ready when it begins.  

If your female needs to potty during the process, go ahead and let her, just watch her to make sure that she doesn't deliver a puppy while relieveing herself.  If she does start to deliver, don't worry, it has happened before, so just let her deliver as normal, wait for the placenta to come out, pick the puppy and placenta up and take them inside, cut the cord then dry the puppy off and let mom lick the puppy.  
After the mother licks the pupppies for awhile, put them on her teat so that they can nurse.  Watch to make sure that they are nursing ok and get a good grip on the teat.

*If a puppy isn't breathing, rub it with the towel vigorously on its chest.  Make sure that all the fluid is out of the nose and mouth.  If it doesn't start breathing after this, hold it at chest level and gently drop your arm downwards a couple of times.  If you have a needle (any kind will work ie syringe needle, sewing needle, even a stick pin), stick the puppy in the end of his nose and keep it there for about 10-20 sec. (this helps stimulate breathing)
If this still doesn't start the puppy breathing, put your mouth over the puppys nose and mouth and give a very small breath. Repete until puppy is breathing, or until you feel that the puppy has expired.  This sometimes happens for whatever reason, so don't blame yourself and don't feel bad.  You have other little lives that will go on.

I know that this is alot to take in, but once you go through it a couple of times in your head, you should feel more comfortable with the process.  


I hope this helps you some.  If you have other questions for me, please feel free to ask.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim