Have you ever wondered about the life cycle of a puppy?
I chose the most difficult breed to breed… the English Bulldog.
They care more about humans as they are a man-made race and bred to fail as most would not make it without human help.
A female Bulldog will normally come into heat every 6 months. We have our females checked by a vet prior to breeding to ensure they are in good physical condition to have a litter and to assess for brucellosis and when would be the best time to breed them.
Then we raise her every other day for 6 days. We do AI breeding as a well built English bulldog is too short and stocky to breed naturally.
During the first 30 days after insemination we do not change his diet or anything else. At 30 days, if you are pregnant, your nipples will be swollen and you may have gained some weight. We choose to do an ultrasound around 30 days to see how many puppies we can expect.
Sometimes you will have morning sickness and will not touch your food or even throw up during the first 30 months of pregnancy.
If you are pregnant, we now start with puppy food. Puppy food has more protein and fat and will help mom have strong, healthy puppies.
During the next 30 days, sometimes you will be hungry and eat a lot and other times you will not be hungry. It is important to keep food available for her most of the time. But if you are gaining weight in addition to your belly, we should moderate your diet.
Days 62-66 are your approximate due dates. And I make sure she is with me at all times a week before these dates, as bulldogs can go into labor early. The first symptoms are milk on the nipples, restlessness, making a nest with the blankets and lack of appetite. We check her temperature 3 times a day and when it drops below 100 degrees and she has most of the other signs of labor, we know it’s time to go to the vet!
We get to the vet and it will only take an hour after they start the c-section until they call me and say they are ready to be picked up!
A Bulldog litter can be as small as 1 pup all the way up to 12! My favorite number is 7, there are enough nipples and you don’t have to do double shifts.
We bring the puppies and the mom home and put them in the mom to nurse. It takes ½ hour. the first feeding, but they soon learn to latch on. After they finish nursing, we put them in a box lined with a towel. I put a heating pad under the box and a towel over the box. It is very important to keep newborn puppies warm.
Every 2 hours, 24 hours a day, we put them on mom to breastfeed. This will make the breast milk come out fine.
When the puppies are 48 hours old, I change them at 3 hours. calendar. This schedule does not change until they are 4 weeks old. old and eating puppy food.
When the puppies are 2 weeks old I deworm them and their mother with a liquid dewormer called Nemex. The puppy’s eyes and ears open around this age and they begin to be more active. At 3-4 weeks of age, we start Esbilac puppy formula mixed with Gerber baby rice cereal.
4-7 days later I start them on soft puppy food. I mix dry kibble with water and let it sit for a couple of hours and then mix the soft food with cottage cheese or yogurt and feed them in a puppy bowl. I also deworm the puppies again at 4 weeks of age with Nemex.
I feed the puppies once a day with the soft kibble mix for 3 days, then twice a day for 2 days, then 3 times a day until they are weaned, then 4 times a day until they are 7 1/2 weeks. ancient. Then I keep it 3 times a day, don’t overfeed them as they can get diarrhea.
From 4 weeks it is important to start socializing the puppies. Children should be watched when handling them, but it is good when children play with them.
Another very important part of raising puppies from 4 weeks. is to make sure the puppies have a place to go to the bathroom away from the bed where they sleep. Our puppies really learn early that they can walk through the doggy door and out to relieve themselves and go back to sleep. This gives the pups a head start on breaking and entering.
Another reason we use the dog gate is that we don’t have to let them out every 2 hours and the puppies don’t have to resist leaving. (This can cause urinary tract infection)
At 7 weeks of age we take our puppies to the vet for their first vaccination (this can vary by breed). The vet then gives us a health certificate of health for each puppy and lists all problems, if any.
It is important to make sure someone is looking after the puppies at all times when they are outside. A poisonous plant, a perfectly sized ball, could be fatal. You should also be vigilant when the puppies are around other animals to keep them safe.
At 8 weeks old, our bulldogs are ready for their new homes. We have socialized them every day of their lives by hugging them, caring for them and loving them. We got them started on breaking and entering by teaching them not to go where they sleep and praising them when they went on the grass. We have placed them in noisy situations so that they are not so afraid of noise.
Find puppies for sale www.puppytrader.com
Nothing is cuter than an 8wk. old puppy!
We enjoyed them to the fullest!