We're getting ready

Trixie's due date is just days away and I've been busy prepping the "delivery room" aka our family room. The whelping box is set up, almost all the supplies are gathered, lists made and the only thing left to do is line the floor with plastic; whelping is messy business for sure. Then we wait for our star, Trixie to begin the show. Trixie actually seemed happy that I set up the whelping box, as she's an experienced mother and knows exactly what it's for.

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Trixie is looking quite huge, as my friend Debbie says, she's swallowed the watermelon! Up until a few days ago she had a tremendous appetite. This has slowed a bit as the puppies are taking up so much room. We went to the vet yesterday for an x-ray to determine how many pups she'll be having and were thrilled to count eight pups on the x-ray. My vet thought she looked great and healthy. The first thing I did was weigh her and although she didn't break the scale, wow were we surprised. Trixie tipped the scale at a whopping 84 lbs, a 24 lb weight gain from her normal, svelte 60 lbs...it will be a while before this model gets her figure back.

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We calculated Trixie's due date based on progesterone testing. Blood samples were drawn over a number of days to evaluate when she ovulated and this gives us two pieces of vital information, it tells us if she ovulated, which although not exact is with in a day or so, and the best time to do the breeding. Due dates are calculated from the date of ovulation, not breeding and we count 63 days from ovulation to be the whelping day. I will also begin taking Trixie's temperature tomorrow, a number of times each day and logging them to see when her temps stay below 99 degrees. We are looking for a downward trend to indicate that she will whelp within 24 hours.