First Time Puppies: Birthing Supplies
Birthing puppies is not an easy process! There are many supplies that are both necessary and helpful. As we birthed our first litter (June 2022), we collected as much information as possible to figure out what we needed, and we were still surprised by a couple of items. Hopefully this list will help you prepare as you look to “whelp” (n. puppy, v. the give birth to puppies) your litter!
Whelping Box - We have an entire post dedicated to how to build a whelping box (see it here). In general, a whelping box is a place for your dam to give birth and then for the puppies to live in for the first 2-3 weeks. There are several considerations when building your box (e.g. size for your dam, number of puppies, safety of the puppies, etc).
Heat Lamp - Whether you will keep your puppies in your house or another location, the puppies will likely need help keeping their body temperature regulated. A heat lamp (like the kind used for chickens) can be used to keep a portion of your whelping box appropriately warm. The recommendation from the AKC is about 85° F.
Thrift-store blankets/towels - This was by far one of our best purchases for whelping. We got several large comforters to line our whelping box. You could use towels or sheets. We would swap out and wash the comforters at least twice a day. It provided a comfortable spot for both dam and puppies and gave the puppies traction for moving during their early “army-crawl” days.
Garage/Shop rags - Again, one of the best purchases we made. Birthing was a messy process! Cleaning each puppy, rubbing/drying them off, and helping to keep the dam clean was an unending job. We purchased a large bag of 100 clean, new shop rags at Costco and simply threw them away as they were dirty. Way better than just a couple of towels and trying to clean them afterwards!
Pee-Pads - Newborn puppies don’t move much, and your whelping box will likely be fairly small. And, they don’t even pee nor poo on their own—they need their mother to stimulate them to do this and the mother should lick up the pee/poo. You can use pee-pads at this stage for disposable liners, but we found it easier to swap out blankets and wash them (see above). So up to you, but we didn’t use these until the puppies were about 2-3 weeks old.
Iodine - You will likely need to help your dam by cutting the umbilical cord from the placenta. Many people recommend you use iodine once the cut is made. We never did this. We did sterilize scissors prior to using them, but we figured if the dam usually chewed off the umbilical cord (which ours did for just a couple of puppies), then iodine was probably not necessary. But something to consider!
Scissors - Again, for cutting the umbilical cord. We have seen sites recommend tying it off before cutting, but again, if the dam will do it on her own, she doesn’t tie it! So it is up to you. If you choose to tie before cutting, we have heard that floss works great.
Clorox wipes - We used these a lot. Like a whole tub. When possible, we would try to wipe out the whelping box between deliveries. Ours were spaced about 30-45 minutes apart, so it was easy to remove any current puppies and messy blankets/towels, wipe everything down with Clorox wipes, wipe it again with plain water and towels to remove chemicals, and put back clean items. If your deliveries are closer together this may be difficult. But it helps keep the mess down (and smell!).
Scale - You will want to weigh your puppies, measure them, and track their general growth. We used a kitchen scale (like this). To make weighing easier, place a container (like plastic Tupperware) on the scale first with a small hand towel in it, and then press “tare”. This will reset the scale to start from 0 with all the items on it. Then it will show you only your puppy’s weight. Much easier than doing a lot of math!
Chart/App - You will want to track puppy statistics daily for the first three weeks. We have an entire post about this (see it here), explaining what to track and links to downloadable charts!
Nasal bulbs - Remember we said this was messy? Well, just like babies, puppies get fluid in their respiratory track and need help clearing it. Nasal aspirators/bulbs are very useful. Place it gently over each nostril to extract the fluid.
Collars - Simple, velcro collars are very useful for identifying each puppy. Be sure to get at least two packs. One for the early stages (first week or so), and a second for later. You will likely want to trim the first set so they are not too baggy (or have extra hanging off). And they will likely get very dirty over the first weeks, so a second set to be bigger and cleaner will come in handy.
Mother’s Pudding - Pudding for the dam! She will be expending many extra calories. We feed our dam almost 5x the amount of calories as normal, and it still seems like she stays super skinny. We have an entire article on Mother’s Pudding here, and how to make it.
Bottle/formula - In case a puppy needs supplementing, it is helpful to have bottles and formula on hand. We found Dr. Brown’s bottles worked well and are easy to find at many stores. You can either make your own formula or purchase it. We only needed to supplement for a day or two, so we used store-bought formula. Your pet store should be able to suggest appropriate formula for your breed. We have some more thoughts about supplementing here.
A vet contact or plan - Hopefully your dam has seen a vet prior to delivery. At the very least, you will want to have a vet that you can contact (on a business day) or an emergency pet clinic (for weekends/after hours) in case you need them. We are blessed to live near our vet and ran one puppy over who wasn’t breathing well. It was good to already have a plan and a place to go when something happened. That leads to…
A plan if something goes wrong - It is sad, but often times puppies die in delivery. You will want to have thought about this ahead of time. How far are you planning to go to help a puppy? CPR (do you know how to do this for a dog)? Emergency clinic visit (how much will this cost)? If one dies, how will you dispose of the body (bury it, cremate it, etc). It is difficult in the moment, but much harder if you haven’t thought through the possibilities and what you want to do in each of these cases.
Dewclaws? - You can remove dewclaws anywhere from birth to five days afterwards with little trauma to your puppies. We didn’t know how to remove them (and we would probably advise against it if you are not experienced in this procedure), so we were sure to have an appointment set ahead of time with our vet and then moved it as labor and delivery happened so we took our puppies in during that first five day window.
Helper - You will want someone to help you, if possible. When a dam is birthing, trying to move, and there are other puppies already in the whelping box, things can get hectic! Another set of hands makes things much easier. And, if your dam has a long labor and delivery (ours too 24 hours!), then someone to keep you company is fantastic! If you can’t get a helper, then having yourself organized with all the necessary supplies ready ahead of time will help you immensely!
Videos/Photos - You will want to have fun memories of your puppies and their birth. Be sure to have someone there to help you take photos or utilize a tripod to capture them for you.
Hopefully this helps you! If you think of any supplies that we missed, be sure to drop us a line so we can update our list!
