So my wife had to get another and brought a female into the house after months she has finally came in heat and is ready to take, the male isn't big enough so we would have to AI her I've seen this done once and have a friend that could help out if needed, but we have ready about how you have to practically raise these puppies for the female. After a c section you have to place the puppies in a incubator to keep them warm so the female won't roll on the puppies and ever two hours place them on on the mom to feed, and cleanings. My wife is off through the summer she is a school nurse but the time she would have puppies my wife would be back at work and wouldn't have time to do all this work. So my question is, all the reading true?? Do we have to do this much work, is it really go down like this or is it just reading? Just trying to see if we needed to wait and hopefully the next cycle will fit better with our time. I feel like mother nature should take it's course and mom becomes a mom but I have no idea. I raised boxers and didnt have to worry about any of this.

Any animal or plant that needs that level of care to survive and reproduce doesn't live at my place.

Well not counting mother in law.

Lol warrior I feel you, notice I am putting my wife in the place of doing all the work. Around here you can sell for 1500 to 3000 a puppy depending on color, but I'm not sure if it worth all the work going into it. The female is a merle color, well was when she was a puppy she kind of gree out of her markings but if we could get those markings you can sell for bigger money but way too much work from what I have read.

The Merle Gene makes beautiful dogs, but dogs that carry Merle are at risk of having some pups that are deaf. Dogs carrying one copy of the Merle gene have a 2.7% chance of being unilaterally deaf and a 0.9% chance of being bilaterally deaf. Dogs carrying 2 copies of Merle have a 10% chance of being unilaterally deaf and a 15% chance of being bilaterally deaf. Unilaterally deaf means deaf in one ear and bilaterally deaf means deaf in both.

Some English Bulldogs can successfully pass puppies and some can't. Without a C-section, dogs that can't will die.

My Merle Catahoula, Louie.




Keith

My wife used to breed English Bulldogs. She made a lot of money but now doesn't think it was worth it.
Everything you said AI , c section all adds up. Then its every 2 hour feedings and wiping their butts to make them poop.

Thanks cbat was wanting someone that had 1st hand tell me that is actually how it was. I don't think it's worth it. The wife wants a puppy from the litter, I think it's much easier just to pay the price on a puppy lol...

Grew up in the’70’s with English Bulldogs. Parents always had one. Unfortunately the breed has been ruined by greed and the AKC.

I have raised two litters of pups feeding by hand every two hours. It will give you a whole new appreciation of sleep!

How long you guys go for the 2 hour feedings

I’m not sure I understand your question…

When I was raising the pups, I fed them every two hours when I wasn’t at work. They went without during the 8-9 hours while I was at work. I set the alarm clock for every two hours during the night. I got it down to a science and it took about 15 minutes from the time the alarm went off till I was back in bed. I mixed up enough milk replacer ahead of time in a jug for the whole night. I have a mini fridge and microwave in my kennel so I don’t wake up the rest of the family every two hours. I tube fed with a French catheter. I put a mark on it so I knew when it was in the stomach and not the lungs.

As they get older, you can start going longer between feedings. I weaned them at 6 weeks.

From what I read they people place on the female every two hours to prevent rolling over on top of pups. So my question is when can you start leaving the pups with the female? I wasn't realizing you fed replacer.

Mine stayed with the female all the time…the problem I had was her milk wouldn’t come in after having the c-section. You need to make sure there is a rail in the welping box so the pups have an air gap if they get laid on. I used a cattle water tank so there were no corners.

A piece of cost saving advice…..vets are reluctant to pre-schedule a c-section unless they know the exact due date. Fertilization can happen during a very wide window with a natural breeding. I highly recommend progesterone testing to determine exact timing of ovulation. If you can’t get them hooked up when the test says it’s time, use AI. Then the due date can be determined with great accuracy to pre-schedule the c-section to avoid emergency c-section bills. Also, timing insemination closely with ovulation increases the litter size.

You might have to do multiple progesterone tests before it indicates the time is right. Keep records of first sign of heat vs progesterone levels…it will help you better predict when to start progesterone testing on future cycles.

Thanks bvr