During the gestation of a dog, one of the main concerns is the time of delivery. In order for us to treat you safely, it is important that we have followed the veterinary examinations scheduled by our veterinarian throughout the pregnancy. We should also pay attention to the feeding of the healthy dog, as their nutritional needs will change.
In addition, we must provide you with a quiet place where you can nest and give birth in a controlled way, but without interference. In this peritoAnimal article about the birth of a bitch we will explain how long it takes to give birth to a bitch, so you know how to help her and identify when it is necessary to seek help from a veterinarian.
- Before explaining the duration of a dog’s delivery.
- It is important to identify the symptoms of delivery in dogs.
- Indicating that delivery begins.
- Some of them are described below:.
To understand how long a dog’s delivery lasts, we need to know that it occurs in several stages, which are:
In short, the time needed to give birth to a dog, taking as an example a litter of 4 to 6 puppies, will be 6 to 8 hours, although this time can be extended more the litter is numerous.
The birth of each puppy is preceded for 5 to 30 minutes from the active phase of delivery. Although the usual, as we said, is that the interval between births is 15 minutes to 2 hours, this interval can be deferred to 3-4 hours, and this time varies by race. Large breeds can have litters with more puppies and therefore this can take longer.
One way to know if the bitch has finished giving birth is to have an X-ray or ultrasound before giving birth to find out how many puppies she’s pregnant with. So, to find out if there are still puppies in the dog’s belly, simply count the born puppies to see if the data matches or count the placentas (before the dog eats them, that’s normal), because there should never be more puppies than placentas. If these amounts do not match ultrasound predictions, a puppy may become trapped in the genital canal.
If it is observed that the dog grows for 30 to 60 minutes and no puppies are born, the emergency veterinarian should be called. It is for these and other reasons that it is always very important to have contact with a veterinarian 24 hours who can attend emergencies of this type.
If it is the first time that the dog has puppies and one wonders how long the first delivery of a dog lasts, we must know that we can face the same moments that we have already explained, that is, there will be no significant differences between a first delivery and too much.
Finally, we will talk about possible problems during the delivery of a dog and the time it takes to give birth to a dog can vary in cases of dystocia, which will be an extension of some of the phases of childbirth. Dystocia can be caused by a physical blockage or uterine inertia, meaning the uterus cannot contract strong enough to expel the puppy.
Obstruction is usually caused by the excessive size of a puppy or its incorrect location in the genital canal. This channel can also be very narrow. We may suspect obstruction if the mother grows for 30 to 60 minutes without the birth of puppies. In this case, veterinary assistance is required and a C-section may be required.
Uterine inertia can be primary, when contractions don’t even begin, or secondary, when there’s a prolonged effort that eventually depletes the uterine muscles. This can happen when a blockage resolves and the dog is in labor and is not growing, as the uterus may be tired. These cases usually end with a C-section.
The veterinarian should look for the cause of primary uterine inertia, which may be a litter of a few puppies or very large, as well as stress or calcium deficiency. If the problem cannot be corrected, a C-section should be performed.
The number of puppies that a female can give birth to the first calf depends on different factors and varies depending on its breed and size. Some information to consider in this regard is:
In general, given the average normal puppies for small puppies (thinking of a yorkshire terrier) and the average number of puppies for larger puppies, it can be considered that the average of puppies for a first litter is 5 puppies, this number being totally variable depending on the conditions explained. You can better understand these factors depending on the breed in the article where we explain how many puppies an English bull terrier can have.
And since the theme is dog reproduction and its phases, we take the opportunity to leave this video of the Animal Expert channel as a curiosity:
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