Our puppies care!

The care begins even before the birth of the puppies, even before our female is covered... In fact, it is a work of the dog's entire life, always providing good food, the necessary care with health, coat and of course, a lot of love!

Let's go step by step for a crossover:

prenuptial exams

From the age of 24 months onwards, we carry out examinations for hip dysplasia and elbow dysplasia, always with competent veterinarians, with the animal sedated and with an official report. The specimen being within the allowed for breeding we move on to the next step.

When we are going to use a stud from another kennel, we perform the examination of canine brucellosis in the female.

Some tests need to be ok so that the animal can mate, these are: complete blood count, to certify the female's good health status without the presence of infection and etc., the brucellosis test, to certify that the bitch does not have this condition, negative test for leishmaniasis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis and lyme disease. After a general check-up of the female we can finally choose a stud.

It is important to make sure that the bitch's immunization does not “win” close to mating or parturition, and immunization is recommended shortly before mating, strengthening the maternal immunization important for the puppy, when he sucks colostrum.

choice of sire

It is certainly a difficult stage, but very pleasant! I really love goldens so it's a dream for me to look at different dogs and different bloodlines to decide who the future daddy of the puppies will be!

This choice is made by analyzing both the dog's lineage, its results in exhibitions, its temperament and, when possible, the puppies it has already produced. !

It's really a very cool and cool stage, but full of doubts! It's not easy to choose our new son-in-law!

Mating

To make sure of the correct date of mating we need a reproductive management, in this phase of estrus, from the moment the bitch bleeds, we control the steps through vaginal cytology, vaginoscopy and a progesterone test is carried out in order to determine the day of ovulation. and need the best time for mating. The bitch must be dewormed on the mating date in order to break the cycle of specific endoparasites.

It is a complicated stage, where we have two options: we travel with the female to the male or the male's owner sends us the semen of the cooled dog, via air, to be inseminated in our bitch without having to travel. This decision is made considering the distance between us and the male and the best cost/benefit.

After mating, our female remains at rest in the male's house for a few days to avoid the risk of miscarriage due to travel.  
 

First month of pregnancy:

In general, care remains the same as for a normal month, only avoiding strong and sudden exercises. In our case, our female is very nauseous and not in the mood to eat and we need to add some mixtures to the feed. At this stage we can start with specific food for pregnant women, not the common food for puppies, but the food called HT 42 by Royal Canin. 

Confirming pregnancy:

After 30 days, we can confirm the pregnancy by means of an ultrasound performed by a specialized veterinarian. The ultrasound is repeated at 50 days along with the X-ray examination to confirm the viability of the pups and the expected number of pups. This is the process called golden mom prenatal!


Second month of pregnancy:

Our female starts eating puppy food, like ours are  more “borings” we keep mixing something to make her want to eat more.

This month we also provided the whelping box, which is a box where the dog has the puppies and nurses them later, she has bars on the sides to reduce the chance of the mother crushing the puppies.

Close to birth:

When closer to birth, the female starts to eat less and more care is needed with her feeding to ensure that she eats what she needs. 

We also introduce the bitch to the whelping box and encourage them to come in, sniff, meet and lie inside.

Birth:

It takes a lot of care and this step depends a lot from female to female. Our female usually does everything herself, but we stay by her side during the entire birth to help warm the puppies (in these first hours the puppies lose heat in a frightening way) and as soon as we realize that she is going to give birth to another one, we separate the that are nursing so there is no danger of her stepping on them. Another function of ours when staying up all night watching everything is to time the birth time between the puppies (intervals greater than two hours are worrying), so we mark in a table the time of birth of each pup, its weight and we marked it with a ribbon (each puppy with a color). At this moment we have to control the ambient temperature, relative humidity of the environment, always with the help of a heater and fan to provide better thermal comfort for the mother according to the temperature of the place.

First 20 days of puppy life: 

These are the most worrying days that need more care and attention.

Attention to the mother is intense, 24 hours a day, always checking the feeding time of each puppy and making sure that it receives the necessary nutritional support every 2 hours. Care with the temperature is also important, the environment is controlled with the use of heaters and heaters so that the temperature and humidity of the place is always ideal for the development of the puppies.

The puppies are also weighed daily and individual weight gain is calculated, as soon as a pup does not gain the necessary weight, it is necessary to supplement the pup.  use a specific vermifuge for puppies and repeat every 15 days until they are 80 days old. At this point, it is necessary to clean the environment with a quarternary ammonia-based disinfectant, 5x a day in order to avoid reinfestations.

From the 3 days of life, a complete neonatal and neurological examination of each puppy is carried out, and we at Canil Calli perform a procedure called "early neurological stimulation", where we perform a series of exercises with the puppies to improve their physical and mental health, as reported by some studies (see recommended bibliography at the end of the text).
 

