Here
is How You can Decide When Your Dog will Whelp
The
typical gestation period of a dog will be around 55 to 65
days after conception, however, it will be difficult for you
know whether or not your dog has become pregnant.
On getting conceived, your dog initially may not exhibit any
visible external symptoms and it is also likely that you will
come to know about it just few days before whelping. You can
see few external symptoms such as distention of abdominal
muscles that too just few days before the due date. You can
also see the female genitalia getting enlarged and soft and
this will become more marked a day before actual whelping.
There
are also some possibilities for the dog to produce an abnormal
quantity of colostrum and milk during the whelping time and
this will cause your dog’s nipples bulge and becoming
prominent. However, these two symptoms are not to be taken
as confirmation for your dog’s immediate whelping, because
such symptoms are common in dogs due to increased abdominal
pressure caused out of growing puppies.
How
does the Body Temperature Help finding the Whelping?
It
is a normal practice followed by dog breeders to assess the
whelping time based on the measured temperature. Though the
method is in use for many years, there are few controversies
that dispute the accuracy in deciding the exact date based
on temperature readings.
A
normal dog will give a temperature reading of around 100 to
102 degrees Fahrenheit and based on this dog breeders look
for a drop of 2 to 3 degrees to speculate the whelping time.
However this is being disputed by experienced veterinarians
as they claim that dog’s body temperature will vary very
widely during pregnancy.
If
you still want to make use of the temperature reading as a
tool for deciding your dog’s whelping, then try to keep
a record of all the temperature readings and you can easily
tell the due date exactly. Further, if your records are meticulous,
then you can easily predict the real drop in temperature and
be able to tell whether your dog is going to deliver or not.
It is also a good idea to keep handy the phone numbers of
veterinarians and seek professional advice in case of need
or doubts.
| 
