Your dog is pregnant: a week-by-week owner's guide
Nine weeks goes fast. Feeding, deworming, the whelping box, and the delivery-day signs that mean call a vet now.
Dog pregnancy lasts about 63 days, nine short weeks, and what you do in that time shapes the health of the mother and every puppy. Here is the practical version.
Confirming and timing
Appetite changes, enlarged nipples and a gently swelling belly suggest; a vet confirms by palpation around week four or ultrasound where available. Confirmation matters, because false pregnancies are common in unspayed females and look convincingly real.
Feeding through pregnancy
For the first five weeks, feed her normal quality diet; resist the urge to double portions early, because excess weight complicates delivery. From week six, switch gradually to puppy food; its calorie and calcium profile is exactly what late pregnancy and nursing demand, and feed smaller meals more often as the puppies crowd her stomach. Fresh water always.
Deworming and parasites, on vet guidance
Worms pass from mother to puppies, before birth and through milk. A vet-guided deworming protocol during pregnancy dramatically reduces the worm burden the litter starts life with. Flea and tick control continues, but only with products confirmed safe for pregnancy; this is a "check first" moment, not a guess.
Preparing for whelping
From week eight, set up a whelping box somewhere quiet, warm and draught-free: high enough sides to keep puppies in, low enough for her to step over, lined with washable bedding. Let her sleep in it early so it smells like hers. Her temperature dropping below 37.2°C usually means labour within 24 hours.
When delivery needs help
Most dogs whelp fine alone. Call a vet urgently if there is strong straining for 30 to 60 minutes with no puppy, more than two hours between puppies with more clearly inside, green-black discharge before the first puppy, or a mother that is weak, feverish or ignoring born puppies.
We manage pregnancies at home from confirmation to post-whelping checks. Book a visit early and we will map the whole nine weeks with you.
Seeing these signs at home?
Don't sit on symptoms. A licensed vet can examine your pet at home, often within days.
