Do You Know What to Expect When Your Pet is Expecting?

Just like human pregnancy is a very serious issue so is pet pregnancy.  It’s not easy to diagnose if your pet is pregnant, it depends on if it’s dog pregnancy, cat pregnancy or whatever pet you have.  You need to really be experienced in the pregnancy of what pet you have to tell if your pet is pregnant and when they became pregnant.  Some of the  pet pregnancies are  dog pregnancy, cat pregnancy, ferret pregnancy, mice pregnancy, pigs pregnancy, rat pregnancy and of course there are pregnant guiniea, pregnant rabbits, mouse pregnancy, and many more.

It’s best to just take your pet to the vet at the first sign that you think they may be pregnant.  If you find out that your pet is pregnant ask your veterinarian all of the precautions and also the preventive care you should do for your pet to make sure that your pet has a healthy pregnancy.

If you are planning to breed your pet it’s very important to make sure that your pet has good health.

You need to make it top priority during the gestation and nursing period of your pet pregnancy that your pet has all the nutritional needs possible.  You may also think about the quality of her food at this time to make sure the diet is optimal.

There are things you need to make sure of in your pet pregnancy like to make sure there is no deficiency of vitamins and minerals in the diet.  You may need to gradually increase her food servings especially protein to make sure your pet has sufficient reserves when the babies arrive.

Is My Dog Pregnant?

Dog Heat Cycle Also Called “In Season”

Before I get into the stages, dog pregnancy signs, dog pregnancy symptoms and the what to dos of your dogs pregnancy lets talk a second about your  dog heat cycle or dog cycle.

In your pet pregnancy we all know that female dogs (known as bitches) become pregnant when they are in their heat cycle, sometimes called “in season“.  You can consider your dog heat to be for about 21 days.  Seven days coming into heat, 7 days in heat, and 7 days going out.

In your dog pregnancies the first sign of a female dog coming into their dog season is swelling of the Vulva.  You may see her licking herself or start humping just about anything she can find.  She will begin dark red bleeding from the vagina. If you have a male dog in the house for sure he will let you know really quickly that she is in heat.

Good thing to know about dogs and pregnancy is you should not breed your female within her first cycle because her eggs could be immature.  Breeding her in the third cycle is best.  The female dog comes into heat twice a year.  She can come into heat at 4 to 8 months, some every 6 months.

Just remember that not all mother’s follow these patterns, and for sure mother nature doesn’t always follow the rules.

Signs Of Dog Pregnancy -  Symptoms of Dog Pregnancy

The next thing I would like to talk about in your signs of dog pregnancy is how you can tell that your dog is pregnant.  Since I only have one page for this article I will just list some of the signs here and post some other articles about each sign and stages later.

• Vaginal Discharge – one month after mating.
• Decreased Appetite – One of the first signs.
• Nipple Growth – Real good sign of dog  pregnancy.
• Behavior Changes – Increase In Affection
• Abdomen Enlarges – 45-50 days into dogs pregnancy.

After about a month after mating you should be able to tell whether or not your bitch is pregnant and you know that you do not have a false dog pregnancy. One most important point to make is you need to see your veterinarians for confirmation.  Your vet can tell by an ultrasound, feeling the abdomen and after about 25 days your vet can detect the pup’s heart beats.  If needed your vet can pick up the skeletons of the puppies with an x-ray.

The Dog Gestation (Pregnant Dogs) Period

Does not matter what dog breeds or the size of the dogs dog gestation is  the same, approximately nine weeks. Not to say that the canine gestation period may vary from dog to dog. It’s time to relax now because there really is not a lot for you to do during this time, just make sure she is feed good health food and some exercise.

Be very careful with giving your female dog supplements.  This is debatable but supplements may actually throw off the careful balance of nutrients in your dogs diet. Some say it’s better to feed your dog premium dog food and also to increase the amount that you give her.

Just be sure to check with your vet on this issue to make sure that she has everything to keep herself and puppies health.

Exercise Your Dog During All Stages Of your Canine Pregnancy

Exercise is very important at all stages of Pregnant Dogs.  Walking is the best exercise because it’s not to intense (not talking about a marathon here) and you do not want your dog to receive an injury that could endanger her pup’s.  Unlike a cat pregnancy (because you don’t see to many cat’s on a leash)  it’s a very good idea to have your dog on a leash, you don’t want your pregnant dog running off after something and hurting her puppies.

The bitch should be completely isolated from other dogs at home during the final 3 weeks. This means controlled or no walks during this period.  Try to minimize your dog from jumping onto or off of high furniture.

Preparation For Your Dogs Delivery (Nesting)

What you want to do prior to the delivery of your dogs puppies (don’t get nervous now, it’s a peace of cake) get her whelping box ready and all the supplies together.  This needs to be done before you look around and see your soon to be mom standing there whelping.

Here are some of the things that you will need:

• Whelping  Box – This can be a cardboard open-topped box and put it somewhere familiar but private area for her to have her pups.  The box needs to be high on the sides so the puppies can not get out.  You can also use a wading pool which works just as well.
• Clean Towels or Blankets – Get lots of clean towels blankets, or sheets to make the mother feel more comfortable. These will be thrown away later. The stains will not come out.
• Clean Pair Of Scissors – Don’t panic but you may need a pair of scissors with alcohol just in case you have to cut the cords yourself.

Dog Labor and Delivery (Ok it’s time but don’t panic)

Even though this is the scary part in your dog birth you will more than likely not have to do mush of anything.  Just have the items above ready and your vet’s phone number. It can be messes so wear clothes you can toss later.

