dennyhound Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Kelpie had a singleton puppy by C-Section on New Years Day. Seems to have maintained birth weight and made a little gain. With the recent hot weather in Melbourne, 35oC+ for the last couple of days the bitch seems to let the pup out in the open. The puppy does not whinge so i assume this is to help her stay cool. Also as it is this bitch's first litter her mothering skills are slowly improving. She will nurse and feed the pup but not clean it. Any advice to do with raising singletons or helping to improve the bitch's mothering would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumabaar Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 What lines are your kelpie from? My bitch was not all that interested in mothering. She fed as required, toileted them as required and if someone was really screaming she would go and poke them till they were quiet. I just let nature take its course. (with lots of supervision) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizT Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 (edited) My bitch had a singleton puppy who is now five weeks old today. She was by natural delivery. Your bitches hormones will be slow to kick in because of the c-section. Give her time. It will come. If mum wont toilet I am gathering you are doing it? After the puppy feeds on mum put her in front of mums nose and give her the opportunity to toilet her, be patient with your girl, if she doesn't don't push it, try again later. Puppy is probably using up most of the milk to stop her dehydrating in this heat. I just had to swap the heater I put in the room for a cooler! Since your pup is now on day three you should start to see more weight gain soon. Keep putting her on the boob. I have a thread in the breeders community called "singleton Puppy and behavioural issues" you may find useful. Edited January 3, 2012 by LizT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennyhound Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 (edited) Mother has started to lick puppy now through the miracle of cheese. I know this sounds strange but the dog loves cheese so much. I think that she was scared/unsure of the puppy. With extreme supervision i put cheese near the puppy which she picked up and ate ever so delicately. I then put a little piece on the pups bum which she licked off and since then seems quiet content to lick her. Thank you Bega Cheese Singles..... She is from Beloka bloodlines and was mated to a Pandara dog that now lives near Casterton. Edited January 3, 2012 by dennyhound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizT Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Mother has started to lick puppy now through the miracle of cheese. I know this sounds strange but the dog loves cheese so much. I think that she was scared/unsure of the puppy. With extreme supervision i put cheese near the puppy which she picked up and ate ever so delicately. I then put a little piece on the pups bum which she licked off and since then seems quiet content to lick her. Thank you Bega Cheese Singles..... She is from Beloka bloodlines and was mated to a Pandara dog that now lives near Casterton. So is the pups nickname Bega?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 hahahaha Bega - well done on thinking outside the box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennyhound Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 I am happy to report that mother & daughter have spent the entire day together with no fuss other than the bitch wanting a toilet/outside break for about 10 minutes. She still appears to be trying to nest in her kennel by digging at the mat furiously but i am lead to believe that this is to help ease the pain of her uterus retracting to normal size. Is this right? Pup also seems to be still gaining weight which given she is a singleton i am not surprised but the big question is, how much weight gain per day should i aim for?? Ideally i don't want her to end up a 'swimmer'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Baggins Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I am happy to report that mother & daughter have spent the entire day together with no fuss other than the bitch wanting a toilet/outside break for about 10 minutes. She still appears to be trying to nest in her kennel by digging at the mat furiously but i am lead to believe that this is to help ease the pain of her uterus retracting to normal size. Is this right? Pup also seems to be still gaining weight which given she is a singleton i am not surprised but the big question is, how much weight gain per day should i aim for?? Ideally i don't want her to end up a 'swimmer'? The pup will gain what it will. Read the swimmer pup thread pinned in Breeders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizT Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I am happy to report that mother & daughter have spent the entire day together with no fuss other than the bitch wanting a toilet/outside break for about 10 minutes. She still appears to be trying to nest in her kennel by digging at the mat furiously but i am lead to believe that this is to help ease the pain of her uterus retracting to normal size. Is this right? Pup also seems to be still gaining weight which given she is a singleton i am not surprised but the big question is, how much weight gain per day should i aim for?? Ideally i don't want her to end up a 'swimmer'? The pup will gain what it will. Read the swimmer pup thread pinned in Breeders. Also when the pup is nursing just 'pop' her off and move her to the far corner of the whelping box, she will quickly crawl back to the teat to nurse. This is what we called "making her walk to the milk bar". Don't worry too much about weight gain, so long as pup is gaining