Pepper, Day 57 (pre-parturition)

Miss Pepper with one week to go😉

We are heading into the home stretch with our precious Pepper as she continues to get bigger with each passing day. She is slowing down and prefers the cool tile floor to lay on. Despite the loss of her girlish figure, she can still jump onto the sofa to demand cuddles and belly rubs. She measures 36 inches or 91 cm, so she has quite a bit of extra weight to carry around!

With just a few more days left to go, the whelping area has been prepared for the big event. She has her meals three times daily and seemingly has an internal alarm clock because within a minute of our usual feeding times she barks to alert us “it’s time”. We will begin to monitor her temperature twice daily as any significant drop would signal the onset of labour.

At this point the fetuses are fully developed and can be born safely. The puppies have basically finished their development and are just growing bigger at this point. Puppies are born without the ability to see and their eyes don’t open till about ten days after birth.

It is easy to feel the puppies moving around now as are growing quite rapidly now. We will continue to pamper Pepper and make her as comfortable as possible as we await the BIG day!

Stay tuned…..

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