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Hello...I'm new here...and have some questions....PLEASE HELP!!

 

My husband and I adopted a border collie mix (mix is likely australian shepherd) 2 months ago (it was 8 weeks yesterday). We took her to our vet immediately and got treatment for an ear infection, her shots, etc. The vet thinks she's between 1-2 years old, and besides the ear infection--healthy.

 

She's been a great dog/pet...and learns quickly!

 

We went away for 5 days over the holidays, so we had her boarded at the vet. When we got back, we found out that she IS pregnant. Which means, we adopted a pregnant dog from the SPCA!

 

So, we've done a lot of research and know the gestation is approximately 63 days. We've had her 57...

 

Her temperature hasn't dropped, but she hasn't eaten and drank much in the past couple of days. She's getting huge!

 

How will we know when it's time? We're prepared with a whelping box, and all that is required. We just need to know WHEN.

 

Any advice, suggestions???

thanks!

Kristin

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I can't help you one bit with this situation but I do want to say "bless you!" for giving this girl a loving and caring home. It sounds like she needs it more than ever now.

 

We have been blessed with a couple of Border Collie/Aussie crosses over the years and they have all been terrific dogs. I hope you can have a long and happy life together.

 

Very best wishes!

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Since you adopted her, bless you for doing this, and have no idea when she was bred the best thing that you can do is start taking her temperature twice a day. Once her temperature drops below 99 and stays below 99 she should whelp within 24 - 36 hours. The best thing that you can do in the mean time is make sure that she is getting plenty to eat and start preparing a place where you want her to have her puppies.

 

Good luck,

Kathy

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Wow! Talk about getting more than you asked for!! :D Will you be keeping the pups? One of the nicest dogs I ever knew was a Border Collie/Aussie mix. He's a real sweetheart! (I'm resisting the urge to ask for one of the puppies...I'm resisting the urge to ask for one of the puppies.... :rolleyes:

 

Good luck and send pics as soon as they're born! :D

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Wow! Talk about getting more than you asked for!! :D Will you be keeping the pups? One of the nicest dogs I ever knew was a Border Collie/Aussie mix. He's a real sweetheart! (I'm resisting the urge to ask for one of the puppies...I'm resisting the urge to ask for one of the puppies.... :rolleyes:

 

Good luck and send pics as soon as they're born! :D

 

 

First off dont panic. My first litter I did and well nature did take it's course even though I was a wreck and they turned out fine. I'e done about 5 in the last 2 years and the mom does a great job each time. Bunny was probably the worst she needed me to remove the sack from their heads and then she would clean them. A baby pool for a Border collie is a great whelping area. Only use stuff that will be thrown or only reused on the puppies as teh afterbirth stuff stains. Some people use a radient light for their puppies to give the mom a warmer spot but,we have the dog safe warmers so we use them.

 

Swithch her to puppy food for extra calories. Wow theres lots more i've learned form everyone else. Ask some questions.

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Only use stuff that will be thrown or only reused on the puppies as teh afterbirth stuff stains. Some people use a radient light for their puppies to give the mom a warmer spot but,we have the dog safe warmers so we use them.

 

Swithch her to puppy food for extra calories.

 

We made a whelping box...turned our garage into a BIRTHING SUITE! We've got a heater, heat lamp, and heating pads. We're using thick padding for the flooring, covered with newspapers and old sheets. We've got a lot of old towels (big and small), more sheets, and blankets for after the pups are born. We bought a small scale so we can weigh the pups and record...using colored yarn to identify each...dental floss is out & cut into strips...We've even got soothing music ready to play! :-)

 

We did switch her to puppy food the day the vet confirmed via x-ray that she was pregnant. She hasn't eaten much yesterday or today. We have been taking her temp at least twice a day all week -- it's basically hovering right around 100.2.

 

My husband and I have been on vacation for 2 weeks...wouldn't you think she could have had the pups while we were on vacation....Now it's looking like I'll need to find a dog/puppy sitter and/or take time off from work!! At least my boss lives in my neighborhood, and he's getting a kick out of this story! I'm trying to talk him into taking a pup!

