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Shredding The Welping Box


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Had a litter born on Friday - this is not my girl's first litter - she is 4 years old in July - but she has a habit of shredding up any newspaper I put in the whelping box - or scrunching up a mat or folded sheets I've also tried. She is not nervous or anything like that - in good health. I have a large cardboard box inside a large run and she seems set on destroying the box itsself - I would rather put something nice and soft under the pups but she has her own ideas. I have bred her mother and she never did this - was more than happy to recline on the nice soft towels or sheets I put in for her. I have had to leave out the paper and sheets for fear of her covering the pups - but the cardboard box is getting so tatty and dirty - will need to be replaced. I know she did it to a degree last time she had a litter but this time its worse - I try and see that the room is not too hot. The pups are doing well and she is happy but you ought to see the box - I am going to have to go and find a new one tomorrow. I left newspaper in there last night but this morning two pups were under some of it with her attempts to shred it up.

Any suggestions.

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I left newspaper in there last night but this morning two pups were under some of it with her attempts to shred it up.

Any suggestions.

When one of my girls really feels the need to scratch up and rearrange the bedding I put in a heap of face washers so that she can scratch up to her hearts content but the babies are not buried.

Julie

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You are lucky it's just cardboard. My last litter (not this one) the bitch (it was her first) ate away the top of the front of her Meltica whelping box!

She destroyed the front slide in doorway into the box, she scratched the walls of the sleepout room she was in and chewed away all the surrounding barriers in the room by the main doorway (these were to stop pups getting squashed when the door was opened :)

Thankfully she was an excellent mother :)

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My bitches all do that, in fact I have a bitch in labour as we speak. Got the whelping box in a puppy pen with newspaper, not only has she scratched up the paper in the whelping box but also the paper in the puppy pen. When she is finished I put down clean paper with a piece of carpet over it, stops the bitch from burying puppies. Ive never been able to use towels or blankets, they just get ripped up.

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Thanks - nice to know its common enough - thought the mother may be following instincts and may be trying to rough up the surface for the pups sakes - slippery surfaces don't make for good legs I'm told - we are off to Clarks Rubber to see if we can find some washable carpet for her large enough to have the pen sit over so she can't scratch it up - something that can be hosed off - will get 2 or 3 pieces - will be able to use it over and over again I hope. Do you think I need the cardboard box in the pen as well - I worry if one of the pups was to hit the metal if mum jumped out while still on the teat - the pups will be a week tomorrow so still babies - the box may look dreadful but I'm not so worried about its appearance but hygene - with mum still bleeding the box will smell and probably be not the best for the pups as far as germs etc. go.

Its not a worry with keeping the pups warm in just a pen as we are in Brisbane and its HOT.

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Take the bitch to the vet for a calcium injection and you will find a great difference.

Maybe you could try some big doses of Calcium Sandoz syrup usually makes a big difference to bitches doing this scratching up.

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Just an update - put the air cond on in the room - maintining about 26 - 27 deg so not too cool - mum seems ok now - also my husband found a roll of thin carpet in our roof we had forgotton about and I vacuumed it sprayed it with antiseptic spray put it out in the sun to dry and put in all the way through the box and pen - no more problems. Thanks for all the advice - pups will be 1 week tomorrow - so hope all continues to go well.

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