My chi is due any day now, she is on her 58th day. This is her first litter. I have been reading on web sites that I will need to clamp and cut the umbilical cords myself and take them out of the sacks as chi's don't do it themselves. I have bred only Kelpie's before and they chew the cords and eat the sacs as it brings on the milk. I'm a bit nervous having to do it myself. If this is true what would I clamp it with? How close to the belly button or away from do I clamp? How long do I clamp it for before I cut? Any advice much appreciated, thankyou.

Just observe......watch to see if mama licks them after they are born. If you try and interefer too much she could reject the pups. Let nature run it's course and if mama isn't doing her job then you can step in.

Congratulations on your litter, s pleased it all went well for you all.

 

my chi is about 57 days today we had a scan last wk and we have just the 1 pup,

this is our first litter any advice,

Tania x

Congratulations Dogluva, so glad for you and your puppies!

Good luck for you and your girl, Tania!

Well Tania best of luck for your little girl, I don't really have any advice, because it was my dogs first time too, and everything went so smoothly. I had everything set up, beds set up on both sides of our bed, at the end of our bed and 3 in the lounge, because she moved around a lot. She layed in the one next to me and had contractions all through the night, i rubbed her stomach most of the night, then I fell asleep as I was so tired cause she was restless and digging the previous night too. Then I awoke to the sounds of a puppy crying, she was in the middle of her second, the first was already cleaned up, she had them in another bed at the end of mine. She was chewing the sack off but took awhile so I just ripped it away from her face and tipped it up to drain the fluids, then did the same for the next two born 2 hours later. Then I just shiffted them to the bed in the lounge nearer to the heater, plus we have a huge doggy playpen around with a dog door in it, because the dad doesnt know how to use that, and she is very snappy at him when he is near. I didnt need all the stuff like scissors, string, Iodine, cotton tips all the stuff I had ready to tie off as she did it herself, just go to make sure the placenta comes out, which my dog ate, brings on milk apparently, she ate 3 out of 4

First litters are nail-biters! Let nature take it's course, but by all means be very attentive to how close to labor she gets.  The less disturbance from other sources the better. She will become very needy as she gets closer to delivering. Keeping the babies warm will be important-I used a space heater and put it on the low setting. I placed it near the entrance to the kennel and let it blow in. It had a temp sensor on it so it would turn itslef off when the required temp was reached. As the puppies grew, they required a little less heat, and I was fiddling with the thing every couple of days so the pups wouldn't over heat. Best of luck to you. I'm here if you have questions.

Hi guys.. :) I'm glad that you are chi lovers just like me. I never expect to love chihuahuas because before i thought dogs are just a pain in the neck but when i got Chappy, my first chi, my life was given meaning and that meaning is to take care of my new found friends namely Chappy, Yuri and Alexa..:)