How to Tell if Your Chihuahua Is Pregnant
If you’re concerned or maybe even hopeful that your chihuahua could be pregnant, it is best to identify the possibility as early as possible.
With this breed of dog being so small by nature, learning that your chihuahua is pregnant quickly can help you and your vet take the best care of them to help them through what could be a challenging chihuahua pregnancy.
If you’ve never experienced birth or pregnancy care for a chihuahua pregnancy, you should learn everything you can, especially if you think your dog might be pregnant. You will need to work closely with a vet and maybe even have one on call in case your chihuahua dog needs to deliver in the middle of the night.
A chihuahua pregnancy can often lead to complications because of its size and this particular dog breed statistically has a fairly high number of cesarean section births rather than traditional deliveries.
If a c-section is required for your dog, you absolutely will need a vet to step in and help you out.
In this guide, we’ve put together some identifying factors that might help you determine if your chihuahua is pregnant as well as some helpful tips and information for ways to handle the chihuahua’s pregnancy and delivery as safe as possible.
Immediate Identification of a Chihuahua Pregnancy
A pregnant chihuahua is something you will want to identify as early in the process as possible. There are some specific signs that you can look for with these dog breeds so that you can prepare for the pregnancy and take care of your pet from the beginning.
Puppies are certainly a joy to behold and chihuahua have adorable, tiny puppies but we have to get them to the point of pregnancy where they either give birth or have a c-section for those many puppies to join us in the world.
If you suspect that you might have a pregnant chihuahua on your hand, check for these immediate signs of pregnancy after she is no longer in heat. We will have some additional tips later on but this could identify changes right away that could point to a pregnant chihuahua.
The most immediate way to identify a pregnancy is to view your dog’s vulva when they are no longer in heat. While the chihuahua is in heat, an owner might notice swelling around the vulva. When they are no longer in heat, the swelling will decrease and they should return to normal size.
The vulva is located right under the tail of your dog and the swelling would be fairly noticeable without close observation.
6 Ways to Determine if Your Chihuahua Is Pregnant
Now, let’s talk about other method options can identify changes for the owner to determine whether they have a pregnant chihuahua on their hands. Some of these may take up to 30 days to identify while others might be slightly faster method options.
Ultrasound
You can work with your veterinarian to have an ultrasound scan or an x ray. This scan is typically completed by vets about 25-30 days after the chihuahua was mating. It is one of the quickest options for determining if your pet is expecting a litter. The ultrasound scan will be able to identify fetuses and potentially determine an approximate size and number within her stomach.
Have the mother scanned with an ultrasound or an x-ray to determine conception. This is the best and least invasive monitoring option. You might even be able to do an ultrasound at home in some instances.
Dogs that are timid or shy might be nervous with the ultrasound machine, almost like an x-ray, particularly since the veterinarian will need to shave a very small portion of the stomach in some cases.
Try to keep your dog calm as much as possible for the ultrasound process so you don’t risk excessive stress.
This ultrasound or x-ray procedure can sometimes be a bit pricy. It’s simply one type of way to determine whether you have puppies on the way. There are other ways apart from an ultrasound that you can turn to as well.
Blood Test
You could have your chihuahua go through a blood test process that might identify pregnancy hormones and whether your dog will soon be a mother. The blood test typically should not happen until 5 weeks after the potential mating conception date.
This test specifically looks for pregnancy hormones and will not necessarily determine gestation stages or the risk involved. A bit of advice, this is a rather long time to wait when there are other options and signs out there.
The test can easily miss things and may turn up negative, regardless of the pregnancy stages if you do it too soon.
It’s a means to an end but readers should be aware it might not be the most popular option for these reasons.
Tired Chihuahua
If you’re noticing that your precious puppy seems more tired than usual and just doesn’t have as much energy, this is a sign that they are in the beginning stages of pregnancy. If your chihuahua is typically pretty energetic but shows signs of reduced energy.
The loss of energy will typically show up in place in less than 30 days and is one of the major signs of a pregnancy chihuahua. When a chihuahua is pregnant, it will need extra rest and love so these are signs of pregnancy to be aware of.
Changes to Appetite
Chihuahuas tend to exhibit a change in their appetite during pregnancy. They might even have some morning sickness during the early stages of pregnancy. They still need all of their traditional nutrition and more.
During the morning sickness period of pregnancy, your chihuahua will most likely have a decrease in appetite. This is not so long after the mating process when the fetuses are just beginning to grow.
The changes to appetite might also show differently as gestation progresses and your puppy might start to eat a lot more. This fact is because the mother is accommodating in nurturing and feeding the fetuses within the uterus and is responsible for making sure her litter is healthy and strong through her own practices.
