While all heartworm preventives other than Trifexis are labeled as safe during pregnancy, I prefer to time the preventive administration to the days prior to breeding and waiting until 3 weeks past the mating or ovulation. By doing so, you can avoid administering any drug during her first trimester, the most sensitive time for fetal development. All other preventives including the injectable Proheart 12 are safe during pregnancy.

Calcium gluconate 10% is the fastest acting calcium. Second in speed of onset is our Breeders Edge® Oral Cal Plus™ Gel as well as the Oral Cal Plus powder. During whelping, the prescription injectable is preferred but it requires a prescription from your veterinarian. Our BE Oral Cal Plus has a rapid enough onset to help improve labor patterns and can be started at the onset of labor. After the pups are born, to support her calcium needs during lactation, the powder product is the economical choice to continue calcium support. The Oral Cal Plus products are developed by breeders for breeders.

Yes, start them all on Breeder’s Edge® Nuture Flora™ Gel from day one to provide the pre and pro-biotics they need for a great start on gut health. Especially pups born by C-section, they need this extra nutritional support and is your best ally in helping puppies thrive. More than anything, pups need calories and fluids to grow and thrive. Consider bottle feeding and/or tube feeding pups who are small, not nursing effectively, or are getting pushed off when they try to nurse. We have a video in the Revival animal health Learning Center on the website with comprehensive instructions on feeding. Using Breeder’s Edge Foster Care™ with IgY, BioMos® and psyllium provides superior nutritional support for our pups.

There are several techniques you can do to aid her in developing great maternal skills.

1. Three days prior to her due date, placing an Adaptil or ThunderEase collar on her or using a pheromone diffuser appears to support better maternal abilities. This pheromone is marketed to aid dogs with anxiety. These mimic the pheromones that mother dogs produce to communicate comforting messages to their pups. These help her and her
puppies to feel reassured and relaxed.

2. Calcium has been anecdotally reported to help calm lactating mother dogs. Breeder’s Edge® Oral Cal Plus™ has a faster onset of action than other products made for dogs and humans.

3. Saving placental fluid from a mother dog’s placentas or c-section and applying the fluid to the pups’ heads and rumps also appears to help her identify her pups and be more likely to nurse and clean them.

4. Avoid too much activity from other dogs and people in the home so she can focus on her pups and not feel the need to be constantly on guard.

There are many:

1. Distress on the part of the mother dog, such as excessive bleeding, vocalization, or a departure from her typical labor patterns.

2. Failure to deliver the first pup after 2 hours of labor or more than one hour of hard labor to deliver subsequent pups.

3. Pups being born weak or dead.

4. Green vaginal discharge prior to the delivery of her first pup.

5. A pup you cannot deliver vaginally.

6. A pregnancy exceeding 65 days based on ovulation.

7. Your gut feeling that something is wrong. 8. WhelpWise™ tells you to go to the vet. 9. Failure to deliver the entire litter, especially when you have knowledge of an accurate count based on a puppy count x-ray.

1. Bathing her and fully drying her coat with an antibacterial shampoo three to four days prior to her expected due date

2. Giving her probiotics such as Doc Roy’s® GI Synbiotics™ prior to and during lactation.

Use of a probiotic such as Doc Roy’s® GI Synbiotics™ helps establish and maintain the right balance of bacteria in her GI tract. Additionally, the right bacterial balance in her gut will help the pups get off to a great start.

This is an entire 2 hours of webinars – please see: The answer is “it depends” on where you live, the pup’s breed, their exposure risk, and their mother’s vaccination status. All pups need to be dewormed, and all pups need to be vaccinated. Deworming should start at two weeks of age and repeated every two weeks until they start oral heartworm/intestinal parasite monthly products. In general, pups should start their vaccine series at 6 to 8 weeks of age and repeated every three to four weeks until they reach 18 weeks of age UNLESS their mother had a nomogram (titer) that indicates otherwise. They should receive DAPPv (Distemper/Adenovirus 2/ Parainfluenza/ Parvovirus) initially adding in Leptospirosis at 12 weeks of age. Rabies vaccines are based on state law, generally between three and five months of age. We have the deworming and vaccination products and supplies you need, our customer service team can help with what you need to raise healthy puppies.

A lactating mom needs to consume two to four times her normal daily ration to adequately feed her pups without losing her body condition. Higher calorie foods such as Royal Canin® Starter Mousse Mother and baby or Purina Sport 30/20 food can help as these are more calorie dense than her usual food. If needed, you can top dress her food with a canned ration such as Starter Mousse. Adding water to her food or salt to help her want to drink more is also useful. Breeder’s Edge® PuppyLyte™ is a chicken soup flavored electrolyte formula that also improves her water consumption.

In a word, tube feed. Some pups will take a bottle. However, if the pup is unable or unwilling to latch and nurse, this pup may require extra help. Tube feeding Breeder’s Edge Foster Care™ 1 cc per 1 ounce of body weight (30 gms) every three to four hours IF the pup’s rectal temperature is over 96oF is often life-saving. This can be hard work but none should die of starvation.

In several ways, there are differences. 1. The mom may have too much or too little milk, so monitor the pup’s weight carefully. Avoid excessive weight gain or failure to gain. 2. The single pup may expend a great deal of energy trying to stay latched on as there is no support of the other pups on the sides of the single one. Putting a sock filled with warmed rice or beans can help keep the pup warm and not become exhausted hanging on. 3. The single pup needs to be handled more than a pup in a litter. They miss the opportunity to be touched and frustrated; in other words, they are spoiled. Not only should you provide the usual “Early Neurologic Stimulation” but you should also push the pup off the nipple with a stuffed animal several times a day to teach how it feels to be in a litter.

Nail and ear care should continue as you usually do – at least once a month, trim or grind her nails. Tooth brushing, not scraping, again should be performed regularly as dental disease can negatively impact fertility. Bathing and trimming can be done three to four days in advance of her due date. Be sure to have her thoroughly dried several days before labor starts to prevent chilled damp pups. In addition to her normal trim if she has continuously growing coat, you may find it helpful to trim or shave the extra coat on her mammary chain so the puppies find the nipples more easily. In dogs with long coats on their tail, wrapping the tail with a Vetrap type product can help keep that area cleaner. Do NOT place any constrictive bands or tape on her tail to prevent damage.