In most cases the bubble (containing fluid) presents itself first.
The bubble can be present for a long time before the puppy appears.
We have had a bubble show for close to an hour before the pup came.
As long as the mom is not into full contractions there is nothing to worry about.
Here is a puppy coming along side the bubble.
Most times the bubble will burst before the pup starts to present itself. Other times there is no bubble at all .. the pup starts to show right away.
This little female is being born feet first.
We had to help pull her out .. mom stopped contracting.
We use KY Jelly to lubricate & gently grab the pup as close to the shoulders as we can get. Never pull from the legs.
Once this pup is free you need to be fast to remove all fluids from nose and mouth.
This female is stuck & the mom cannot push her out.
You need to remove the sac from the face and suction the fluids out to keep her breathing. With this delivery we were able to use KY Jelly around the neck of the puppy and get inside to help pull the pup out by her shoulders .. very gently! We pulled with the mom's contractions .. but if there are no contractions you need to take action and get the pup out on your own. If you feel you cannot do this get to a vet ASAP!
Here she is after being born ... and after being cleaned up.
We stimulated her by rubbing gently with a soft towel.
The mom will also help to stimulate the puppy by licking it.
Here is a pup presenting itself.
This is what you may see after the bubble has burst and the puppy is ready to be born. When you see the dark color, that is the puppy arriving.
This little boy was born with a short umbilical cord. As you can see he is too close to the mom's vulva yet. You need to be very careful in this case so you do not disembowel the puppy. Take the puppy out of the sac, suction, and keep the pup warm. Wait until either the mom has another contraction to push out the placenta or the cord stretches a bit more so you have enough to grab & cut. Do not allow the mom to try to remove the pup herself. After a short time the skin on the umbilical cord will stretch more enabling you to have enough to cut.
In the first picture you can see the puppy gasping.
This is a sign you need to help remove some of the fluids by suctioning.
Always suction the mouth first ... then each nostril. Make sure pup is breathing fine with no gasping or rattling in the chest.
You can see the pup in the sac but the placenta is still inside.
The cord is too short to cut at this moment.
The second picture we removed the sac & immediately started suctioning the pup.
Keep the pup warm until you are able to get more of the cord to cut.
One boy & one girl only a couple hours old.
The female will start to dig a nest before she is ready to whelp.
We throw towels around for the mom to dig through them.
She may do this for a very long time. When she is ready to give birth you will see her start to focus and be still.
While cutting the cord the mom is interested in the after birth.
We allow the mom's to eat 1 or 2 placentas.
Eating the placenta provides nourishment for the mother. It also helps aid in milk production and will cause the uterus to shrink back down to size.
Put pressure on the part you are holding for a few seconds to stop the bleeding.
Unfortunately not all puppies survive. You may encounter a few still borns.
We feel this pup was knocked off the birth wall too soon.
Probably due to the mom jumping too much during her last week of pregnancy.
As you can see the back feet are already purple in color. There is no saving this little one. Notice the dark green placenta ... that is always a bad sign.
The mom passed a dark green fluid before passing the puppy.
Here the mom is starting her heavy panting. You can see in the second picture that she is now focusing. At this point she is only concentrating on the labor and not you. It is not long after this stage that the birth will begin.
Allow mom to clean her new baby. Then you can try to get the new pup to suckle a little. Suckling will help to bring on the next contractions for the other pups to be born.
My goal is to help those who are new to whelping puppies.
If I can save one precious life then I have done my job.
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