Whelping box temperature

Hi guys,

Our dog 4 years old, is about to have her first litter in a few weeks time and dad and me have prepared everything. We do however have one slight problem, we live in Melbourne, Australia where it is winter and it gets significantly cold at night.

We have some infra-red spot lamps, at 75watt, 50watt and 150watt, the ones used for reptiles in the terrarium. I was wondering if it would alright to leave one of these on at night over a particular section of the welping box so the pups have the option to move away.

OK first, heating the box is done differently by everyone, turn a lamp on and see how hot it gets? some get very hot within seconds. The whelp box temperature should be kept at a steady 75-80, put a room thermometer at floor level in the box and this will help you to keep an eye on it. There are a lot of different items available for heating the box, just remember that mum can become dehydrated easily. have the heat at one of the box only so mum and pups can move away from it if needs be

That would have been too hot for my females..... I never used heat lamps ....I know it depends on the breed though . I always went for room temp human wise , but made sure there were no drafts . With my eagle eye on them 24/7 , If I saw if one started to shiver they'd either pile in or go to Momma.... yet there were always 1 to 3... happily away alone or in a group. I personally felt that if you had a healthy litter, it was better on the cool side than too warm. They move around more and the Mom sure is more comfortable. A panting Mom meant she wasn't happy with the temp !. If you have a weak pup not moving around much, there's always a heating pad on low. Tried this with my 1st litter, but they preferred themselves or Mom !

I used a heating pad for the puppies after they were born when Chloe had her puppies.

Yes...the heating pad was on low temp with a towel over it.

Yes, a must when pups were whelped !!! I always had a box with pad and towel to put the pups in whenever another was on it's way. Mom has enough to deal with with a new baby and afterbirth without having to worry about stepping on a youngster ! Believe me, when " we " had 8 to 12 pups we were both worn out ! Once I was up for 36 hours.

I use a lamp directed at one corner for about the first week. Keep a thermometer near the floor where the lamp is. It should stay about 85 degrees under the lamp.

I cannot keep the box at 85 degrees, or the bitch simply cannot stand it.

Puppies can not control their body temp for the first seven days. They cannot shiver. This is one reason why bitches stick SO close to their whelps for the first seven days.

Also if useing a pad be carefull of wires

Chloe wasn't good about staying in the box with her puppies....she wasn't that great of a mama....good thing she had Jackson Browne to help out!!