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HEAT CYCLES, PREGNANCY & LITTERS

1. How long is a dog/cat in heat?
Like people every animal is different however generally a dog is in heat 2-3 weeks. Cats however are even more sporadic, they can have more than one heat cycle per season.

2. How long is a dog/cat pregnancy?
The average length of a dog pregnancy is 63 - 65 days. The average length of a cat pregnancy is 60 days.

3. I want to know how many puppies or kittens there are, how do we determine that?
An ultrasound can be performed at 21-25 days to check for a fetus or 23-38 days to check for fetal heart beats. A palpation can be done 20-30 days to check for individual fetuses. At 45 days or more a radiograph can be done to look for fetal skeletons.

4. Can my pet be spayed during heat?
Yes, they can be spayed however due to the bleeding there is a little more risk involved and it may cost a little more.

5. When do I get tails and dewclaws removed on puppies?
Three to five days, after that it's actually surgery

6. When do puppies and kittens open their eyes?
Usually 10 days - 2 weeks.

7. When do I begin weaning?
Large breed puppies usually can start around 3-4 weeks, small breed puppies you may want to wait a little longer 4+ weeks and kittens around 4-5 weeks should be fine.

8. When do I begin housebreaking?
Around 4 weeks is probably a good time to start housebreaking the litter.