Whelp box

[4ever doodles]

Ok guys, I need help!
We have pups due soon. In the process of getting things ready I realize our old whelp box has seen much better days. So I started researching just to see if there were any improvements I could make on my old one. I love my old design, but not the plywood. It is way too hard to clean properly. So I noticed some were made of corrugated plastic. Does anyone have one made of that? Does it hold up well? How were the sides fastened together since it is plastic? I am so not carpentry oriented! I am wondering if the corrugated plastic is thick enough to withstand the puppy weeks or will it die halfway through? I know I could go to the old swimming pool. But one of our moms is just not careful where she lays. So we really like having some pig rails. Anyone have any ideas or advice?

[Jac]

Hi Cathy, congratulations on the upcoming litter!
There are two good posts on whelping boxes, with pictures...I love mine and it was easy...I posted (with pics) here whelping-box-t11461.html?hilit=whelping box and then Todd posted about the pre-fab kind here: post176596.html?hilit=whelping box#p176596

If these links don't work (they are a result of my search so they may not) then just search for whelping box in the search box above and you will get some good info.

[KingstonTodd]

We just went through this decision process (Hershey is 61 days pregnant!). I'll post a picture of the one we built when I get home from work. We used 1/2" melamine. Its scrubbable and strong. We used peel and stick tiles on the floor on top of the melaine for extra protection. A 4x4's for posts, sealed with an oil based primer and painted with heavy duty scrubbable floor paint. We painted the edges of the walls as well for when dirty puppy feet climb up to look out of the box. It was easy and less than 50$.

[4ever doodles]

Oh! I was just looking at the melamine! I figured it was scrubbable and I could just use our old plans to build it the same as the old plywood ones! But my concern was the vapors... I forget what they are called. Sorry, long day. Anyway, my asthmatic kids have reactions to melamine so I was worried it might be tough on puppy lungs. Have you noticed any odor coming off it at all?

[Jac]

I used the shelving covered with melamine...no ordor or reaction at all, from our household. It washes well and no staining. I don't leave the pups in long enough to chew on it though, I transfer them to an x-pen when they are old enough to start to climb and play.

[KingstonTodd]

We had no reaction from the melamine. We found melamine/MDF stood up to puppy claws better than the white laminated plywood. We also have lined the floor with tile, since the floor was the part that gets the most scratches.

In progress, needs some walls and some more paint:



Almost Done, just need some pig rails and some puppies!!!





Oh, and here is the happy mama to be......lounging like a pampered princess.

[Jac]

Good job Todd! It looks great! (Can't wait to see those puppies crawling around in there! Hershey looks so miserable! LOL Poor thing...it should not be long now... Yippeeee!

Is the whelping box heavy? I must have misunderstood...I thought that the white shelving WAS melamine...is melamine different?

We put floor tiles on our first whelping box...they soon came off...is your flooring tile or sheet? I have always used sheet flooring under my x-pen but the little darlings soon figure out how to eat it...

I think that you really did a great job on the whelping box...I am glad you posted pictures!

[KingstonTodd]

I am not a carpenter but I think melamine is the white layer on the outisde. It is usually laminated over MDF (medium density fiberboard?), particleboard, or plywood. We used both laminated plywood and laminated MDF last time and found that the melamine layer came off the plywood much easier than the MDF. We bought a 4' x 8' x 1/2" thick laminated MDF and had them cut it into a 3' x 4' for the floor (that was the largest that would fit in the backseat of the car, and the 4' x 4' size last time was way to big), and two 2' x 4' side walls, and the left over is the 1' x 3' mini wall at the front. We used a melamine wall from last time that wasn't scrathed up very much for the back wall but we could have bought one melamine shelf for it far not very much. We painted the edges which are not laminated in melamine and that are exposed and the fence posts we used as corner posts. We used 12"x12" peel and stick floor pieces (I think its vinyl but who knows). I asked first to se if they would stick to the melamine and they said yes, and it does. We layed it, and put the other wood on top overnight to get it to stick fully, hence the first pic 1/2 done. They didnt really stick great right away but after sitting under pressure overnight they are down tight.

[Jac]

Very good! I can't wait to see how it works for you...it looks every bit as good as those prefabricated ones!