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Ive had two Rat Terriers for about a year now. Mickey and Dixie. They just had their first litter today!!



I have no idea how to handle this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, congrats! We want pics!:)

Hooray for you! What kind of help do you need? i have had my female raise three litters. what ya want to know?

Anything and everything. Ive never dealt with this. thanks:D

Since she just had them, just make sure she shows maternal instinct and is nursing them. laying with them to keep them warm, and stuff like that. She should be showing some territorial instinct over them right now.



beyond that just make sure you give her plenty of food and water to help her be able to nurse them. oh yea, check and make sure they all have a tit and are getting milk. sometimes the runt wont be able to get one and gets pushed off. the stronger and bigger puppies will nurse their tit dry and then take the little ones milk too. that is all i can think of at this time . i assume when she had them she cleaned them up and cleaned the birth stuff up. eating the placenta off of the puppies will help her give milk. it is full of protein and hormones to stimulate milk production. She should be nursing them about every two hours.

guppy;467624 wrote: Since she just had them, just make sure she shows maternal instinct and is nursing them. laying with them to keep them warm, and stuff like that. She should be showing some territorial instinct over them right now.



beyond that just make sure you give her plenty of food and water to help her be able to nurse them. oh yea, check and make sure they all have a tit and are getting milk. sometimes the runt wont be able to get one and gets pushed off. the stronger and bigger puppies will nurse their tit dry and then take the little ones milk too. that is all i can think of at this time . i assume when she had them she cleaned them up and cleaned the birth stuff up. eating the placenta off of the puppies will help her give milk. it is full of protein and hormones to stimulate milk production. She should be nursing them about every two hours.


Chonsi- I'll try to get some posted up soon:)



Guppy- THANK YOU!!!!!!!! This will help tons!!:D :yh_worshp

Fibonacci

Congratulations!

If Val, Lilac Dragon or Baby Rider get online

They will be able to help you with this :-6

BabyRider or Val might be able to help you out, but I have never, ever bred a dog and probably never will.

I think Rat Terriers have docked tails. You can ask your vet all of your questions when you take the puppies in to get their tails docked. I do know that this should be done before they are 5 days old.

Thanks LD!:D

Hi Fib.

I hope the puppies grow to be healthy dogs and that you keep them all.

I also hope this will be your only litter. The pounds are full of great dogs. Please spay and neuter. Thanks.

Thanks Cher!



Forgot to give an update!

Dixie had eight puppies. Four boys and four girls.

I must have done something right because they all made it through the night!



LilacDragon;467780 wrote: BabyRider or Val might be able to help you out, but I have never, ever bred a dog and probably never will.



I think Rat Terriers have docked tails. You can ask your vet all of your questions when you take the puppies in to get their tails docked. I do know that this should be done before they are 5 days old.


does it become dangerous after the 5th day??



RedGlitter;468284 wrote: Hi Fib.

I hope the puppies grow to be healthy dogs and that you 1)keep them all.

I also hope this will be your only litter. 2)The pounds are full of great dogs. Please 3)spay and neuter. Thanks.


1)I don't know if thats going to be possible Red. I'd love to but the two I have now keep me plenty busy.



2)I agree the pounds are full of great dogs. Thats where I found Mickey. Dixie came from a friend who was moving cross country.



3)Thats the first thing I thought about after I knew Dixie was pregnant. Do you know if one is safer than the other?

Fibonacci;468308 wrote: Thanks Cher!



Forgot to give an update!

Dixie had eight puppies. Four boys and four girls.

I must have done something right because they all made it through the night!





does it become dangerous after the 5th day??





1)I don't know if thats going to be possible Red. I'd love to but the two I have now keep me plenty busy.



2)I agree the pounds are full of great dogs. Thats where I found Mickey. Dixie came from a friend who was moving cross country.



3)Thats the first thing I thought about after I knew Dixie was pregnant. Do you know if one is safer than the other?


The longer you wait to dock, the more developed the nerve endings and the more painful for the pup. After 8 weeks, it is considered an amputation.

You can can both of your dogs done and avoid the possibilities of some serious health issues later on in your dogs life.

I won't go into my opinion of breeding a pair of rescued dogs. I am sure that you are about to get an earful on that.

IMHO - you need to adopt these pups out for a standard adoption fee and offer the adopters half of the fee back when they provide you proof of spay/neuter.

I have a question...have you been feeding the mom puppy food?? I was told by the Vet to feed Mom puppy food while she was pregnant and while nursing so the puppies get all the nutrients...

I called the vet today and he suggested that i do that. He told me to make sure it had colostrum. must be good for the puppies, i guess.

Fibonacci;468320 wrote: I called the vet today and he suggested that i do that. He told me to make sure it had colostrum. must be good for the puppies, i guess.


Colostrum provides immunities from the mother to the puppies.

If you are feeding a food with a lot of corn or soy products (listed at all in the first 5 ingredients) then switching to a puppy food of the same brand isn't going to do you any good. You are better feeding more of a high quality food (Canidae, Wellness, Evo, etc.) then feeding puppy formula food.

Hi Fib,



If you aren't keeping all of the puppies you created, then the proper thing to do is find them wonderful homes and make sure they are fixed so they can't breed- otherwise somebody else will just continue the same sad cycle and more unwanted pups will be born, etc, etc.



As for which one is safer, spay or neuter, generally speaking, neutering is less invasive as it involves snipping off the testicles and will leave a small incision. There is usually only a problem if your dog has an undescended testicle, in which case more invasive surgery to locate and remove said testicle is required.



Spaying is a more expensive procedure as it involves going in and removing all the female's reproductive organs. This is not to say it is safer or less safe, only that is is more extensive of a procedure. She will have an incision and you will have to monitor it for a few weeks.





There are benefits to both spay and neuter. In males, you would be removing the possibility of your guy getting testicular cancer. It also tends to improve temperament and temper aggression brought on by being near females in heat. Spaying the female eliminates the possibility of her getting uterine and ovarian cancer and as with the males, tends to produce a better temperament. It will not make sissies out of your males or make your females into lazy, fat dogs. Those are myths. Not to mention that spaying the female keeps your home free of the mess that comes with heat cycles.



I have 13 dogs and three cats, males and females. All are spayed or neutered. It's really the only way to go. (All but three of my dogs are foster dogs, and when I adopt them into permanent homes, I'll have the peace of knowing they won't go through the harrows of being bred and giving birth and I won't have contributed to more homeless pets.)



Also Fib, when placing your pups, please find real homes. If you put them into the pound, they will most likely be put to death to make room for the new "crop" coming in. :-1

Heres a pic of Mickey.

http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/mmps/000_ ... ,1,0,0,0,0



Sorry about the quality its from my camera phone. I had some pics of the puppies; I took 'em the day after they were born. But my brother borrowed my camera and accidentally spilled a drink on it. my memory card got damaged and the pics were lost.



Red, I'm going to spay and nueter! there's a stray pet problem here in san antonio. It used to be mostly dogs but lately cats have become a bigger problem. I see dead or injured animals on the side of the road on an almost daily basis. I will not contribute to the problem.

I will not contribute to the problem.


Sorry, but by breeding a pair of rescues - you already have.

You're right lilac I have. Let me rephrase. I will not further contribute to the problem!

Fibonacci;472441 wrote: You're right lilac I have. Let me rephrase. I will not further contribute to the problem!


That would be FABULOUS! And I, for one, would be impressed.

LilacDragon;472443 wrote: That would be FABULOUS! And I, for one, would be impressed.


:) Thanks!

New Question!!!!!



When should the Puppies eyes be opening???