La Roux is 4 weeks pregnant

and acts like it too!

Since it's La Roux' first litter, we have scheduled an ultrasound for June 28th to check on things and count the puppies

here's this week's stats

*********** Fourth week **********
Days 21 to 28

Vet can palpate (feel) and possibly detect pregnancy  between days 27 and 31(after day 32, fluids increase to protect pups and making palpating not possible).
• Fetuses grow from 5-10mm to 14-16mm, faces take shape, eyes and spinal cords develop

• At this stage the embryos are most susceptible to defects and it is said that eating a toxic substance at this stage can cause eyes to not form properly, or cause cleft palate. Fact or fiction, I am not sure. The mode of inheritance for many congenital defects and genetic defects is still unknown. But for the sake of your dam and pups, make sure your environment is a safe one.

• The dam may have a clear, odorless vaginal discharge, and her teats may begin to develop.

Suggestions:
• Limit working dogs and refrain from strenuous activity like jumping and long runs. For small companion dogs, slightly reduce activity, especially in agility.

• Some like to add 1/4 cup of cottage cheese and 1 scrambled egg every other day. Or mix them together and add a tbsp to the food daily

• I like to start a vet-recommended multivitamin at this stage, but do not give calcium pills. The dam needs to build up her own reserves still. You do NOT want to put her parathyroid gland to sleep by giving an abundant supply of calcium.

 

I do discourage excitement and running hard, she naturally jumps and flips over out of being happy.  She's eating her special meal every morning of Life Abundance and raw dog food.  She looks forward to it every morning.  Today she bit into the food to eat quicker, yesterday she only licked it slowly and looked around while she ate, but ate it all in one sitting.  She's definitely quieter, really though, she's not terribly affected to being pregnant.  She's doing great.