high temp tummy

Question

swollen nipples?   My two year old Jack Russel has just had her first litter. Four fat healthy pups and one prolapsed. She has been a brilliant mum so far and no concerns with feeding or milk production as at day five. However she has been panting on and off and her tummy is quite warm. She often lays outside the box once the puppies go to sleep to cool down, I assume. She is eating and drinking well and loves going for walks. Other than temp and sleeping a fair bit everything seems fine. Should I watch out for anything or is it just the fact we live in Australia and the days are warming up?

Also I'm not sure if her nipples are swollen or normal considering the treatment the four pups have been giving them. :)

Many thanks Ciara

Answer
Your bitch's nipples look perfectly normal; in fact, I have had some here that were much larger than that.

Newborns should be kept at 90F (32.2C) as they have no way to regulate their own body temperature for several days. I keep a heat lamp on one corner of the whelping box, or in the summer I will keep all in a crate that is covered with a blanket with one small vent for excess heat to escape. The temperature can be brought down to normal by two weeks of age. Now if your temperatures are really hotter than that (summer!) and there is no air conditioning, a bottle or two of frozen water can be put into the whelping box to cool things down. Puppies will lie where the temps are the most comfortable for them.

Everything sounds perfectly normal with your bitch, other than the fact that she "loves going for walks". When mine have newborns, they do not leave them willingly, and I usually have to carry them outside to get them to potty.