Let’s talk about the 3 stages of the dog labor.

Labor Stage 1 -  This stage of labor could last 6 to 12 hours.  Your soon to mom will start to get restless.  You may notice her to start panting, pacing around looking for her nest (which you have already prepared).  You may want to place her in her box and she may start moving things around to get a comfortable bed.  You could see her vomit and having contractions.  At this time the cervixes is completely dilated.

Labor Stage 2 -  This is the having baby stage.  This is when the water sacks break and the puppy is born.  The first puppy is usually delivered within 10 to 20 minutes.  She could rest for up to an hour before she starts straining with the second puppy.

Labor Stage 3 – Now your puppies have been delivered and the lucky mom will settle down and start taking care of her pups.  Her vulva will continue to discharge blood expelling any remaining placenta for several days after birth.  Don’t panic this is normal.

Now that everything has settled down in your dog pregnancy you can feed her as mush as she wants all the extra meals that she wants.

CONGRATULATIONS  you did it.

Determining if your cat is pregnant

First thing you need to determine in your cat pregnancy is if your cat is really pregnant. It will be hard to determine if your queen is pregnant for the first 2 or 3 weeks.  Here are a few cat pregnancy signs and cat pregnancy symptoms noticeable if your cat is pregnant:

• She is not repeating her cat heat cycles.
• Her nipples will become pink and enlarged.
• May become more affectionate.
• Increased Appetite
• Possible Vomiting (Morning Sickness)
• Abdominal Enlargement
• Start Nesting

Your best bet is to take your queen to your chosen veterinary for a prenatal check-up. There is a lot of physical demands of pregnancy and you need to start her off with good health. Get a cat pregnancy calendar and keep up with everything going on in your cat litter pregnancy.

Your cat needs to start off with a balanced diet to maintain her health and that of her offspring throughout cat pregnancy and cats birth.  Your veterinarian may also be able to feel fetuses by palpating your cat’s abdomen.  The other way would be with an ultrasound. Then and only then will you know that your cat is pregnant.  If your pets not vaccinated you should wait until after pregnancy to vaccinate.

Cat Gestation – The Gestation Period

Unlike dog pregnancy the cat gestation period for queens is around nine weeks, 63 to 69 days.  Your queen could deliver as mush as 4 to 5 days early or late.  Your queen may have from 1 to 8 kittens at a time, average being 2 to 5 kittens. This is normal and not to worry.

Pregnant cats gain weight gradually throughout their pregnancy just like humans.  Special attention should be paid to her changing nutritional needs throughout the entire reproduction process.

Labor and Delivery

When your queen gets close to delivering there are a few signs and clues to be aware of.  She will start looking for a place to bear her kittens, called nesting.  You can help her out some by preparing a place for her in a private area.  She will need a box lined with soft clean towels or blankets and cut the sides of the box down to make it easy for her to get in.

Beware… even though you took the time to fine your kitty a save quite place with a soft toweled box for her to have her kittens she may just have them on the floor next to the box or any other place she feels.  You could put out two or three boxes for her to choose if you would like.

When you think your cat’s ready to give birth try to keep it quiet and give her some privacy.  Make sure she has food, water nearby but not to close to her box.

Your assistance in your cat pregnancy should not be needed unless the mother fails to clean the sac away from the kitten.  You will know when she is ready to have a kitten when she starts to pant and lick heavily.  There is often 10 to 60 minutes delay between the first delivered and could be longer.  The entire birthing process can take from 2 to 6 hours depending on the number of kittens.

Within 24 hours your newborn kittens should be examined by your veterinarian.  You might want to think about spaying.  You would want to spay your cat if you were not planning on mating her.

Newborn Kittens

You should leave your feline and kittens along for at least 3 days and do not handle her litter until they are at least a week old.  The mother will take care of everything else.

In closing I have tried to give you the highlights of your cat pregnancy but it’s just impossible to give you all the information you need on this one page.  If you want more detailed information on your cat’s pregnancy on all stages you may want to check out “How To Take Care Of Your Pregnant Cat”.  This is a downloadable ebook with all the information needed from the beginning to the end.  I highly recommend it for anyone who is expecting kittens in the near future.

So you think that you have a pregnant cat?  You know it’s quite different for a cat than it is for a woman.  Where the full term pregnancy for a women is 9 months it’s about 60 to 69 days for a cat.  It also would depend on what breed of the cat because it’s different for different breeds.

You can figure the average length for a cat’s pregnancy is around 65 days.  It’s understood that you have a variation of about 4 days one way or the other.  You could say that the whole cat gestation period may be on the low end 61 days and on the high end 69 days.

As far as the cat pregnancy calendar and for a better understanding of how the calendar works you need to know what the date that your cat mated.  Lets look at an example.  Lets say your cat mated on February 2 which means the date of birth should be on April 8 (65 Days).

Remembering the 4 days one way or the other birth could be as early as April 4 or 4 days later than the average which would be April 12.  For your information the idea for the cat pregnancy calendar was taken from How To Take Care Of Your Pregnant Cat which is a very good source for information on your pregnant cat and also will give you a one year cat pregnancy calendar.  

One last thing, what do you do if you do not know the mating date of your cat’s pregnancy.  The best way to determine if and when your cat became or is pregnant go see your veterinarian.  Your vet can use a sonogram to detect a pregnancy as early as two weeks into gestation.  You vet can also feel the developing kittens through the abdominal wall by three weeks pregnant.  Around the fifth week your cat’s belly will start getting bigger.