10 is really pretty old for dog to have pups, it's the equivilent of a 70 year old woman having a baby, but they can and I'm betting yours may well be. Also the fact that she is overweight will cause her problems too. Do you know what kind of a dog she is bred to? Hopefully something small. Conception rates on the older dogs are not good, so she may only have one or 2 pups, but the problem there is that with only one pup in her, the pup will have unlimited room to grow and may get too large for her to have naturally, she may requite a c-section. Those are fairly common in Dachshunds anyway, but hopefully since she has had pups before, she will be able to deliver ok. If you see obvious signs of hard labor without pups comming do not wait too long to get her to the vet. Also, quite often the milk supply in older females is poor, contaminated, or non existant. If she delivers a live pup, you may have to bottle feed it. Not an easy task, newborns need feed every 2 hours around the clock.
Good luck, I hope she is ok. Just let me know if you have other questions.

 

 

 

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Okay, I'll ask you a question. I have a female Chihuahua who's about 8yrs. old. She's always been prone to breathing problems, as I know a lot of little dogs are, but they seem to be getting worse with her age. So, my question is, can cafeine help a dogs asthmatic attack the same way it will a human's? I heard that if you feed your dog a little bit of coffee when they are having trouble breathing that it will help open up their airways. It would be awesome if you have heard anything like that, or maybe something else that is supposed to work. I'd hate to wake up one night and watch my dog die because she can't breathe and I can't help her. Basically, any help would be appreciated.

 

 

 

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Don't think I'd do caffeine on a Chihuahau, they are pretty shakey anyway. I don't know of any studies on the effects of caffeine on dogs.

Age often brings on severity in minor problems that would not bother a young dog. Have you ever determined why exactly she has had breathing problems in the past? Some dogs, Shih Tzu's in particular, often suffer from pinched naries, which is easily corrected by a quick snip to the base of the nose to make the nasal passage larger.

One thing you may want to do is make sure she is current on her kennel cough vaccintation. It will help keep her immune system stay in tip top shape to help fight off respitory infections.

If it is congestion just in the nasal passages, what I have done is to put a tiny drop of nasal spray on a Q tip and swab just inside the nose. You don't want to actually put drops in the nose on a tiny dog. A dab of Vix on the nose can help some too, but do not do it frequently.

You might need to have the vet check and make sure she does not have a growth in her nasal passages.

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