Your Litter A to Z|

Nov. 18, 2021

Your Litter A to Z, Module 4 - The Second Trimester

Days 22 To 42 Of Your Bitch’s Pregnancy

Module 4 Documents

Required Reading

Read The Second Trimester

What’s In This Module

The second trimester includes some of the most formative stages of fetal development. During this time, the pups are vulnerable to damage and birth defects so pay attention to your dog’s food, chemicals, and stress. In addition, during this period, you are finally going to find out if your bitch is pregnant! If all has gone well, it is really happening and pups are coming in four to six weeks!

Second Trimester Basics

  • Read the Second Trimester required reading and watch the video below.
  • If you haven’t yet, update your A to Z Calendar dates to get reminders based on Day 1 of diestrus, LH, ovulation, or breeding date.
  • Pregnancy and the Bitch, Good Dog’s webinar Q&A with Dr Robert Hutchinson (“Hutch”). Timestamp: 40:18 to 41:38
  • Watch the Second Trimester Pregnancy video below:

Confirming Pregnancy

Although some breeders are happy to wing it, we recommend that you confirm that your bitch is pregnant about 30 days after ovulation so you can manage her activities, stress, and nutrition during this important trimester.

There are three main ways to verify pregnancy:

Palpation (best done Days 21-31) With a skilled practitioner (veterinarian or breeder), palpation is one of the most effective and least expensive ways to verify pregnancy. Palpation can tell you that the bitch is pregnant but should not be used to count puppies and cannot be used to either identify resorptions sites or determine the viability of the pups.

While the bitch is standing, palpators will feel the bitch’s abdomen, running one uterine horn at a time through either their thumb and forefinger or both hands, feeling for lumps, which are fetuses. Once two or three puppies have been found, the examiner should not continue to probe. After Day 31, palpation gets more difficult as the uterine wall begins to thicken, making differentiation of embryos from the uterus difficult.

Witness® Relaxin Pregnancy Test (from Day 21 post-LH surge to whelping). The Relaxin pregnancy test, manufactured by Zoetis, can be somewhat reliable in verifying pregnancy. Zoetis claims that the test is useable from Day 21 on but we have found it most effective after Day 28. You can run the test yourself if you can draw blood and spin it down. Otherwise, take your bitch to the vet but be sure your vet has test kits on hand before your appointment. The test takes approximately twenty minutes to run.

Ultrasound (Day 28-31). Ultrasound is the most expensive but, with a skilled operator, is the most effective means of determining pregnancy, assessing viability of the fetuses, and getting an estimated puppy count.
During ultrasound, the bitch might stand or lie on her back in a special support. The operator can see the puppies’ hearts beating and the rate can be monitored for health. The vet can assess the placentas for thickening, waviness, or other issues. Fetuses can be evaluated to ensure they are not being resorbed and the number of resorption sites can be determined.

Care For Your Bitch And Her Pups During The Second Trimester

Second Trimester Nutrition

Keep your bitch on an AAFCO All-life Stages or Growth/Reproduction (sometimes called Puppy) diet that also meets the criteria in Nutrition for the 2nd Trimester. If she is not eating well, getting too thin or plump, see the Troubleshooting guide.

  • 29% or higher protein – by dry matter
  • 18% or higher fat – by dry matter
  • Carbohydrates – If you feed kibble, your bitch will get enough carbohydrates but if you feed raw or cooked diet, be sure she is getting 20% of her calories from carbs
  • 1:1 to 1.3:1 Calcium-Phosphorus ratio – use this calculator to determine the food’s Ca:Ph ratio, if the manufacturer doesn’t provide it.

Continue to include the following additional nutrients in her diet throughout this trimester.

  • Folic acid or Folate – a human product is fine. Give 800 mcg to 5 mg per day based on how prone her breed or line are to cleft palates or other midline defects
  • Vitamins & minerals – we use AVN Canine Probalance, or a B-50 vitamin
  • Wild fish oil – we use and recommend Grizzly, Carlson’s DHA Super Gems and Nordic Naturals since all have been checked for mercury and other toxins. Give enough so your dog gets 15 mg of DHA, a component of fish oil, for every pound bodyweight. Use this calculator to determine how much of these products you need to feed.
  • Probiotic – we rotate between Fortiflora, Geneflora, and Proviable.
  • Antioxidants – we use frozen wild berries, such as blueberries and blackberries.

Do not feed her:

  • joint supplements
  • red raspberry leaves
  • calcium supplements or calcium-rich foods like yogurt cottage cheese
  • flax seeds
  • cod liver oil

Once you know your girl is pregnant, gradually increase the amount you are feeding over this trimester if she has a medium or large-sized litter per the this chart.

