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How long are Dogs Pregnant? Let’s Know About Dog Pregnancy

How long are Dogs Pregnant?: If for the first time, your dog is in the gestation period, you are probably wondering how long the puppies will take to get ready for calving and calculate the approximate date. For a long time, there has been a belief that every bitch must be a mother at least once in her life.

There is no reason for it to be this, it depends on the bitch’s maternal instinct, and she may even never have it. One of the most common questions is, How long are dogs pregnant? Let’s talk about dog pregnancy and the dog gestation period.

How long are Dogs Pregnant

How long are dogs pregnant? Steps to follow:

Step – 1:

According to those said by veterinarians, it is recommended to wait until the dog has passed minimum 3 heats to allow the projection and thus the pregnancy. By doing so during the first heat, we will be exposing a bitch barely mature and therefore barely mature, to a process that could cause him anxiety or depression.

Step – 2: 

The gestation period of a bitch usually lasts between 58 and 68 days. Of course, this is not an exact science and it is possible that it even reaches 70 days of pregnancy. But you must be ready on day 58 because from this moment puppies can arrive at any time.

Step – 3: 

If you know the exact day of the breeding to calculate accurately, the approximate time is two months. So that, thanks to this and the gestation phase, you can find the date of the birth. The bitches go through each and every one of the processes of a pregnancy but in an accelerated way. In general, pregnancy is divided into two large halves.

Step – 4: 

The first half of pregnancy is fertilization, attachment of embryos to the walls of the uterus and formation of organs, muscles, and bones of puppies, it lasts about six weeks. The number of puppies will depend on the breed of the father, eight or nine on average in the Golden Retriever, one or two among the Chihuahua. It is recommended to carry out a veterinary follow-up of the pregnancy. Thus, the first visit can be made from the day 22 after the mating. During this half, the pregnancy is barely visible.

Step – 5: 

During the second half of pregnancy, from the sixth week to the ninth, it is when puppies grow completely and accelerated. During this period, we will notice that our dog is pregnant, so if you have not worried about the pregnancy before, you must know that there is a month left before the birth.

Step – 6: 

You will know that the time of birth has come when your dog has been preparing for days the “nest”, which may be her bed or favorite place in the home, she does not move from here and is nervous, worried. Feel free to read our article on how to feed a pregnant dog and follow all the directions to make sure everything is going well. Especially small breeds and miniatures can suffer from complicated calving, so it is recommended that veterinarians perform them.

How do I know if my dog is expecting little ones:

It is not always clear if your dog is actually pregnant. But there are still a number of signs of pregnancy:

  • Vaginal discharge occurs and the nipples swell approximately 1 month after mating
  • Her behavior may also change. For example, she can spend a lot of time sleeping, especially at the end of gestation.
  • The appetite of the mother-to-be decreases at half of the pregnancy but it is not systematic.
  • The belly rounds and the weight of the bitch can increase from 20 to 55%. However, we can very well not detect anything before 45 to 50 days of gestation!

What Veterinary Checks for My Pregnant Bitch?

If you think she is expecting babies, take your pet to the vet’s office to confirm or refute the pregnancy diagnosis. He may, if necessary, pass check tests to your dog to check that the progress of pregnancy is normal.
The most common examination is obviously ultrasound, which can be used from 21 to 28 days of gestation. Using ultrasound: it is non-invasive but does not exactly determine the number of puppies that will be a composed range.

In answering how long are dogs pregnant, It’s important to remember that, for larger dogs especially. The swollen abdomen that we notice in humans might not present until the last three weeks of pregnancy. The veterinarian may also perform a simple palpation of the abdomen. If she is pregnant, he will feel that the uterus is thickened and moves inside as early as the 21st day of pregnancy. Puppies of heartbeats will be visible from 25th management day with a simple stethoscope. But again, this technique does not allow to know precisely the number of planned births.

Final Words:

Finally, radiography can help to visualize the skeletons of puppies and know how small your dog is waiting. But only in the 45th or the 49th day of gestation. However, this technique using X-rays is not without risks for puppies to be born.

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