Don’t be concerned if she begins to eat quite a bit more as she progresses as she will need a lot more nourishment to provide for the fetuses during pregnancy and to prepare her body to give birth as well.
You can work with your vet to determine a healthy amount and the nourishment a pregnant chihuahua needs might also depend on how many puppies the chihuahua is expecting.
Appearance Changes
Another thing you will notice with some dogs is that their appearance starts to change. Not only does their belly grow, but a chihuahua’s pregnancy will change her body just like it would other dog breeds and humans.
These signs are more noticeable as the chihuahua gets close to the time to give birth and the belly really expands to give place for the puppies to grow and mature.
Your chihuahua may exhibit different changes but almost all of them will experience enlarged nipples on the belly. The nipples may also be discolored as well. Normally, chihuahuas have very small nipples but as the signs progress, they will potentially grow considerably and this often starts early on in a chihuahua pregnancy after mating.
She also might experience some discharge. Discharge is not necessarily something to be concerned about but it could be a sign that you are nearing the end and birthing is upon you. The appearance can often say a lot for a chihuahua after mating has happened.
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Nesting
Finally, one of the things you may notice with the chihuahua is nesting behavior. Nesting behavior is one of the signs that may happen closer to the time to give birth when the fetuses are nearly ready to be delivered as puppies. This is a sign that chihuahuas give when it’s almost time.
Signs of nesting include shredding up bedding and creating what appears to be a nest space. They create this as a safe and warm home for the puppies. Chihuahuas also sometimes start to get irritable and want to be left alone when they are otherwise social dogs.
Chihuahua Delivery Time
Chihuahuas stay pregnant for only about 56-70 days so picking up on all of the signals is important. This will help you and the vet gauge when how far along your dog is and try to determine how many puppies to prepare for. The goal is to deliver all of the fetuses safely and your vet will know how to handle the chihuahua.
Unfortunately, a lot of chihuahuas are not able to use the birth canal to deliver puppies. They sometimes run into complications so having a vet on standby is essential. Your chihuahua may need a c-section for the birth process if the birth canal is problematic.
Your goal remains to get all of the puppies to safety while also protecting the chihuahua during the process. If your chihuahua is pregnant watch her and help her from beginning to end. Visit your vet and have a plan.
Understand the signals to know when a c-section might be required to deliver puppies into the world. Your vet can prepare you and your chihuahua.
On average, a chihuahua will labor and birth the puppies sometime after 63 days of gestation.
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Facts to Know About Chihuahua
There are very interesting things to know that many people don’t realize are different with an impregnated chihuahua. Here are a few for you to be aware of.
+ The chihuahua’s belly gets very hard and the belly grows very quickly. Be gentle as it could become a sensitive place to touch
+ To an outside eye, it might appear that mating was not successful initially but the chihuahua is tricky and might be impregnated anyway. If you thought you stopped the mating early enough and prevented conception, you should be aware you might be wrong. Ask any vet.
+ A chihuahua can actually conceive a multi sired litter. This means that the puppies might have multiple fathers because of the unique ovary establishment of the female dog.
+ A chihuahua can be impregnated by a large dog and these are the deliveries that can often be the most concerning or challenging and the ones that lead to the most complications. If you know this to be the case, we recommend preparing for a place of surgery for the litter of puppies ahead of time as a word of a advice for the safest birthing possible. In these type of cases, the uterus and birthing simply can’t handle the size so readers should know about the mating process and plan surgery to help the chihuahua when it comes time to do so.
Owner Preparation
This breed can sure go through all of the stages and you might not pick up on the fact that you quite possibly have puppies on the way. At some point, you are bound to notice, though, and hopefully, it is before those puppies are sticking their heads out and entering the world. Chances are, you will see many signals and know it’s coming from an early stage.
You will need to provide your puppy with the stage controls that they need to make the method as simple as possible. here are some tips to assist you to prepare.
+ Try to time the dates and understand the stage you are at and the time to puppy date.
+ Work closely with vets from the beginning, make frequent trips to the vets, and have your vet’s number on speed dial.
+ Plan ahead for a potential surgical procedure for puppy delivery.
+ Make sure your baby is getting appropriate rest and nutrition but also good exercise still
+ Watch for signals that it’s time and get your vet’s input when you see things like discharge, extended pregnancy times, a temperature drop that is more than 24 hours old, a large gap between puppies coming
Conclusion
Telling when your sweet little doggy is impregnated may not be that challenging but it might take a few weeks for certain symptoms and results to actually start showing. If you are waiting for such an occurrence or expect it could happen, watch for all of the things we’ve covered here and be prepared to act as needed.
We know you and your doggo will do just fine if you make yourself aware of strategies and signals that you can utilize for success.
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