[beagletails]

I am full of questions and that is why I joined BW so I hope you can all put up with my inquisitive nature. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

I have a female that we believe to be pregnant with a litter due in October. We will have her checked by the vet within this coming week for confirmation. Since this is our first time of breeding a litter I am researching a lot and am trying to follow things to the letter. I want this to be a successful litter for all with as few complications as possible.

It won't be long and we will be to the stage in her pregnancy that the sources I have been using indicate I should not allow rough play, jumping etc... I have 4 dogs that are used to playing, running, jumping, roughhousing etc... at all times. How much do I need to worry about this and should I start keeping her inside while the others are out playing? That will not go over well by the way. She howls when I separate her from her playmates.

I wonder if I am not worrying too much. I know in humans that they say if your body is used to doing an activity that it most likely that activity during pregnancy will not injure a fetus anyway, but I don't know if it is the same with dogs.

Any Beagle pregnancy advice that BW members have to offer would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jdetmering]

Quote:Originally posted by beagletails:
I am full of questions and that is why I joined BW so I hope you can all put up with my inquisitive nature. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

I have a female that we believe to be pregnant with a litter due in October. We will have her checked by the vet within this coming week for confirmation. Since this is our first time of breeding a litter I am researching a lot and am trying to follow things to the letter. I want this to be a successful litter for all with as few complications as possible.

It won't be long and we will be to the stage in her pregnancy that the sources I have been using indicate I should not allow rough play, jumping etc... I have 4 dogs that are used to playing, running, jumping, roughhousing etc... at all times. How much do I need to worry about this and should I start keeping her inside while the others are out playing? That will not go over well by the way. She howls when I separate her from her playmates.

I wonder if I am not worrying too much. I know in humans that they say if your body is used to doing an activity that it most likely that activity during pregnancy will not injure a fetus anyway, but I don't know if it is the same with dogs.

Any Beagle pregnancy advice that BW members have to offer would be greatly appreciated.

Well, to be honest there aren't a lot of us here that have dealt specifically with pregnancies, as a great deal of our members have adopted from shelters, etc.
I recently had a litter here of 8 on June 21st. One male did not make it thru the first 24 hours. I probably could have prevented that, but that is in hindsight and I figure nature rules, etc.
The kicker of my pregnancy here is that I had actually tried to prevent it. My Maggie was 9 months old when she had her first heat that got her pregnant and I had wanted her to go thru the first heat before I got her fixed because I had read things that had said it was better for the female to go thru first to avoid breast and uterine cancer. I kept her apart from Chopper the whole 2 weeks she was bleeding and right after that they got tied ONE TIME and she drug him thru the house backwards and finally broke them apart but still got 8 pups out of it!
See I Had started with Harley and Sadie, two from a litter together. They had also had an accidental mating and luckily only one pup came from that which is Maggie. I had given Sadie to a farm family so she could run, that had 2 little girls and promised to love her too, but anyhow, thats another story
So I have been thru 2 pregnancies here. The first one, as I said, only produced one pup and though I know it sounds bad, the vet says it does happen in the wild, and on occasion, so incest isnt quite as bad as with humans.
Chopper had shown up at our house this winter, when it was very cold, and was quite sick and thin, so I took him in, which he mated with Maggie and produced the pups then.
I did a ton of research online and found out about deliveries, that was my main concern, because really dogs are only pregnant I think its 55-65 days usually so the pregnancy isnt too tough on them until the last few weeks. Both my girls that had pups showed very little signs other than the teets getting larger and larger. I had read that when they start producing milk then it will be any time, but both my girls had milk about 2 weeks before the pups came.
If I were you I would also just "google" pregnancies with dogs, I didnt find much about just beagle pregnancies in general but most of the info I found was basically on delivery.
Anyhow, feel free to email me if you want.. I have had a super long weekend and need to get some more things done tonight, so I am sorry if my babbling didnt make any sense! LOL

/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif Judi
Harley
Maggie /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
Chopper :raspberry:
and the last 2 pups here---
Lucky :rainbow:

 

[Zookeeper]

Never dealt with a beagle pregnancy, but years ago, my lab Cassie had a litter (11 pups!). One thing the vet told me was that pregnancy and nursing take a lot out of a dog and they need extra protein, especially for their coat. He had me giving Cassie a few boiled eggs each day, which we did and she loved them, and she kept her beautiful coat. Funny thing, to this day (10 years later), if we crack a hard boiled egg, she comes running.

We also fed her puppy food when she was nursing. She was still very active while pregnant, but as she got further along, she slowed down a lot. When it finally came time for her to whelp, I ended up with blankets on the living room floor, lying down next to her to keep her calm. She did great and was such a good mommy. She’s still mommy to any younger pups that come over, and you would think that Duke was one of her own, even though she’s 12 now.

 

[angelaH]

When our first two beagles were pregnant we didnt do anything special. They were as active as they chose to be. Obviously no makng them run behind bikes or anything. Once the pups were there we helped the mums by feeding the pups on special puppy milk in rotation and gave the mums good, nourishing food. Make sure your girl has a place she can give birth in in peace. A box is a good idea.

 

[beagletails]

I appreciate all the advice so far and would not mind more if someone has some to share.

As for feeding her...this week we started putting some cottage cheese in with her food every other day. Next week it will be either cottage cheese or a hard boiled egg every day. I plan to alternate to give her more variety.

I have put together a 48x48x20 whelping box for her already and will set it up a few weeks before she is due to whelp so she can get used to sleeping in it. I made it of good quality sanded wood, primed the wood with excellent primer and I have placed vinyl tiles on the bottom to help keep it cleaner. It really turned out nice.

Due to the fact that we have other dogs we will put the 4 foot high exercise pen panels all around the whelping box to protect both the momma and her litter. I am quite certain my house will be noisy for awhile because my other beagles whine a lot when they get curious about something. In addition to having more noise...I will be giving up my dining room completely through this process. Good thing we never eat at the table. lol

Keep offering more advice as I want to make sure I am not forgetting anything.