How can I tell how far along my dog is?
This is a question that we often get from sitter and owners who work with Rover. Help the community out by answering them in our forum!
2 Answers
The best thing to do would be to have your dog evaluated by a vet, as they can do an examination and give you an idea of when she might deliver. Dog's are pregnant between 58-68 days on average, but won't show many symptoms for the first couple weeks. After about 3 weeks they might start to show and can also have morning sickness.
If your dog's belly has grown significantly larger and her nipples are much larger/leaking milk then you might only be a few weeks away from having puppies. Get to a vet ASAP no matter where in her pregnancy she is.
If you are breeding your female dog, it is important to note her last heat cycle and when she was bred in order to know what stage of gestation she is at. It is very difficult to tell if animals are pregnant until they are more than half way along. Increase in belly size and increased nipple size can be a sign of pregnancy. I would always recommend having a relationship with a veterinarian if you are breeding your dog, as they can advise on proper nutrition for the mom before and after giving birth. The number of puppies can be estimated very late in gestation, through imaging such as X-rays.
By taking her to the vet. Only a full examination from a trained veterinarian will be able to tell you.