A whelping box helps to keep the new-born babies warm and safe in a closed area soon after their birth. There are many DIYs available online that help you in making a whelping box for the pups. There are many such boxes available in the market also easily. Once your dog gives birth to the puppies, it is essential to keep the box clean to make sure that the puppies are healthy and don’t get infected. The process of keeping the whelping box clean is very easy. I am going to share the process of cleaning the whelping box step-by-step so that it is easy for all the readers to follow.
How to Keep Whelping Box Clean?
Before starting the process of cleaning it is crucial to keep the supplies handy that you are going to need for cleaning the whelping box. The list of the supplies is given down below:
- A pair of gloves
- Disinfectants
- Detergent
- Rugs and towels
- Tissue papers
- Sanitizer
Process of keeping the whelping box clean
Once you have all the supplies that you will need to clean the whelping box, it is now time to first take the puppies out of the whelping box and keep them in a cardboard box or any enclosed space safely along with their mother. Sanitize your hands before picking up puppies.
Wear gloves while cleaning the box to maintain your hygiene. Starting with the flooring of the whelping box is good. Make sure that there is some flooring in the whelping box as the box will have a plastic or wooden bottom which is not soft or recommended for the small pups.
Place a vinyl flooring if you don’t have any flooring in the box. Get rid of the towels in the whelping box. Now start picking up the waste with the help of tissue if there is any and dispose of in the dustbin. Make sure that there is no wastage in the box.
It’s time to use a detergent now and get rid of any strains on the flooring. Use detergent to get rid of such strains. Select such a flooring for the whelping box that is easy to clean. Also, make sure that you don’t use detergent with harsh chemicals. Use mild detergents to clean the flooring.
After you have gotten rid of all the wastage and strains, it is now the time to disinfect the whelping box. Again select a mild disinfectant which doesn’t have any chemicals. Take disinfectant in the spray bottle and start sterilizing the entire whelping box with the help of it.
Now that the whelping box is disinfected keep clean towels and rugs in the whelping box again for the puppies. Place the pups safely in the whelping box back again with their mother.
After reading this, you might have the question about how frequently you should clean it. Don’t worry I am going to help you with that as well.
How often should you clean it?
The whelping box should be made ready before in hand before the birth of puppies. Once the puppies have born, make it a point to clean it once a day as there are chances of infection. Also as they are still small, they do not produce a lot of waste, so it is okay to clean it once in a day.
When the puppies start growing, they start producing more waste and then it becomes vital to clean the whelping box twice a day. For keeping the box clean for puppies, you can make a cleaning schedule and also set reminders for the same so that you don’t miss out on cleaning the whelping box.
Also, make sure that anything you use for cleaning is disinfected or appropriately sanitized. Buy detergents and disinfectants that are organic or natural so that it doesn’t cause any allergy or infection to the puppies. Make sure that the box is clean before placing the pups back again in their nesting box.