lab mix rescued from shelter very prego

Question
I have this beautiful little mix almost looks like a pitt mix with lab. She is pregnant and I rescued her from a high kill shelter. I know a little about pregnant dogs but am getting a little nevouse as I have never done a pregnant dog before.. You can feel almost all the bumps and kicks the pups make, her temp is around 99.5 to 100, She has big teats right now, she is always stretching and laying down and also has alot of clear mucus. I have a whelping box set up for her but she would much rather be with our family. Any help would be great!! Thank you.. She does have a vet app. today but wanted some knowledge from someone who has lived with a prego girl:)

Answer
Hi. Good job on saving this girl. It sounds like she is getting close to whelping. It's ok if she doesn't want anything to do with her whelping box right now, many girls don't. When the time comes, she'll stay in there. Just make sure you have an old blanket or newspapers in it for her to dig at. After pups are born, remove newspapers and put something like fake lambswool down, or the human chucks, looks like a huge puppy pad that you can buy from Wal-Mart prett cheap. She may go off her feed, that's ok. Try giving her smaller more freuqent meals during the day. Also, you may have to resort to putting cottage cheese, beef broth, or a little bit of vanilla icecream over her food. It's good to have some vanilla icecream on hand anyway for whelping. It works as a pick me up during labor. You'll also want to get some Nutri-Cal, you can get it from the vet. You can use this stuff on mom and pups, it's not that expensive, $8 a tube at least at my vet. Get some bottles and puppy formula on hand before they are born. After the pups are born, you want to keep dogs and people out of her room. Just keep it to you and your family, as mom won't want strangers fooling with her pups, it could make her nervous and want to move the pups, accidentally hurting them in the process. Get some empty two liter bottles on hand. It's very important to keep newborns warm. You can take the two liter bottles and fill them up with warm water, then wrap them in a thin towel, put them in the whelping box. The pups will cuddle up to the them if they get cold. I'm going to give you a web site, please have a look at it. If you have anymore questions, feel free to write!

www.debbiejensen.com