Pregnancy & Third trimester (Day 43 - 65)

It is almost time! We are down to the last three weeks before the litter arrives and hopefully your girl is looking pregnant, possibly a little or possibly very much so. During this trimester you will see many changes, most of which are quite normal.

What Is Happening in the Third Trimester? The third trimester begins on day 42 and continues until the litter is whelped, typically around day 63 post-ovulation, plus or minus a couple of days. This is the time in a dog's pregnancy when the most observable changes take place; her abdomen expands, her mammary glands develop, and she puts on weight. Puppies are undergoing development and substantial cell division right up until birth. This trimester is when the pups grow rapidly.

• They develop hair and nails around day 45.

• The pups bones will begin by Day 50 (does NOT mean she needs additional calcium).

• Around Day 53, puppy brain development begins.

• You should be able to feel the puppies moving by the eighth week. One of the most exciting feelings while you await the litter so enjoy rubbing her belly and talking to her puppies. Her hormones that were steady during the second trimester change a lot during the third trimester.

• The third trimester ends with the onset of Stage 1 labor or a c-section.

• Towards the end of the third trimester, many bitches will have a small amount of clear discharge from their vulva. It is often sticky so you may find it on her tail or rear legs. This is perfectly normal. Sometimes a bitch may have a green or black discharge. This indicates something is happening with one or more of the puppies. Although many bitches with dark discharges have whelped normal litters, I recommend you contact me right away as a vet visit and ultrasound may be required.

• Urination and incontinence. Your bitch may need to urinate more frequently than normal because the pups are pressing on her bladder. This is particularly the case with large litters. Some bitches pee so much that they appear to have a UTI, and might urinate in the house or even leak. Try to manage your bitch as best you can. If it continues we may need to take in a urine sample to my vet to confirm that she doesn’t have an infection.

• Diarrhea and vomiting. These are not normal during the third trimester so first, take her temperature (normal is 100-102.5F). If she has a fever or the symptoms continue, we need to take her to my vet. In particular, repeated vomiting can be sign of a problem with the litter so don’t delay in getting her in. Remember, there is a limited number of options that you can safely use to treat these problems so do not let them get out of hand. Swelling of Mammary Glands and Vulva. In addition to her growing belly, your bitch’s vulva and mammary glands will swell toward the end of this trimester. Her vulva will soften and grow to about the size it was during breeding. However, it should not be huge. An enormous vulva, a hard abdomen, and/or swelling of the legs may be a sign of a serious health condition called maternal hydrops, so off to the vet if you see this.

• You may see milk dripping from your bitch’s mammary glands by the eighth week. However, “bagging up” isn’t essential to normal milk production so do not worry if your bitch doesn’t look like a dairy cow. Avoid expressing milk from her glands since this can trigger whelping. If she has an over-abundance of milk, check her breasts daily, watching for hardness, redness, heat or an orange peel appearance to the skin. Though rare, bitches can get mastitis before they whelp so be on the lookout. If you see any of these signs, read our Mastitis report, take her temperature, and begin hot compresses immediately.

• She Seems Hot All the Time. Bitches in the 3rd trimester are often very hot since the pups increase their body temperature. During cool weather conditions, this is fine but when it is hot out, they can be miserable. Do your best to keep your girl cool. Let her sit in a baby pool with clean, cool water, lie near an air conditioner or fan, or simply hang out in the coolest room in your house.

• Thinning Hair. During this trimester, the hair on your bitch’s abdomen will begin to thin. Some lose a little hair while others lose a lot.

• Weight Gain. Your bitch will gain most of her pregnancy weight during this trimester due to the puppies’ growth and weight of placentas. Pups and placentas each contribute approximately equal weight to her weight gains during pregnancy so you may be able to determine how many pups your bitch has by calculating how much weight she has gained.

• Feeding and Supplements Continue the reproductive diet, food and supplements, that you have been using during the second trimester but increase the amount of food you based on the size of her litter. Split her food into three, four, even five or six meals a day, if she is struggling to get it all down.

  • Small litter (4-5 pups or less)– feed her 10% more per pup of her maintenance amount

  • Average litter (5-6pups) – increase her food to 200% of maintenance or twice as much as you normally feed her

  • Large litter (6-9 pups) – increase her food to 250% of maintenance or 2 ½ times as much as you normally feed her

• If she can no longer stomach what you normally feed, try something new. This is the time to get creative to try and keep her getting nutrition throughout the third trimester, up until about two days prior to whelping.

• One of the signs of pending whelping is an absolute refusal to eat. It's perfectly normal, because she's probably just going to throw up the food that she ate anyway, so don't worry. By about day 61 post-ovulation, don’t worry if she refuses to eat or picks. No Additional Calcium! Do not feed additional calcium to your bitch during this period as it can set her up for eclampsia and whelping problems. That includes yogurt, cottage cheese, goat and cow’s milk, and calcium supplements. Her normal food and supplements will provide all the calcium she needs at this point in the puppies’ development.

• Exercise and Training During the third trimester, it's time to back off on exercise. Bitches naturally do one critical strength exercise during this trimester—digging. This is beneficial to her as whelping approaches so there is no need to stop her, except to protect your yard and garden. There are no safe training activities at this point during her pregnancy. She needs to be focusing on her real job of making great puppies. If she is going nuts from boredom, stick with simple tricks or exercises on the flat. Hand touches, sits, downs, scent articles, hunting and tracking are typically quite safe if she wants to do them. Limit Good for the Soul fun to those things she really enjoys and can do safely, short walks in good weather, swimming in clean water, honestly hanging out on the couch. Avoid activities that include jumping, twisting, hard turns or rough play. Be cautious if she is exercising with other dogs so the other dogs do not hit her, body slam, or knock her over.