  • Small litter – leave her at 100% of her maintenance amount
  • Average litter – increase her food to 150% of maintenance over the second
    trimester
  • Large litter – increase her food to 180% of maintenance over the second
    trimester
  • If you didn’t ultrasound her and get a puppy count, increase her food 130%.
  • Watch the nutrition video below:

Second Trimester Fitness and Exercise

Up until now, your girl had few limitations on exercise and activities. Starting this trimester, you need to balance keeping her fit with keeping her safe. In particular, limit her activities and training to “low risk” activities.

Second Trimester bitches can do low risk activity only. Review Risk Levels here before doing any skill training with breeding dogs.

Review Exercise Throughout the Breeding Cycle Chart

Pregnancy Deworming Protocol

Intestinal parasites, especially round, whip and hookworms are very common in baby puppies and can be very dangerous to the pups. To avoid this danger, you should deworm your bitch using the Pregnancy Deworming Protocol if she meets ANY of these criteria:

  • she does not get monthly heartworm preventative that also kills roundworms
  • she has had roundworms at any time during her lifetime
  • you don’t know her past fecal/parasite history
  • she has produced pups with round- or hookworms
  • she is a rescue or shelter dog

If she meets any of these criteria, treat her with fenbendazole daily from Day 40 after ovulation up until the pups are 3-14 days old. When you stop after the pups are born should be based on how many times your bitch has had roundworms over her lifetime.

This means you will treat your dog each day for 26 to 37 days. Although this feels like an extensive deworming protocol, remember that roundworms can kill young puppies. At their mildest, roundworms cause diarrhea and poor weight gain but serious infestations can cause failure to thrive, vomiting, lethargy, pot belly, coughing when the worms enter the lungs, and neurological symptoms similar to meningitis Treating your dam this long can significantly limit infestation in puppies by a huge amount.

Roundworm infestations are bad but the treatment itself can make infected pups very sick and even kill them. When pups have a heavy load of roundworms, deworming medication kills the worms and the presence of those dead worms can cause a JarischHerxheimer reaction, otherwise known as JHR or Herx. The puppy’s body has an acute inflammatory reaction to the worms, causing malaise, fever, lethargy and pain. Thus, you want to reduce the risk of your pups getting roundworms by treating your bitch during pregnancy.

You can worm your bitch with any of the following. Especially if you have a large dog, consider buying these products in bulk.

Use this Calculator for Fenbendazole Deworming Dosing for Pregnant Bitches to determine dosing. Enter your bitch’s weight in the calculator to get her daily dosing.

If you continue to breed, it is possible to create parasite-free dams over many generations. The most recent estimate I was given by a reproductive veterinarian was five generations. We are now 8 generations removed from our last roundworm infection in one of our pups but we also know that may change at any time.

Other Care

Proper care of your bitch during this trimester includes:

  • An enrichment program the consists of things your bitch enjoys—cuddling, games, play, training, Good-for-the-Soul exercises, and other mentally and physically stimulating activities.
  • Avoiding negative or distress for her
  • Using only pregnancy-safe heartworm, flea and tick products, if you need them in your area
  • Avoiding any risk of communicable diseases by limiting where you take her, as well as other household dogs.
  • Monitoring her for signs of pyometra and, if seen, take her to the vet for blood
    work, x-ray and/or ultrasound.

Additional Resources for Second Trimester

Troubleshooting the Second Trimester

My bitch is vomiting or has morning sickness.

It is not unusual for bitches to experience morning sickness early in the second trimester but these symptoms should resolve by Day 28 or so. Signs that she has morning sickness include refusing food, especially in the morning, or vomiting. How can you tell if she is pregnant, having a false pregnancy, or is ill? Not easily but here are a few suggestions.

Check the date. Morning sickness typically starts during implantation, 14-16 days after ovulation and might continue a week to 10 days. With morning sickness comes nausea and, less frequently, actual vomiting. It can continue for a week or two but typically not more than that. If she does not eat anything for three days or shows other signs of pyo, take her to your vet.Is she eating dinner? Bitches with morning sickness will often turn down breakfast but eat dinner. Bitches with pyometra will often not eat at all.Did her mother have morning sickness or pyometra? We have found that both run in families. If your bitch has a family history of morning sickness, wait it out for three to four days. However, if she has pyometra in her family, it is probably safest to get her to the vet as soon as you can. 

If she does appear to have morning sickness, we recommend these steps:

1. Take her temperature to ensure it isn’t elevated. If it’s 103F or higher, get her in to see your vet because she may have an infection. Most bitches with pyo do not have a fever but there are other infections that may be causing her symptoms.
2. Stop feeding her normal food immediately! Bitches can imprint on a food that causes them to feel sick so offer her anything else so you have a chance to return to her normal food once she is feeling better. Try the alternative foods in the next section, My Bitch Will Not Eat.
3. This may sound corny but try feeding her Saltine crackers or rice/chicken to calm her stomach.
4. If she is only sick in the morning, feed her more in the evening or throughout the day.
5. Do not worry if she misses a few meals but if it goes on for 3 days, time for a vet visit. 

