husky 56 days

Question
Hello, I have an 11 month old husky who I believe is on her 56th day. She's young, I know. Wasn't supposed to happen just yet, but they're sneaky! anyway, i'm overly paranoid because she isn't that big really and her nipples aren't as swollen as I would think they should be. I'm tempted to get an xray so I know how many pups there are, but I don't want to stress her out. I finally felt a little movement I think, but most of the time I cant. Am I worrying for nothing, and is labor much more risky sure to her age?

Answer
Sarah,

First of all...I don't believe in the word sneaky when it comes to breeding dogs. If you have a male and a female and you do not have the intention to breed them, they should be kept apart, ot should be altered before they can get pregnant or reach sexual maturity. I would suggest an x-ray as soon as possible, you should never not do one. If you don't know how many puppies to expect, how will you know if she is in trouble and that a puppy is stuck? In a worse case scenario if a puppy is stuck and you think she is done delivering, the puppy will die inside your bitch causing an infection. As the infection spreads your bitch will die and you will be left with raising X amount of puppies by hand, which is a daunting task to say the least. I would not wish that upon anyone. Labor is always risky, regardless of the dog's age. The more important thing you have to remember is that with each heat you allow her to go through, you are increasing her chances of cancer in the future at younger age, thereby decreasing her life expectancy.

I did not intend on being rude, and not at all judgmental, this is a help forum sometimes even we have frustrations. Regardless of why or how your bitch got pregnant, the bottom line is that an x-ray needs to be done. Without that you are risking her well being as well as the puppies. The x-ray will give you the tools you will need in order to make her delivery a safe one. Just knowing the amount of puppies will prepare you for the near future of whelping all of the puppies safely. If you know that there are still more puppies inside her but you don't see any for 24 hours, I would advise you to take her to the vet. They can give her a shot to help the contractions. If you have a breech puppy, you may need to help by pulling the puppy out. If you still that she is struggling and the puppy will not come out, this again might constitute having to go to the vet. Because she is younger, her maternal instinct may not kick in to clean her puppies off. Sometimes younger bitches will even step on their puppies or suffocate them. Other bitches will not want to stay in the whelping box with them at all...You just have to watch these signs because the mother can also harm them and not even know that she is doing anything wrong.