# Heating Pad or Heating Lamp for puppies??



## heartgoldens (Jul 25, 2012)

Quick question to those of you who have experience whelping/raising a litter.

Which do you prefer? Heating pad for young pups or heating lamp? 

When the puppies whelp, what level of intervention do you provide? I've heard many folks who let mom do everything and only intervene if absolutely necessary. Others are all hands on, removing puppies from the sac, suctioning, and clamping the cords off before giving puppy to mom. I dont want mom to chew the cord too close or take too long in clearing the puppy's airway, but also don't want to stress her out if not necessary.

Thanks in advance for your insight!


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## Mayve (Aug 21, 2012)

Of the 8 litters I have had the priviledge to be a part of, my best friend who bred Cocker's and who we got our girls from, there was no intervening unless necessary. The moms even the first time moms did pretty well. It seems they just instinctively knew to start licking the puppy as it was being born. And as far as the cord, we never cut one, but did at times stop mom from chewing to far down. Luckily these girls didn't have issues with our hands in there. I also remember a puppy that was not breathing as well as it should have, we removed it and rubbed it down with a towel to stimulate it...

As to the placenta, we let them eat it. I have heard pro's and con's, but this is what my breeder did. I have no personal feelings about it either way.

For heat, she used a heating pad under the whelping box, it did not cover the whole bottom and since pups were checked on all the time the first few days, and temp was monitered it worked well, basically mom layed where the pad wasn't and the pad kept the pups that didn't stay right by mom warm. 

One of the main issues I recall was a puppy who wouldn't nurse or was not as strong as the rest and had to fight harder. This pup we would put on a teat every hour by itself to give it a better chance and for one litter I learned how to tube feed because the mother developed an infection and we had to separate her for a while. This can and does happen and we did try bottle feeding first but it was not successful thus we needed to do something fast. It worked like a charm.

I was at the birth of my second and third girls that I had. I will be forever grateful to Leslie for the chance to be apart of this miracle and really got a good foundation into what it takes to breed, whelp, raise and place puppies. It is so much work and so much joy too....makes me so much more appreciative of those who do breed and do it well. 

I'm sure you will get other opinions from people who are really in the know and not just participated in helping their breeder with a few litters...Good luck to you and your girl.


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## annef (Feb 23, 2008)

I use a heat lamp for my puppies so that I can raise it or lower it Animals can get burnt from heat pads so if you use one make sure it is covered. With regard to help during whelping, be guided by the Mum. If she gets on with it, removes the bag chews the cord, great, but if she doesn't then remove the bag from around the mouth and if necessary rip the cord (don't cut) holding the cord near the puppy and break it gently. I let my girls eat the placenta. Annef


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## MikaTallulah (Jul 19, 2006)

I used a heating pad for Cozy's 2 litters.

I helped Cozy. Opened the sacs while she licked them and used a bulb syringe to clean their mouths out. Rubbed with towel to dry off and stimulate. I tore the umbilical cords. Once pups were breathing well- Cozy took over to do her job . I counted placentas- Should be the same number as a pups born- and only let Cozy have 1-2.


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