If your bitch vomits continuously or does not eat at all for more than three days, take her to your vet for confirmation that she does not have a pyometra (pyo, a uterine infection). Pyo is a life-threatening condition, although it can take some days to develop.

My bitch will not eat.

Anorexia can be a sign of both pregnancy and the serious uterine infection known as pyometra. If she goes off her normal food and shows no other signs of pyometra, try these options. If she eats nothing for 3 days or is very finicky for a week, have your vet check her out to confirm she is fine.

  • If your bitch has morning sickness, do not encourage her to eat her normal food if she is not interested. Change to another food immediately!!
  • Warm the food you are feeding to bring out its aroma.
  • Mix the food with liver water or stock.
  • Remove supplements from her meals and feed another time or wait to reintroduce them in a week. In particular, high doses of folic acid can make bitches nauseous so reduce or split the dose you are using before stopping it completely.
  • Give her some saltine crackers in the AM or when she appears nauseous and feed at other times of the day
  • Try the following food alternatives: Canned or fresh green tripe, Rotissairie chicken, Canned dog or cat food, FreshPet dog food, Another type of dog food–canned, raw, cooked, dehydrated, kibble, etc., Meat baby food, Chicken or hamburger and rice, Chicken hearts, livers or gizzards, raw or cooked, Scrambled eggs, Whatever you are eating! ;-), Royal Canin mousse, Bacon, ham, liverwurst, Dog treats, Rice (cooked, white is better than brown), Oatmeal (cooked, NOT instant), Bread, pasta
My bitch is getting fat (or skinny)

Toward the end of the second trimester, your bitch’s abdominal muscles will begin to slacken and the pups will begin to drop. Often her mammary glands will also begin to enlarge, too, sometimes making her spine and hip bones more evident. All of these are natural and not signs that she is getting fat. How can you tell the difference? Feel her ribs and use the Knuckle test or Tissue Tent test to determine if she is too fat, too thin, or just right. During the last half of pregnancy and while bitches are nursing, the Purine Body Score System is no longer of value.

If your bitch is putting on fat over her ribs or developing a neck roll, it’s time to cut back on her food. Fat bitches have a more difficult time whelping and raising pups. You want her in good weight and condition when she whelps but not plump.

If her ribs begin to show, it is time to increase her food calories, volume, or both. If she’s eating well, simply add more food or another meal to her day.

If she won’t eat more, then try to add more calories. Something as simple as a little butter or olive oil will up her energy intake. If she isn’t eating well, try tempting her with the suggestions in the My Bitch Won’t Eat section above.

Resorptions or miscarriage

Up until Day 38 post ovulation, bitches will usually resorb their puppies, disintegrating the fetus and assimilating it back into the bitch’s body. The process can happen without any internal signs.

After Day 38, miscarriages or spontaneous abortions are most likely. During this process, the bitch will pass the fetal and placental tissue through the vagina. Bitches will often eat the aborted tissue so you may never see any signs of the loss. However, if you do, we recommend that you gather as much of the tissue and fluids as you can in a plastic bag and refrigerate it until you can get it to your veterinarian for a pathological examination that looks for diseases like brucella, canine herpes virus, and neospora.

Resorptions happen when a previously viable fetus dies and is absorbed by the bitch’s body. This process is common in dogs, with some studies showing up to 43% of pregnancies having at least one resorption site and up to 10 percent of embryos being resorbed. Younger and maiden bitches tend to have more resorptions than older or previously bred bitches. Resorptions happen up to Day 38 post ovulation, while the fetal bones are still soft. After that, if the fetus dies, it might be spontaneously aborted, mummified, or stillborn.

Without an ultrasound, you will never know that resorption occurred. There are rarely any symptoms or problems associated with this phenomenon. In over 85% of cases, the pregnancy continues and the bitch’s remaining pups are born normally. Currently this is little we can do if we see resorptions on the ultrasound.

There are several causes of resorption and spontaneous abortions in dogs:

  • The fetus may simply not be viable due to developmental problems or malformations. Sixty-three days is a very short gestation so genetic or developmental errors are to be expected.
  • The placenta may be malformed or non-functional and thus inadequate to support the growing fetus.
  • The quality of the sperm that fertilized the egg may be poor enough to cause the fetus to die early. Male obesity may be an underlying source of these sperm faults.
  • Infections, such as canine herpes virus or brucellosis, can cause resorptions.
  • Nutrition, undue negative stress, toxins and some medications can also trigger resorptions.

