Puppy Whelping Supplies

When labour starts, you want everything within arm's reach and nothing left to improvise. Whelping supplies are cheap insurance: a small, well organised kit that sits ready in the corner of the room from week eight onwards.

This collection covers the core of that kit, including complete whelping kits, umbilical cord clamps, heat lamp covers and nursing bottles for pups that need a hand early on.

What a Whelping Kit Needs to Cover

Four jobs come up in nearly every whelping: drying and stimulating each pup, dealing with the cord, keeping the nest warm and clean, and recording what arrives and when. A prepared kit handles most of that in one box, which beats hunting through cupboards between contractions. Cord clamps let you secure a cord cleanly before cutting, and clean scissors and plenty of towels should be laid out before the first pup rather than after. Keep a notepad or your phone handy to log birth times, weights and sexes as you go.

Warmth and Early Feeding

A pup that gets cold will not feed properly, so warmth comes first. A heat lamp with a proper dome cover directs warmth into the nest safely, and it needs mounting so the litter can move away from it if they get too warm. Set up the whelping box and heat source a few days early and check the temperature before the pups arrive, not on the night. Have a nursing bottle and teat ready in case a pup needs topping up. If a pup is limp, cold or refusing to suck, warm it gently and ring your vet rather than attempting to feed it.

Due date approaching? Explore the RPBA collection of puppy whelping supplies and have the room ready before labour starts.