How Many Puppies Usually Survive In A Litter

Around 20 of shih tzu litters will be delivered by c section.

How many puppies usually survive in a litter. Some may be born stillborn and others may not survive the first 24 hours of life. In the case of small or miniature breeds the average is usually 3 or 4 puppies in a litter. For example a 45 pound labrador retriever may produce a litter of only five or six puppies while an 85 pound lab may produce a litter of 10 or more. The exact number of puppies a chihuahua will have at the first time will never be an exact figure but it could be as low as 1 and as high as 3.

Not all whelping situations are joyous occasions for the kids to witness. Differences between breeds as mentioned there can be considerable differences between the sizes of litters of different breeds. Anything from one or two puppies up to over ten is considered to be perfectly normal and generally dams will not produce litter sizes larger than they can manage. On average shih tzus will have around 3 puppies in each litter usually.

After that litters tend to decrease in size again. The university of missouri extension notes that fetal teeth a good indicator of the number of puppies aren t visible on an x ray until days 51 to 66 after breeding but whelping occurs between days 57 to 69. Some breeds can only have 1 or 2 puppies while others can have up to 15. Smaller breed dogs usually only have 1 4 pups per litter.

The only way you can tell how many puppies to expect before delivery is via x ray but such an x ray isn t accurate until just a few days before the puppies are born. 3 to 4 would be the average range however it s not unusual for older shih tzus to have larger litters after their first time with up to 5 or 6 puppies. All puppies do not always survive. How many puppies should you expect.

Large breeds usually give birth to around 7 puppies although it s not uncommon for them to have up to a dozen. Anymore puppies than that the first time is unusual. It is as if they are not her puppies. If dogs have more than 5 pups a lot of times some die but if your dog has 4 or less they all should survive and it is rare for one pup to die in a small liter vs a large litter of pups.

Chihuahuas then tend to have their largest litter on the third or fourth time they get pregnant. It is not uncommon for a dog to produce 8 puppies but only 5 of them survive. The number of puppies your dog can have varies widely. The guinness world record for the largest litter of puppies is held by a neapolitan mastiff who gave birth to a grand total of 24 puppies back in 2004.

Age while dogs typically remain fertile for their entire lives they are most fecund during early adulthood usually between 2 and 5 years of age.