I'm a grandma for the 1st time :-)

[catwoman]

Hello,

A while ago I posted about a dog that wondered onto our property that we took in. She appears to be a beagle mix of some sort, I'm thinking part dachsund and beagle or fox hound.

Anyway, I didn't know whether or not she was pregnant. Well, she was and did have the puppies April 23rd to be exact. Nine of them. They still have not opened their eyes.

We were planning on spaying the dog, but I just couldn't do it, knowing that she probably was pregnant. I know a lot of people do it anyway, but I just couldn't bring myself to having it done until after they were born.

So, this is all new to me. I have never had a dog have puppies before. All the pups are getting along really well. Looks as though the mom is giving them plenty of nurishment. And we have her on really good food, puppy formula, well it says for lactating adults too.

I have probably a really silly question, but how long is it before she goes into a heat cycle again? How long should I wait to have her spayed? I do not want her to have anymore puppies.

[ilovemaltipoos]

You can have her spayed when she weans the puppies ,best thing to do .
Congrats grandma !

[MonsterBailey]

Congratulations catwoman!
You'll have to post pics of the new babies as soon as you can We all would love to see them

[charmedagain]

hi Spaying should be done when the litter is 12 weeks old this gives the females body time to go back to normal before the operation.

I have a litter of only 5 puppies which will be 6weeks old on friday they have been eating solids since they were 2weeks old and i am keeping them away from mum so that her milk can dry up.

Since your litter was born on the 23rd of april there eyes should start opening in the next couple of days.
The fun is yet to come with the weaning and training i have been doing it for years and i still get on a high when i see how well i have raised and trained the pups before they goto new owners.

So good luck with them and glad to hear mum and her babies are doing well.

Congratulations on being a granmother
give mum a pet from me

mike and the gang

[catwoman]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the congrats and the replies about when to get *Sheila* (the mommy) spayed.

Now I have another question I just went out to give her some fresh water and petted her back and noticed a tick on her back by her shoulder blades. So, is it okay to give her frontline or something like that while she is nursing?

My husband took pictures of the pups and I'll post them thru picturetrail. I don't know how to attach it to the message board. I know some people do it, and I would love to know how

Anyway, these pups are really growing! The mom appears to be some kind of tri color beagle/hound mix, but these pups do not look like her. I have no idea who the father is, she wondered onto our property. But from the looks of the pups, they look like Rottweilers (not sure of that spelling!)

So, let me know about what I should give her for the ticks, or if in fact, I should wait until the pups are weaned.

As you can probably guess by my username, I have cats I give my cats Revolution, it works great. But I have read and heard from people that it doesn't seem to work that well on dogs. Does anybody out there know anything about that? And what do some of you use for flea and tick problems.

[honeybears]

Hi catwoman, I would wait until she is done nursing. that stuff is pretty strong that could passed in moms milk. Ticks are easy to pull off. a Another thing she should be on is heartworm preventative. Do you live in an area with a lot of mosquitos?? MO sounds like a mosquito state

Do you get a lot of ticks. Ours are seasonal so I just use a tick collar during the season so my dogs arent geeting over medicated when they dont need to be.

glad to hear the pups are doing okay, I just looked up revoltuin which is heartworm, tick and fleas, so it depens on how bad you have ticks. My vet doesnt like to use it because it is strong and that is why I use the ticks collars.

honeybear

[catwoman]

I am not sure if MO is considered to have a lot of ticks or not. We just moved from California to Missouri this past September. I never noticed any of our dogs having ticks in CA, although I'm sure the state has them.

But yes, we definetly have mosquitos They are the biggest I've ever seen too! We use to go on vacations in Minnesota and I've never seen bigger mosquitos then those here.

Anyway, yes we are using Heartguard. About the revolution, I heard that it doesn't work very well on dogs for fleas. But didn't know much about ticks. My husband just advised me that salt draws out ticks. I had never heard that, thought I might give it a try. I will wait to give her anything like Frontline until the pups are weaned.

[Jamiya]

I would definitely wait until the pups are weaned before applying Frontline. Personally, I am against ever using Frontline or heartworm preventives. If you do choose to use them, however, you don't need to give them as frequently as vets tell you to. Instead of every month, give the heartworm "preventives" every 6 weeks. Same with Frontline. And don't give them during the winter when there are no bugs anyway!


Jamiya

[bullylove1]

Jamiya:
Just a question. Why are you against heartworm preventatives. I personally have never used them on any of my dogs, and they have always been in excellent shape. But recently all I hear about is heartworm and I do tend to over react, so I was considering putting Harley on it.

Just want some pros and cons to better make a decision.

Thanks.

[Jamiya]

Here is a re-post from a different thread. I have posted on this before, so you might also do a search on the forum. It can be very scary to go against the advice of most vets and take your dogs off heartworm preventive and stop vaccinations, etc. (This is why I really want to find a vet that agrees with my philosophies.) You have to make your own decision after you do the research, and decide what is best for you and your pets.