My bitch’s placentas are thickened or wavy

Normal placentas are 2 to 3 centimeters (cm) thick and that thickness is regular. When placentas have thickened, 5 cm or more, or wavy, irregular thickness, the fetus may be at risk of resorption. Because we don’t have a way to determine the cause of the irregularities, Sandy Stokes’ repro vet offers a three-pronged approach that arose from the treatment of placentitis in horses and humans and has been successful in managing some atrisk canine pregnancies:

  1. Terbutaline to calm the uterus. This drug is only available by prescription so discuss this with your repro team.
  2. Clavamox to combat potential infection. This antibiotic is only available by prescription so discuss this with your repro team.
  3. Deworming with Panacur or Safeguard goat wormer, both of which are available over-the-counter and contain the active ingredient, fenbendazole. See Deworming Dogs and Puppies report for more.
  4. Repeat the ultrasound after a week to see if the fetuses have stabilized. 

In Sandy’s case, each of the ultrasounds that found thickened placentas also revealed a resorption site or two. Following the protocol above prevented additional
resorption and further thickening of the placentas.

My bitch has diarrhea.

a. Fast her for 24 hours to rest her gut.
b. Give her one Fortiflora Canine probiotic packet, made by Purina Veterinary Diets, per day for seven days. Fortiflora is very effective on diarrhea, even for dogs on other probiotics.
c. Ensure she keeps drinking by offering her diluted chicken or beef stock or even soup.
d. Give her slippery elm or slippery elm syrup. To make this syrup mix 1 rounded teaspoon of slippery elm powder in 1 cup cold water, bring to boil while stirring, turn down the heat, stir and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, add 1 tablespoon of honey (preferably all natural) and let it cool. Store in a glass container in the refrigerator.
Dosage: For dogs under 25lbs, give 1 to 2 tbsp; 25-50lbs, 2 to 4 tbsp; 50lbs and over ¼ cup to ½ cup. Dose 4 times a day.
e. After fasting, introduce a low-fat, easily digested food such as boiled chicken or beef with white rice. Do not use brown rice.
f. Gradually increase the quantity of food and begin adding in her regular food.

My bitch has a vaginal discharge.

Aside from a clear or straw-colored, odorless discharge, there is no other normal vaginal discharge for second trimester bitches. Any other discharge should be checked out by your repro team.

Bloody or smelly discharge. Bloody discharge in the second trimester is cause for concern. It is often a sign of pyometra, a serious uterine infection. Take her in to the vet.

Green or black discharge. A green or black discharge indicates placental detachment so it is likely that one of the pups has died. This can be a singular event that the other pups survive without problem. Keep an eye on your bitch, monitor her temperature and take her in to your vet if the discharge changes and/or she is running a fever.

My bitch’s vulva and nipples are swollen.

These are normal following a heat cycle so unless the vulva gets hugely swollen, just keep an eye on her. If her vulva is truly huge and/or she has swelling of the lower legs or hocks, take her to your vet.

My bitch needs medical treatment—medication, surgery, a vaccination, etc.

First-trimester embryos are very sensitive to chemicals, stress, etc. Pregnant bitches are as well and can easily resorb the litter under great stress. If your bitch needs medical treatment during the first trimester:

a. First determine if the treatment can wait at least until you know for sure if she is pregnant. If it can safely wait and it will not cause more complications later, then do so. If it cannot, focus on treating your bitch with as little damage to the pups as you can.
b. For medications, check out Safe Medications for Pregnant Bitches.
c. Although we do not recommend vaccines during pregnancy, many dogs and puppies have survived vaccination with killed or modified-live vaccines. Give them if your bitch is unprotected and has been exposed but do all you can to avoid them. The only exception is the canine herpes virus vaccine, available in Europe, which is intended to be given during pregnancy.
d. If your bitch must have surgery while pregnant, speak to your vet about the possible complications to the puppies.

My bitch was exposed to kennel cough while pregnant.

Treat her cough with Slippery Elm syrup. If you can, avoid any other treatment. If the Slippery Elm isn’t working, ask your vet if it’s safe to give her Robitussin DM (active ingredient: guaifenesin), the over-the-counter cough medicine often used to treat kennel cough. Robitussin is safe for women to take during pregnancy so we expect that it is also safe for dogs.

However if your bitch is exposed to either herpes, canine influenza, or another more serious respiratory virus, the situation may be much more serious. Consult with your veterinarian immediately to determine the best treatment for your bitch and her puppies.

Your Litter A to Z Table of Contents

Section 1: Pre-Breeding

Section 2: Pregnancy & Whelping

Section 3: Litter Management: Month 1

Section 4: Litter Management: Month 2

Past Coaching Call Recordings