 

Really, any advice and/or suggestions are welcome! As prepared as we think we are after reading a lot on the net and from our vet....I'm SURE there is something we've missed and/or aren't expecting! Ugh!!

 

Thanks a ton!

Kristin

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If you are interested in having some help re-homing the pups ( if you do not decide to keep them :rolleyes: ) you might want to see if you can get a hold of your local BC rescue. The rescue I volunteer with is always happy to post dogs and pups on their site to get more exposure. They also might have some potential adopters, or volunteers, who would be interested in a pup. Or you could post pictures here and I am sure a bunch of us will cave lol.

 

ETA: I think the Mid Atlantic Border Collie Rescue and The North East Border Collie Rescue both work in PA. (Some one in the area correct me if I am wrong.) You could probably find someone from either rescue in the rescue section of these boards too.

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Really, any advice and/or suggestions are welcome!

 

Here's a thought, since you mentioned a sitter. A while back I posted a link to what had been getting national attention: a litter of shiba inus in san francisco who's owners posted the live web cam so people could watch.

 

No one responded to the post; must have thought I was promoting shibas or nationally televised web cams. But, seriously, I think it's a great idea to keep an eye on your litter. They posted via something called ustream.tv which you can go to the internet and see your web cam. You can check back a few months - Nov. 23rd is when I posted it.

 

I am certainly not suggesting you televise it nationally...you get an account and keep it to yourself. But it will be a way to monitor the litter when you're not there. My son tried it at college; he created a free account, and sent me the link and then I could go to it and see him without my having a web cam myself.

 

If you don't have a laptop w/a web cam, the web cams are very inexpensive (we've since got our own).

 

Gee, wish all this stuff had been around back when I had puppies!

 

My best to you! :rolleyes:

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Here's a thought, since you mentioned a sitter. A while back I posted a link to what had been getting national attention: a litter of shiba inus in san francisco who's owners posted the live web cam so people could watch.

 

No one responded to the post; must have thought I was promoting shibas or nationally televised web cams. But, seriously, I think it's a great idea to keep an eye on your litter. They posted via something called ustream.tv which you can go to the internet and see your web cam. You can check back a few months - Nov. 23rd is when I posted it.

 

I am certainly not suggesting you televise it nationally...you get an account and keep it to yourself. But it will be a way to monitor the litter when you're not there. My son tried it at college; he created a free account, and sent me the link and then I could go to it and see him without my having a web cam myself.

 

If you don't have a laptop w/a web cam, the web cams are very inexpensive (we've since got our own).

 

Gee, wish all this stuff had been around back when I had puppies!

 

My best to you! :rolleyes:

 

 

That is a great idea Genies babies had a habit of falling out of the box. They would crawl up over her and then tumble out. It would be nice to be able to know if you had to worry about that whining downstairs if nothing else.

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A bit of advice - Once the puppies are here, do not leave them with loose towels, blankets, sheets, etc. . Bitches liek to dig and rearrange bedding. Years ago I had 2 pups suffocate from crawling between the layers and mama laying on top of them. A nice fluffy washable bathmat in the baby pool and double stick carpet tape around the edges works great. As long as the mama stays with them, and the room is heated, they will probably not need extra "covers" or heat lamps. She will keep them warm. If it's cold, a heated area that they can crawl to is good, as long as it isn't a fire or chewing hazzard. You will be able to tell how the pups' temp is by how they are sleeping. Piled closely together is normal, spread apart they are too hot. If you see a single pup sleeping separated from the group, it needs attention or is possibly sick. Put it back in the pile of puppies and watch it closely.

Laurie

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Laurie gives great advice, and I second what she said. I just used old newspapers in the whelping box since I didn't want to be doing 10 loads of laundry a day. The mother will keep things pretty clean for a while, and as Laurie pointed out if you also have a heat lamp or equivalent, a lot of warm bedding isn't necessary. You may find that you won't need to tie yarn around the pups to tell them apart. If you do, monitor closely to make sure the collars don't get too tight, and be careful once they start moving around, etc., that they don't catch one another on the yarn (or that mom doesn't accidentally catch her teeth in the little collars).

