Mom has chewed off umbilical cords, but some are a little too long. Do I cut it down to around two inches or so? Or leave it?
When puppies wander away from mom and the heated area, do I leave it alone and allow it to return to mom on its own? Or do I move it back closer to mom when I feel that they’re not warm anymore?
How do I get the mom to go outside to potty without puppies? Many websites are vague and I’m not sure if puppies will get too cold if the mom leaves for a bit to pee. Is there anything I should do to make sure that puppies will stay warm as mom relieves herself?
How do you know for sure if a labor is over and there’s no additional puppies? Our vet said they saw six skulls and spines, but our mom gave birth to 8 puppies. We’re wondering if there might be a 9th one.
So far, the mom and pups are doing very well! There’s one very small runt (the 7th one), and the 8th might have a hernia because it’s umbilical cord was accidentally pulled too much. It’s not bleeding, but there’s weird white thingy protruding. We’ve sent the photo to our vet and see what what we can do about it. All pups weigh between 1 to 1.7 oz and they all have suckled.
@kempoutzzz 1) Leave them, they will dry out and fall off.
2) The area should not be too large and should have both heated/unheated sides. They cannot self-regulate now, so you will observe them moving from the hot to cold areas as needed.
3) For first couple of days momma is (generally) only going to leave pups long enough to potty and return. They will not cool down that fast. Generally (and there are always exceptions), I find that momma's won't leave to pee/poo for first 12 to 36 hours. Then they will leave, relieve themselves and run right back to snuggle the pups for the next 3-5 days. After that they will leave for slightly longer periods of time.
