They can also plan how they wish to manage the actual delivery, and how many prospective owners to inform of the forthcoming event. Cats Cats are fairly straight forward when it comes to delivering the kittens, but many owners still find it useful to confirm the pregnancy and to know how many kittens to expect. When it comes to dogs however, this can be a whole different ball game. Owners find it extremely useful to know exactly when the pups are due and how many. Dogs tend to take longer to deliver their pups, so when whelping begins, the owners usually remain with the bitch until they are sure that the last pup has been safely delivered.
Problems can be quite frequent when a bitch is whelping.
Some small dogs may only have one or two pups at a time, when this happens the pups tend to be larger than those in a litter of 5 or 6, which can make the delivery that much more difficult. Larger breeds of dogs, for instance the Great Dane, has normally a very large litter, perhaps 14 to 20 pups at a time. When whelping begins with such a large litter, the first 8 to 10 pups may be delivered without any help. The remaining pups in the litter are likely to require some kind of intervention, either from the breeder or a vet. When there is a very large litter, the uterus becomes elongated and loses it's ability to contract, therefore the pups cannot travel down the uterus to the birth canal.