 

If you have a friend who is experienced with whelping, it would help to have them close by. Since the bitch was X-rayed you at least have a pretty good idea of how many puppies to expect (although radiographs aren't 100%). If the bitch appears to be done whelping but you know or suspect that there is still one or more pups inside, then you will generally need to give the bitch a shot of oxytocin. My vet gave me several pre-drawn syringes to have on hand if needed, and as it turns out, we did need to give her a dose to encourage her to expel the last pup of the litter (I didn't decide to do this on my own, but called the vet to report how long it had been since the last pup, what the bitch was doing, and the fact that we could still palpate a pup inside, and then the vet told me when and how much to dose). In fact, my vet was awesome and had given me her cell phone and told me to call her no matter the time. She gave me advice while she was out to dinner with her husband. Vets like that are priceless!

 

I kept a close eye early on to make sure that every pup was nursing well. I made extra sure that the runt of the litter got prime nursing time and would even move the little porkers off the easiest-to-reach teats so that the smaller pups could get their fill too. I had the whelping box outside my bedroom in a hallway of sorts (eclosed porch actually), so I could hear any distress cries in the night (say, if a pup got rolled on or whatever). Since your whelping area is in the garage, you might want to consider a baby monitor so you can hear if anything is going wrong out there.

 

If you have specific questions, ask away. It is scary the first time, but you sound like you're preparing yourselves well for the "big event."

 

FWIW, my first dog after moving away from my family's home was a border collie x aussie. He was the dog who helped me decide that border collies were the dog for me. I'm interested to hear what breed the sire might have been, if it's possible at all to tell.

 

J.

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THANK YOU so much for all of the good information!

 

I've secured a "sitter" for tomorrow afternoon. I plan on checking in at lunchtime, and then a neighbor/friend will come over for a couple hours in the afternoon. This is all assuming she doesn't go tonight! If she does go tonight, my husband and I very well may stay home tomorrow.

 

Everyone on this board has been very open, friendly, and most helpful! I really appreciate that. I posted somewhere else first, and got nothing but rude comments about how we could allow this to happen when we don't know what we're doing! All we did was adopt a precious dog....we had NO clue she was carrying pups. Guess some people couldn't get that through their thick skulls!

 

Anyway, I'll keep you posted and share pictures when the time comes.

 

If anyone else has advice or suggestions, I'm going to keep checking back.

 

THANKS AGAIN,

Kristin

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THANK YOU so much for all of the good information!

 

I've secured a "sitter" for tomorrow afternoon. I plan on checking in at lunchtime, and then a neighbor/friend will come over for a couple hours in the afternoon. This is all assuming she doesn't go tonight! If she does go tonight, my husband and I very well may stay home tomorrow.

 

Everyone on this board has been very open, friendly, and most helpful! I really appreciate that. I posted somewhere else first, and got nothing but rude comments about how we could allow this to happen when we don't know what we're doing! All we did was adopt a precious dog....we had NO clue she was carrying pups. Guess some people couldn't get that through their thick skulls!

 

Anyway, I'll keep you posted and share pictures when the time comes.

 

If anyone else has advice or suggestions, I'm going to keep checking back.

 

THANKS AGAIN,

Kristin

 

 

Your welcome. So how many babies did the Dr see? We have found them to be right on so far. Well except the last girl who had only one baby. She threw everyone but, we didnt have time to xray either

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Kristen,

 

here is a site that has information about whelping a litter etc. Debbie Jensen if you scroll down the page you will find the free information, it will tell you about supplies needed, a video of puppies being born, problems that can occur etc.

 

I'm from Chester County also, I'm surprised the SPCA let a dog that is 1-2 years old be adopted without already being spayed or neutered. Have you contacted them? Maybe they can help you rehome the pups.

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Another thing you might consider for after the puppies come is to enlist friends to come by for socialization. A friend of ours found herself exactly in the situation you are in--adopted a bred female unknowingly and didn't realize she was pregnant until it was too late to spay and abort the litter (Neither her vet nor my friend felt comfortable doing that.) She took the first 14 days off work and then hired a pet sitter to come by and make sure the pups were o.k.(the mom was way too young and not very interested in mothering or letting the puppies nurse).

