The Litter Journey Begins

Kito has been “nesting” with the materials that we have in her whelping box. She had three long contractions during one of her monitoring sessions today. We are still finding 8 fetal heartbeats consistently and there seems to be a 9th. We are all thinking that she will begin labor sometime on Friday, June 21st. She seems to think that the bed in the master bedroom would be the best place to have puppies and we’ve caught her eyeing the backseat of the Jeep as well! Ultimately, we will not let her snuggle into this pile when she is in labor. We will have her on something waterproof, covered by a flat comforter and sheet(s) while she is whelping. Once the pups are all born, we will clean up and transfer mother and babies onto a big square of vet-bedding that lines the floor of the box.

We primed the individual pieces of the whelping box today and will paint tomorrow. Kito is feeling a bit more full-figured these days and lies down to wait for her meals now. Just 9 days left….or maybe 10. We are all VERY excited for our girl! We’ll post pics of the assembled whelping box in a few days, when we give it to Kito.

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Kito visited Dr. Hoffman at OSSVH today for her ultrasound. The canine gestation period is approximately 63 days, so she is a little less than half way through her pregnancy now. The most important part of the ultrasound is to confirm pregnancy and now we know that Kito is pregnant. The fun began when the vet tried to count puppies. Best guess is 6+ at this time! Our younger daughter let out a squeal of delight when she saw the babies on the display. Dr. Hoffman promised to email us the ultrasound stills and a short movie. We’ll post them here as soon as they come!