consistently, a rule of thumb is about double in the first week to 10 days. The pup will burn more energy as she starts to move around the box. Just put her on her side to sleep if you find her on her tummy alot and flip her occassionally from side to side, to even her out. This will help stop her soft ribs from flattening out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizT Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 hahahaha Bega - well done on thinking outside the box I was going to say "Bega bum" but thought I'd try to be polite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpha bet Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Last year we had a singleton litter. First time it has happened to me. Pup gained huge amount of weight which did amuse us when we would sit him up on our hands he had rolls of fat forming on his belly, we ended up registering this pup as 'Jabba the Mutt' From birth we tended to pick this pup up and give him loads of time resting on different peoples chests and neck when we were watching tv. Mind you we do this with all pups in our litters. This does help to give the pup the feeling of body warmth and our heatbeats and voice help to keep them stimulated and prevent the single pup becoming dull. We also had our other dogs around so once Jabba started moving around he had them to climb over. By the time he was 5 weeks he was moving around so much that although he was a big pup he wasnt terribly overweight. He went to his home at 8 weeks at a good weight and he is now coming up 12 months old but he is much the same size as previous dogs from the same bitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizT Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Last year we had a singleton litter. First time it has happened to me. Pup gained huge amount of weight which did amuse us when we would sit him up on our hands he had rolls of fat forming on his belly, we ended up registering this pup as 'Jabba the Mutt' From birth we tended to pick this pup up and give him loads of time resting on different peoples chests and neck when we were watching tv. Mind you we do this with all pups in our litters. This does help to give the pup the feeling of body warmth and our heatbeats and voice help to keep them stimulated and prevent the single pup becoming dull. We also had our other dogs around so once Jabba started moving around he had them to climb over. By the time he was 5 weeks he was moving around so much that although he was a big pup he wasnt terribly overweight. He went to his home at 8 weeks at a good weight and he is now coming up 12 months old but he is much the same size as previous dogs from the same bitch. Yes, a bigger birth weight and size and vigourous early gain doesn't necessarily equate to a larger animal when mature. We find with Emmie that I have to make sure she is given plenty of play time with her "siblings" (soft toys) animated with volunteer family members all too happy to play wrestles with Emmie. Early on they were there for her to cuddle up to and now she tries to wake them up by biting their ears. The other problem is ensuring that family members don't spend too much time holding her, sure it great for tactile stimulation but at 5 weeks she also needs time to run around and play when awake, so I'm constantly telling the family to "put that pup down" now! . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennyhound Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 Things seem to be still going okay. Bitch got a bit of mastitis so i extracted some milk by hand and then the puppy had a feed and emptied the nipple. After the pressure of the milk was gone she let me massage out the 'firm bits' and then after a while the she seemed to settle again. Thank you all for your advice as I am sure that there will be more questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizT Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Things seem to be still going okay. Bitch got a bit of mastitis so i extracted some milk by hand and then the puppy had a feed and emptied the nipple. After the pressure of the milk was gone she let me massage out the 'firm bits' and then after a while the she seemed to settle again. Thank you all for your advice as I am sure that there will be more questions. Probably wasn't Mastits so much as engorged breasts as this happens usually at about day 3-5 until the supply balances out. If you do express only take a small amount off to relieve as the more you express the more milk she will produce. It's supply and demand. All sounds good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennyhound Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 One week on the bitchs mothering instinct is very strong and she has become a very good mother, not excellent but very good. We did experiment at bringing our other dogs home but they proved to bigger distraction for Gypsy and so they have gone back to their 'holiday destinations'. As far as the pups weight goes she is now double her birth weight so she is doing really well. Just an update for those who are watching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizT Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 One week on the bitchs mothering instinct is very strong and she has become a very good mother, not excellent but very good. We did experiment at bringing our other dogs home but they proved to bigger distraction for Gypsy and so they have gone back to their 'holiday destinations'. As far as the pups weight goes she is now double her birth weight so she is doing really well. Just an update for those who are watching. Good to hear. Maybe wait till your past the crucial first two weeks before bringing the holiday makers home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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