birth of a litter

General Questions
#1

my friend ray has a 4 yr old female pitbull. He wants to mate her but hes worried about what to do when she gives birth. What is it that we would have to do. Ray is pretty broke and cheap so a Vet is obviously outta the question. that was the first thing i suggested. How many puppies do they have at a time? And i guess the real question is simply what the fudge are we supposed to do?

Either let me fly or give me death
Let my soul rest-take my breath
if i dont fly ima die anyway
Ima live on but ill be gone anyday

DARK MAN X

#2

A vet isn’t necessary unless she has trouble with her pregnancy. Basically, make sure that when her delivery time gets close that there is a bed for her to lie down in (old towels or sheets are okay) and that she knows where it is. Puppies are usually born pretty quickly, and the mother instinctively knows what to do, so your friend shouldn’t have to do much except clean up the mess.
In some instances, the mother will want to walk around to speed up the process. This is not dangerous to her or the puppies, so just let her. Instinct plays a big part in animals giving birth. They even sever the umbilical cords themselves!
As for the size of the litter, it can be anywhere from 1 to 8 puppies; but 4 or 5 is pretty standard.

#3

Oh boy, where the heck do I start with this one??

First and foremost, this dog has GOT to go to the vet. Has it EVER been to a vet? If not, I would not breed this dog. The dog could have any number of health problems that could cause complications with pregnancy and the health of the pups. Also, what is the purpose behind the breeding? Is the bitch a purebred with papers? If your friend has no money, how is he going to pay for stud fees? Dogs with no papers aren’t going to get your friend any money. The puppies are going to need vet care as well. Any breeder worth his salt will have the pups taken to the vet for shots, physicals, fecals, and dewormings at LEAST twice before trying to sell the pups. There are pet lemon laws protecting people who buy sick or otherwise undesireable pets, so your friend can get into a lot of trouble trying to pass off “substandard” animals.

To be blunt about it, if your friend can’t afford to take the one dog he has to the vet, then he has no business trying to breed her. Proper breeding is time consuming and expensive. What I would adivse at this point is to take that time and money and put it into taking care of the bitch, and have her SPAYED.

Michelle,
Veterinary Technician

#4

well, since my labrador had puppies a little less than a year ago, I can share my knowledge. First, if your friend has any other dogs, keep them away from the mother while she gives birth. Like the previous poster said, instinct plays a big part in the birth. The mother will know what to do. Just keep plenty of water available for her as she will be very tired and thirsty. My dog had 6 puppies, but one of them died. She accidentally sat on it. :frowning: so keep a close eye on her and count the pups regularly to help mom out. And as for the money aspect, when my dog sat on one of her pups, I immediately called the vet. He said it was very common and just to try and give the pup some honey and water and see if it lives. He said if it didnt then just let her figure it out and then take the pup. Vets are usually willing to give free advice during an emergency so dont worry about the cost. good luck and email me if you have any questions. :slight_smile:
email= tipiwoo@aol.com

tipi :slight_smile:

#5

FIrst and foremost, when the puppies are born, be sure to coat them in marshmallows. They will be coated with goo so the marshmallows should stick pretty well. Next, roll the goo and marshmallow coated puppies in a large bowl of either regular rice crispies or cocoa krispies brand cereals, depending on your personal taste. You will then have what i like to call, krispy puppy treats. Invite your friends over and have a krispy puppy treats party, in which you all turn yourselves into krispy human treats by the same process. Then flap your arms and fly around until the martians arrive. Thats right, the martians. THey will be here soon, so start flapping, and be sure to wear galoshes. The martians looooove galoshes.
Before PETA sues me, I would like to point out that this was a joke, and if anyone is dumb enough to try this, take lots of pictures. I want to see them
Again, kids don’t try this at home
wheeeeeeeeeee

“If you love someone, set them free. If they come back, set them on fire.”----George Carlin

#6

I don’t want to discourage people from asking these types of questions, espescially since I am a vet tech an enjoy giving out info, but really, there are much better places to ask veterinary medicine questions than the Straight Dope Message board. A web search ought to reveal a number of veterinary sites chock full of reliable advice from professionals. If one is an AOL user, there is a section of AOL all about pet care, I believe you can find it under Keyword: Pets or Petcare.

#7

NO,NO,NO DAMMIT NO
If your friend can’t afford the vet, what happens to the poor puppies if something goes wrong? Not to mention that puppies aren’t ready to leave their mother for 6 weeks, and they will HAVE to have shots and checkups before then. An emergency call to a vet is extremely expensive. Is your friend doing it just to make money? This is one of the worst reasons to breed a dog. Wanting other people to enjoy a pet like your dog is a reason to breed a dog. 1 1/2 years ago someone poisoned a puppy and dumped it in our parking lot. One of my friends and I found her, and we all tried to nurse her for a few hours, but we had to make an emergency vet call. 3 days later, we were hitting all of our brothers up to help us with the 480 dollar vet/hospital bill. DONT let him breed this dog until he can afford to take care of it.

#8

I’m with Michelle and Roksez on this one - if you’re friend can’t afford the vet bill if something goes wrong, he/she doesn’t have any business breeding it. What if she turns out to need a C-section? Is your friend just going to sit there and watch the dog and her puppies die a slow and painful death because he/she can’t afford the vet bill?

sosumi

#9

The first thing you need to do is go down to your local animal shelter and take a look at the dogs scheduled to die that day because someone thought it would be cool to breed their dog.
– Greg, Atlanta

#10

THank you, Greg. I agree with you. Really, Mars, unless your friend wants to get into the expensive world of dog breeding and showing, please try to talk him out of it. Most dog breeders will tell you that they do it for love of the dog breed, not to make money because most of them don’t make money. I’m sure your friend loves his dog but consider the consequences of her having puppies:

  1. Potential expensive vet bills (if something happens to pups or mom)
  2. What are you going to do with the puppies? If you can’t sell them or get rid of them, can you afford to feed them and care for them? Don’t even think the Humane Society is an option because they are already overloaded with puppies people didn’t have the forethought enought to prevent.
  3. Who is going to buy the pups? I’m making a big generalization here, but I think that most people (outside of true breeders) buy a pit bull for the look and cache it gives. They aren’t exactly the favorite dog on most peoples list. There’s the distinct possibility that the person who buys/takes a pup won’t care for the dog, or worse, abuse it.
  4. Having a litter of puppies will give the female very pronounced teats and I think (Michelle, help me on this one) they don’t exactly disappear. Looks pretty wierd with ‘em flappin’ in the breeze when she runs around. Just a thing to think about if he’s concerned with how she looks.

Please try to talk your friend out of it!!! The female is not missing anything by not having puppies. He should consider getting her spayed; wouldn’t have to worry about her going into heat.

…it has never been my way to bother much about things which you can’t cure.

  • A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court-Mark Twain
#11

The teats of a bitch will eventually disappear (go back to normal size), it just takes a long time.

Amd just a quick note on pits in general: if they come from a loving, caring home and are started right away on behavior training, they really can make loving pets. Some of the sweetest dogs I have known were pitbulls. However, most people want them because of their reputation as being killers, so they can be used as fighting dogs. It really makes me sad when someone brings in a cute, innocent puppy, and the only thing they are concerned with is how big I think he will get.

#12

Why do I have this intense desire to save this line for use in the BBQ pit?