Repost:
Heartworm "preventive" is a poison. Any reactions should be reported immediately to your vet. My personal preference is to not routinely poison the dog every month for his whole life just in case he might get heartworms. I prefer more natural preventive methods, such as natural bug repellents and garlic tablets. I also get my dogs tested every 6 months for early detection, just in case. Getting heartworms is not a death sentence - they can be gently cured by homeopathic means, and even regular treatments result in a cure and the dog can never get them again.

Heartworm "preventives" don't really prevent them - they kill the larvae if the dog becomes infected with them. The only way to prevent infection is to not get bitten by mosquitoes.

Also, there is some controversy surrounding the Proheart 6 heartworm shots. I couldn't find the page I was looking at this morning, but here is another one: http://cbs4boston.com/reports/local_story_061205218.html.

Here is some additional reading:

http://www.preciouspets.org/newsletters/articles/heartworm-article.htm
http://www.bullovedbulldogs.com/heartworm.htm
http://www.preciouspets.org/heartwormprevention.htm

Oh, something else that is VERY important. A dog with a HEALTHY immune system should be able to fight off even a heartworm infection. Many dogs have recovered without any intervention at all.

BUT in order to have a healthy immune system that can help prevent infection or fight it off if it is contracted, one needs to do several things - feed a species-appropriate diet, and avoid all medications and poisions that will weaken the immune system. This includes flea and tick and heartworm preventives, routine wormings, vaccinations, etc.

Since my dogs have not been on raw food for very long and since they had their vaccinations within the last year (I didn't know it was bad) and they were on heartworm and flea/tick poison, I don't trust their immune systems yet. So I use daily garlic tablets and if we are going out at dawn or dusk or near water, I use a natural bug repellent spray. I will always get them tested every 6 months for heartworms for early detection. And I just pull ticks off - I am in KS (near MO) and there ARE a lot of ticks if you go into wooded areas, but I think lyme disease is not a problem here. I run my hands over the dogs daily when I am petting and playing with them, so I find ticks early if they have them.

Bonnie has never had a tick, but Nala has had 3 this year. I think they find her tasty or something.

But my kids have also come home with ticks and I surely am not going to rub poison on their skin every month "just in case"!

Garlic is supposed to repel ALL bugs, and since we started the daily tablets I have not seen any ticks. We have not had a flea problem, either. Be careful about garlic, however, and don't overdose.


Jamiya

[catwoman]

Hi Jamiya,

Please tell us more about the garlic tablets. What is the dosage? Do you go by the weight of the dog or what. It sounds like a great natural way to go, if it works. I am not going to give Sheila any frontline, at least not until the pups are weaned. And if this works, I'd just as soon go with the garlic tabs and the natural bug repellent.

I bet it's more economical too.

I live about 2 1/2 hrs from Kansas City. Brunswick is inbetween KC and Columbia.

[Jamiya]

I'm afraid I can't give a definitive answer on the garlic tablets. I was going to go with one clove a day for my 40-ish pound dogs, but then I found kyolic garlic tablets that had been recommended (I think by Jas) on this forum. So I bought those. The dosage on the bottle says 2 tablets twice a day for humans (which makes it 4 tablets a day). So I figured one per day for a 40 pound dog sounded about right, so that's what I am giving.

It seems to me that I found a reference to dosage amounts this morning when I happened across a site about heartworm prevention, but I don't recall what it was. I'll try to find it again.

I can't verify whether the garlic I am giving is having an effect or not. But it makes me feel better to be doing something. And I already ordered the garlic spray that honeybear recommended!


Jamiya

[Jamiya]

Here is one quote I found:

[loves-da-pits]

Well, this has me really concerned. Reese just had his Pro Heart 6 last week and Grace is getting her as I'm posting this response. I never used a H.W. reventative in other dogs. Never heard of any affected dogs personally. I live where there are mosquitoes all year round. We also have a lot of irregation ditches and canals. Just recently a member on this board found out her dog had H.W. I just didn't want to take any chances. Reese hasn't shown any reaction to the shot. I'm just worried about Grace, now. I printed the article by the I-Team Investigation, and I'm going to take it in with me when I get Grace. Being that they're DRs, they might just put a "spin" on the whole thing.

[puttin510]

Well first of all congrats on the puppies Catwomen.

Now what do you all think about the recent supposed find about garlic being a toxic thing for dogs, much like onions but not as bad? I'm not so certain I believe that.

[Jamiya]

It is true - garlic CAN be toxic. It is in the onion family. I did some research on this and everything I found said they need a LOT of garlic to have the reaction to it. That's why I said to be careful and not overdose on it.

I found this on another board: