....The puppies are growing! ---Day 43

Dixie is getting so round so fast.  I wanted to share this photo of Dixie taken today.  She is really feeling very pregnant now.  She is moving much more slowly and making lots of sighing noises.  It has been 1 week since I too her photograph.  Isn't it amazing how much she has changed in the last 7 days!  It's only 3 weeks to the due date....so she still has a ways to go.  I think she has a nice size litter in there!

A few days ago, I trimmed a lot of the longer fur off of Dixie's belly.   It will make it easier to keep Dixie clean during the birth, and it will be better for the puppies to nurse after they are born.  I did this now, since the more uncomfortable Dixie gets, the more I hate to bother her with grooming.  

Here is another angle so you can compare to last weeks photo.

All those little puppies are growing very quickly.  Here is a picture I found on the web of a puppy at Day 39 of development.

What Dixie's pups look like today- Day 39

Here's a photo of a puppy in utero at Day 39.  Dixie's puppies look just like this at this time.  Amazing!

Dixie's getting rounder! - Day 36

This blankie was a pretty cozy spot for Dixie last evening.

This past week the kids have been telling me that Dixie is looking fat!  Different kids have commented on it at different times....so I feel like its pretty real if we are all seeing it!  She's starting to eat more little meals throughout the day.  And like a lot of pregnant ladies she's taking naps all day long!

Normally if I came up to take a photo, she would jump right up to say 'hello', but here she is just lieing there...all pooped out.

We can expect to see Dixie growing considerably rounder over the next few weeks.  Those little puppies grow really fast!   

Dixie was  feeling pretty wiped out this afternoon.

Puppies in the womb --- Day 28 for Dixie

Since we cannot see Dixie's puppies yet, I thought it would be fun to see some photos of what the puppies would look like there was a window into their world. 

Here is a very early photo of a puppy at Day 19.  The embryo is just attaching to the uterus.  Dixie's pups would have looked like this about 9 days ago.

Day 19 gestation

 Here is a puppy at Day 25. (from ABC News video)  Dixie's puppies are at Day 28 so they would look very much like this one below...

Day 25

At this point in the puppies lives the eyes and spinal cords start to develop

Faces take shape

Fetuses grow from approximately 1/4 of an inch to 1/2 an inch

Vet may be able to palpitate (feel) for puppies

Dixies mammary glads begin to develop

CARE OF THE MOMMY:

As Dixie starts to eat more we will be increasing her food.  An egg or 1/4 cup cottage cheese can be

added to food on alternating days.  Dixie will enjoy this food supplement:)

Here is something else for you to see....National Geographic society made a video on Puppies in the Womb.  I haven't seen the whole video...but here is a snippet from Youtube...
 
http://youtu.be/S9qQtUYOR9w

I hope you will take a moment to watch it.   What strikes me most, about these photos is just how quickly a puppy develops over a relatively short period of time.

Happy Easter from all of us!

 Happy Easter everyone.  Hope yours was as lovely as ours.  Dixie is doing about the same.  She nibbles at her food, and doesn't seem to have the same appetite as before.  But so far she doesn't look too much different.  It will still be a little while before we can see a puppy bump. 

This is all to be expected.  So far Dixie is following the canine pregnancy calendar as she should.

Have a great day!

No puppy bump yet!