At 25 days of life

On average, at 25 years of age, we begin the presentation of solid food, the so-called weaning baby food. It is a very fun moment to see the puppies smelling the food, playing, smearing themselves and feeding properly. From the beginning of the baby food, the puppies start to reduce the feedings, the baby food is offered 4 times a day, along with filtered water. This process is done together with the mother, the puppies are not separated from the mother yet, although at this stage they begin to explore more of the motherhood where they live.

At 30 days of life

At this age, the puppy is vaccinated for the first time, with a specific puppy vaccine.  for puppies, along with the mother who is dewormed with a specific dewormer for adults.  

After the puppies start to eat for real, they logically end up getting more dirty, the mother does not clean enough and then we start bathing them with lukewarm/hot water, with specific shampoo for puppies and they are completely dried with a hairdryer after bathing to avoid any problem. This is done every one/two weeks.

At 45 days of life

At this age the puppies are already big, walk easily around the house, bark and interact intensely with humans and other animals. At 45 days, we started immunizing the puppy with an ethical vaccine. It is at this age that the weaning process begins. The puppies already eat solid and dry food without difficulty, but even so, they love to suckle and stay by their mother's side, who at this moment, with the puppies' sharp teeth, is uncomfortable, when she is not injured by the puppies' bites. Weaning reduction should be slow, taking one feeding a day until the animal no longer suckles, it is very difficult and at times we start to separate them from the mother, for example, the puppies spend a period of the day in another environment, with toys, food and other distractions so that mom can rest from the care. In this weaning phase, we intensify the care of the mother, and we often use a food supplement so that the bitch recovers more easily.

At 60 days of life

At this age the puppy can be released to its new home, it is big, interacts a lot with humans and, it is already fully dewormed and already has its first immunization, this must be completed later by its new owner. It is at this age that the puppy is microchipped, with an anti-migratory microchip of international quality, so that the animal can be identified by anyone in any country with a specific reader.

With the puppies leaving, attention is redoubled to the mother, intensifying feeding, daily contact and walks so that she does not suffer with the departure of all the puppies.  So, wait for at least 8 months until the new litter, always taking an interval between heats that can vary from 4 months to 12 months depending on the female.

  Authorship: Veterinary Doctor Isabella Calli and Veterinary Medicine student Ana Luiza Morato.

Recommended Biography

BARRETO, Christianne Silva.  Puppy assessment.  2003. 146-167 f. Monograph (Post Graduation) - Veterinary Medicine Course, UNESP, Botucatu SP, 2003. 

BEAVER, Bonnie V.  Canine behavior: a guide for veterinarians. São Paulo: Roca, 2001. 431 p.

BELARMINO, Cydia Mycheline Moura.  Physiological aspects and nutritional considerations of canine and feline neonatal and pediatric patients.  2008. 34 f. Monograph (Graduate) - Department of Health Center and Rural Technology, Federal University of Campina Grande, Patos - PB, 2008. Available at: <http://www.cstr.ufcg.edu.br/mv_downloads/monografias/mono_cydia. pdf>. Accessed on: 05 Apr. 2011.

DOMINGOS, Thalia Catlheen Souza; ROCHA, Amanda de Ascenção; CUNHA, Isabel Candia Nunes da. Basic care for pregnant women and canine and feline neonates.  Jbca – Brazilian Journal of Animal Science,  Rio de Janeiro, p. 94-120. 01 sep. 2008. Available at: <http://www.jbca.com.br/v1n2/artigo4/artigo_4_neonatologia.pdf>. Accessed on: 05 Jan. 2011.

HOSKINS, Johnny D..  Veterinary Pediatrics:  dogs and cats from birth to six months. 2nd Rio de Janeiro: Interlivros, 1997. 601 p. 

JOHNSTON, Shirley D.; KUSTRITZ, Margaret V. Root; OLSON, Patricia NS  Canine and feline theriogenology. Philadelphia: WB Saunders Company, 2001. 592 p.

LANDSBERG, G; HUNTHAUSEN, W.; ACKERMAN, L.  Behavioral problems in dogs and cats.  2nd ed. São Paulo: Roca, 2005. 492 p.

LAVELY, James A.. Pediatric Neurology of the Dog and Cat.  Veterinary Clinics Small Animal Practice, California, no. 36, p.475-501, 2006.

PRATS, Antonio.  Neonatology and pediatrics:  canine and feline. São Caetano do Sul: Interbook, 2005. 469 p.

SORRIBA, Carlos E.  Atlas of canine reproduction. São Caetano do Sul: Interbook, 2006. 348 p.

http://www.royalgoldens.com/superdog%20article.pdf