What can we cover our carpet with for puppies a few weeks old? (clean, poop)
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My husband and I are fostering a dog that the rescue organization we volunteer with took from the pound shortly before she had her puppies. Her 8 puppies are now 12 days old. They're doing well in a whelping box that's in the walk-in closet for the room that's my home office, but in a week or 2, that box is going to be too small for them.
When the puppies need more space, we're going to wall off part of the office so that they have the closet and part of the office to explore and play. Problem is, the office is carpeted, and it's the only room where we have space for the puppies. (We'll take them out of there, of course, but I'm talking about their living space.) Before we took in the pregnant mom, we thought that putting down a tarp would work, but there's a tarp in the walk-in closet under the whelping box, and the mom is determined to paw it to shreds.
We have a vinyl outdoor tablecloth under the bedding and layers of newspaper in the whelping box, and that works nicely, but we're able to staple it to the edges of the box. We can put newspaper over the tarp, but the mom will paw through it in no time. The only thing I can think of is to keep the walled-off area the size of a blanket we can put down and have newspaper and a tarp under that. And then hope that the mom isn't bent on destroying that tarp too.
Once pups are weaned mom wont be there to paw at it ... so it should work fine. How about the other rooms, is there 1 with no carpet? I once had to Divide a litter LOL used boxes with trash bags under each box & papers inside...changed often. 2 pups per box....got bigger boxes as they grew!! Lucky they started going to new homes at 6 weeks by 10 weeks all were gone. Another thing I have used baby playpens! You might get them on your local Freecycle! What size & how many pups do you have?
I used an x-pen with a good sized piece of vinyl flooring remnant underneath. Purchased from a Home Depot type store for around $20. Worked like a charm as it was strong enough and could be easily cleaned.
I used an x-pen with a good sized piece of vinyl flooring remnant underneath. Purchased from a Home Depot type store for around $20. Worked like a charm as it was strong enough and could be easily cleaned.
This is a great idea!
Another option, lay down a vinyl shower curtain, and put a brick on each corner so it won't move. Cover with newspaper. Then put a pen around that.
Once pups are weaned mom wont be there to paw at it ... so it should work fine. How about the other rooms, is there 1 with no carpet? I once had to Divide a litter LOL used boxes with trash bags under each box & papers inside...changed often. 2 pups per box....got bigger boxes as they grew!! Lucky they started going to new homes at 6 weeks by 10 weeks all were gone. Another thing I have used baby playpens! You might get them on your local Freecycle! What size & how many pups do you have?
The pups will be out of the whelping box for a few weeks before they're weaned. There are 8 puppies, and this is the only room we have for them. Some of the puppies will be going to other foster homes at about 6-8 weeks, fortunately.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keeper
My DD used a large kiddie pool for her GSD puppies. I have seen playpens used too.
I've seen kiddie pools used too. They sound like a great idea for the first three weeks or so. I'm looking for something beyond those first 3 weeks, when they'll need a little more space. But it's good to have that idea in this thread.
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Originally Posted by ReturningWest
I used an ex-pen with a tarp underneath and then papers on top of it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gold*dust1
I used an x-pen with a good sized piece of vinyl flooring remnant underneath. Purchased from a Home Depot type store for around $20. Worked like a charm as it was strong enough and could be easily cleaned.
The walls for the whelping box can be part of the wall for this area. A vinyl flooring remnant is a great idea, especially with a momma dog that wants to tear up the flooring. Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by steelstress
Another option, lay down a vinyl shower curtain, and put a brick on each corner so it won't move. Cover with newspaper. Then put a pen around that.
I used an x-pen with a good sized piece of vinyl flooring remnant underneath. Purchased from a Home Depot type store for around $20. Worked like a charm as it was strong enough and could be easily cleaned.
This is exactly what I did with a litter of 10 German Short-haired Pointers who were about 7 weeks old when I got them as fosters. It worked perfectly - I had my x-pen attached to a large wire crate. That way I could herd the pups into the crate and close the door while I cleaned the floor. Newspaper was pretty much a waste, they shredded it in minutes and it was just more soggy stuff to clean up. I did find that using a 4 inch wide putty knife worked best to scrape up poop since theirs was runny because they had such bad worms at first and they also tramped through it all the time. Had to clean at least 4 times a day.
They were adorable but I was really glad when they went on transport after two weeks.
Have fun and enjoy them for that brief time you have them.
Newspapers get torn and the ink comes off transferring to the pups. Vinyl shower curtains slip and slide and will be tron to shreds. All the suggestions above work great....until they are fully mobile. Been through it all a thousand times. And 8 puppies can pee and poop alot! If you can...once they are 4-5 weeks old....I always puppy proofed a section of the garage. We could then barricade the doors and open up the garage door and let some sun and fresh air into it. You'll be doing 24/7 poop and pee patrol...invest in lots of white cheapy paper towels to do the cleanup. Minimum once a day, you'll have to gather the pups and contain them ( I used playpens) and Simple Green the floor or the stench will overcome you. Be ready to give baths to them all once a day( at the very least and no one likes to love a dirty, stinky puppy)...they just love to roll and play in the pee and poop. So lovely to come into the garage after a night of them playing in it all!
When I say puppy proof....I mean puppy proof....The stuff my litters would get into was amazing. I swear they worked in tandem to accomplish the impossible!
I'd say the idea of a linoleum remnant would be the best idea, considering all that Shelbygirl brought up.
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