Helping the Whelping

Most dogs are able to handle the whelping process all on their own. They know what to do! Human interference is not necessary.

But some dogs, especially Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, appreciate a helping hand. Of course, every dog is an individual and will have unique needs. But here are some things we’ve found helpful in helping our mamas whelp:

What to Prepare:

Before your 63 day gestation period is up, there are a few things you can get ready, so when your Mama starts giving you signs that It Is Happening you’ll be ready to go!

1. Whelping Box

   The whelping box is useful in helping your Mama feel safe and secure. Even though she surely feels safe and secure in your home, she’ll want to be extra cozy for the whelping. Have you ever noticed how when animals give birth they almost always do it under a bed or in a closet? The small space mimics the feel of a den for them! A nice, clean area, with four little walls is the perfect place for whelping. (We prefer square or rectangular whelping boxes. Round ones don’t seem to make our mamas as comfortable!)

   It doesn’t have to be fancy- no carpentry skills needed! Although our handy-dandy Cameron-Man made us a custom whelping box that is perfect, we’ve even used just a large plastic storage box (the kind that is designed to roll under the bed- so the walls are short enough for the Mama dog to easily step in and out of) and it worked just fine!

2. Basic Medical Supplies

   While it’s best at times to just let nature take it’s course, it’s not a bad idea to have a few medical items accessible just in case. We keep gloves, dental floss (unflavored- to tie off the umbilical cord), iodine, scissors, and some petroleum jelly nearby. As well as lots of clean fresh towels and sheets. Your mama is going to want to “nest” as much as possible, so give her something to dig around and paw at. It will release some much-needed endorphins! We pile towels and sheets all inside the whelping box, and then the Mama dog spends a lot of time digging around in them. This is also a good idea as far as pain management goes- have you ever noticed that you don’t notice pain as much if you’re doing something really interesting or fun? It’s the same way for dogs!

3. A Notepad and a Digital Scale

   We do not recommend tying string around tiny puppies necks or paws. We’ve found the best way to tell your puppies apart is to take note of their markings. (We even had a whole litter that we named after their unique markings haha!) Just pencil it down in the notepad, something like, “Tricolor Female-wide white forehead-black paws” and then find something else to identify the next puppy and so on.

   Once you’ve identified your puppies, and written it down, it’s not too hard to tell them apart from each other. And just wait until their personalities start coming out! You’ll find that each pup is unique.

   You also want to weigh your pups so you can start keeping track of whether they’re gaining weight or not. You want a pup to gain weight every day so for the first two weeks you should weigh them first thing in the morning.

In The Moment

When it’s go time, your Mama dog will let you know. We’ve found with Cavaliers especially, who bond so tightly to their humans, the Mama dog locks eyes with her Person when it’s happening. It’s very important to remember that you are your Mama dog’s caretaker/best friend/whole world. Put everything aside- your cell phone, the TV, work calls, everything and be there for your Mama dog. Staying focused on her and her needs- locking eyes with her to help her through the contraction, using a soothing tone and steady stream of good kind words while you stroke her ears and back, these are all things that will make the whelping process easy on her.

If you can keep the room and area where you’ve set up the Whelping Box cool and quiet and dark, that will be the best way to mimic a cozy den. Try to keep other noises in the house to a minimum. If the door is shut, leave it shut and don’t have people running around outside of it or banging pots and pans in the kitchen. These things are startling to a Mama dog and they can make her feel anxious.

If you think your Mama dog is in trouble, call the vet. They will be very helpful! But remember to stay calm- even if there is an issue and action needs to be taken, you don’t want to stress your Mama dog out!

Pain Management

We’ve talked about a few different ways to make the Whelping as comfortable for your mama dog as possible: A cozy whelping box makes her feel safe, keeping yourself completely in tune with her needs, and giving her access to a gentle activity that can make her feel in control and happy.

But there’s more you can do! Massage is a huge pain management tool- for dogs and humans. Find the sweet spot for your particular mama dog. (For Luna- it’s her ears, for Everest it’s the spot on her back right before her tail starts)- the spot that you scratch where she stops and her eyes close in bliss. That’s the money spot! Now you don’t want to overstimulate this spot, and there will be times when she will draw away from you because she needs to focus on her work, but use this spot like a shot of morphine. Use it to sooth her in and bring her to a state of total relaxation in between contractions.

There will probably come a time during the whelping when the Mama dog wants to rest. It’s okay to let her rest for a bit! You don’t want her to rest for hours and hours, because they puppies all have to be born once the whelping starts. But we usually let our Mama rest when she wants to for thirty minutes to an hour at a time. Once that time is up, sometimes we have to help her stand up and even “feather” (more on that technique later) to get it going again. It’s hard to do, but she would thank you for it if she could- because the sooner the work is done, the sooner she can rest for real!

After the Whelping

When the work is done, your Mama will be very tired. You will need to act quickly to get her cleaned off because all she will want to do is sleep.

Now you don’t want to get a Mama dog sopping wet after giving birth because her pups aren’t able to regulate their body temperature just yet- so if she gets them wet it can be dangerous. Instead, we just take a damp towel and wipe down her whole bottom half. It’s not super duper clean- but it does get most of the gunk off. She can always have a proper bath later- once the pups are a little more grown!

This is where the size/configuration of your whelping box comes into play. In a round whelping area, it’s harder for the Mama dog and her puppies to get away from the mess that whelping creates (there are many bodily fluids involved). But a rectangle or square gives her an end where she can be clean and keep her pups clean, and an end where the mess can be pushed aside. However, since we work as a team (Kayla and Kelsey) we find it’s easiest for one of us to take the Mama dog out to potty and clean her off, and the other to work quickly to get the box clean and fresh. Then, when the Mama comes in all cleaned off, she gets to lay down in a fresh area and finally get some much-deserved rest!

Whelping Well

Whelping isn’t easy on your Mama dog so be sure to give her lots of rest, snuggles, and tasty treats. We like to treat our Mamas to a fresh juicy steak after whelping. She’s provided you with plenty of puppies to love on, so it’s the least you can do to reward her with a high-class meal!

If you have a healthy Mama dog she will bounce back in no time. We’ve seen Luna go trotting out in the yard the very next day like she didn’t just birth several babies. Their bodies are truly amazing! But be sure to listen to her signals- if she doesn’t seem to be bouncing back, and seems just plain worn out long after she should’ve been back to her old self, she may just be done with having babies. When she tells you she’s done, then that’s okay! Time to let her retire into a life of naps and snuggles and treats. She did some good work, didn’t she?