 

From about the time the pups were 10-14 days old, she had people come over and hold them and she made sure she had lots of different kinds of people come through. She made everyone take off their shoes to lower the risk of bringing in anything infectious (I don't remember if there were other precautions, so you might ask your vet). She also sent around pictures of the pups every few days to everyone in her address book to entice folks to adopt them. She ended up placing them all in homes where she knew the people well. She used an adoption contract she found on-line and agreed to take the puppies back at any point. She also offered to dog sit any of them and in fact, has one at her house right now (5 years later). They all turned into really nice, happy, well-adjusted and well-loved dogs (they are pitt mixes).

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NancyO,

 

Yes, I'm surprised too (about Chester County SPCA) especially after having talked to many people in this area. That leads me to believe that they knew she was possibly pregnant. All they said when I called to tell them was, "Congratulations!". They did offer to give shots @ 4 weeks, but that's not what our vet recommends. We're going to take them to the vet rather than back to the SPCA.

 

We're spreading the word about the pups through our friends and co-workers. We've got a few "interested" so far.

 

Her temperature has dropped today significantly...from 100.8 at 2:30pm ... to 99.7 at 5pm ... to 98.6 at 8:25pm!! I'm hoping that means tonight is the night!!

 

The x-ray showed 6 pups--but only 1 x-ray was taken....the vet said it's possible there could be an additional pup or two hidden (she was on her side for the picture).

 

Thanks again for all of the helpful comments, suggestions and feedback! I'll keep you posted!

 

Kristin

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UPDATE:

Jasmine's temperature has been at 98.6 for 12+ hours. She was up a lot during the night--very restless and needing to go out frequently. It doesn't appear that she's having contractions, although I can feel movement when I place my hand on her very large tummy. We've had her 59 days....and don't know how long she was at the SPCA (they said a week, but they told us a lot of things that have turned out to be wrong).

 

Since early this morning, she's been needing to go outside about every 30-45 minutes....she always pees at least 2x and tries to poop (sometimes she goes, sometimes she doesn't). She hasn't eaten much at all or even had much to drink....both are offered & available all the time.

 

I've sat with her in the whelping box and she's done some "nesting". Then she'll follow me to the family room and "nest" on her other blanket. She's mostly just laying on her side breathing heavy.

 

PLEASE tell me this sounds like she's getting close to whelping!! I had a grand total of 2-3 hours of sleep, and I'm exhausted already!

 

Kristin

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It does sound like she's getting close. One thing I was advised was that as they are getting close and even during whelping if they ask to go out to go potty it's best to keep them on a leash so they can't hide themselves under something to have the puppies. I had a shed out back that the dogs could get under and a few days before whelping my bitch started going under there, so I had to start taking her out on leash or limit her access to that part of the yard so she couldn't choose to have puppies elsewhere. I seem to remember a concern also about possibly dropping pups in the yard, so keep a very close eye on her when she's out.

 

J.

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they are getting close and even during whelping if they ask to go out to go potty it's best to keep them on a leash so they can't hide themselves under something to have the puppies.

 

Yes, we just had an invisible fence put in -- right before we found out she was pregnant. So she actually hasn't been out without the leash yet. We were too worried that she'd go through the electric fence and get away....and at night we always take her with a flashlight so we can see what she's doing where!! Thanks for the advice, though, as it's a good suggestion.

 

Kristin

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You are VERY close to pups! Haha--Julie's right. When Riddle was close (that last day), every time we went outside or to the pasture, she was looking for a hidey-hole for pups...under bushes, tractors, whatever. Then, after she'd had them (in her whelping box in the bedroom), every time we went out, she continued to look in those places, as if to make sure she hadn't stashed one in one of her secret hiding places. Keep an eye on those moms--they can be tricky. Once Riddle had had hers, she had 2 Xpens around the box--one that fit snugly around the box itself, and the other that made a "foyer" so she could stretch her legs a bit. One day, my neighbor (who was checking on pups) called me at work to say that mom had moved the pups up to the waterbed, and she didn't think that was right, so she'd moved them back to the box!

 

Have fun!!

 

A

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