[Maureen]

Good morning, all!
Jac, once again we're in this together, with our litters coming close to each other! (Yankee's due around 4/8 )

Diane was really detailed about the temp/labor. ( way to go Di! ) The rule of thumb on those whelping charts is delivery comes 63 days from the first tie. Di, I'm picturing you chasing your girls from behind with a thermometer in your hand! I guess I wait for that VIOLENT nesting they start doing in my closet or under the kids' beds and then I know it won't be long. Anyway, I've heard of healthy pups born on Day 59 and I think that's cuz 57-59 days is absolutely necessary and the dam doesn't necessarily ovulate on the same day she's ready to stand, ya know? Last time Fancy only tied twice within a 24 hr period, so it was interesting to see how close it was, at 61days. This time Yankee tied just ONCE so I will be tracking her gestation time from there as well.

I don't have the luxury of getting x-rays or sonigrams of our girls because frankly they're just too darn expensive here in Denver! Shoot, the bloodtest is over $100 so my hubby points out that we can wait and be surprised for FREE!

As for counting the puppies, even an x-ray depends on a vet seeing them all, and not missing one behind something, right? I guess I don't have confidence in those tests to be that conclusive as to not miscount 1 puppy more or less, so I wouldn't take the test as that accurate.
Do you give your girls an oxytocin shot within 24hrs of their last-delivered pup? I'm a big believer in that to make sure the uterus has contracted and expelled all puppy-tissues.

I know this might not really sound helpful but you WILL learn to palpate and know when your girls are really "done". Last time I was able to estimate correctly how many more Fancy had coming, (2) before she delivered her last one....and it wasn't like I knew I was right beforehand, but I just didn't realize how much I was learning with each litter. know what I mean? The good thing about that was it clued me in that when she only had one more before her tummy felt really concave, it clued me in that there was a little guy born out in the snow.

Does that help? What would be Bayley's due date if you count 63 days from first tie?