WhelpkeepThe Sires & Dams screen
What the Sires & Dams screen shows — your breeding animals grouped into Dams and Sires, with species, breed, age, desexed status and microchip at a glance.
Sires & Dams is your breeding animals — the parents behind every litter. Add one with Add animal. Click any card to open that animal's full profile.
Dams and Sires
Your animals are split into two groups, Dams (females) and Sires (males), each with a count beside the heading. Only dams can be the mother of a litter and carry the lifetime litter and caesarean counters.
What each card shows
- Name and species (dog or cat).
- Breed — or "Breed not set" if you haven't added it yet.
- Quick tags, when recorded: Desexed, the animal's age, and its microchip number.
For what every field means when you add or edit an animal, see the Sires & dams reference.
Sections on an animal's page
Open a sire or dam and the profile is split into clear sections:
- Compliance checklist — the animal-level items (the lifetime litter and caesarean caps, the VIC pre-mating vet check, and health testing), auto-derived from the animal's litters and records. Items are scoped to the states the animal actually breeds in, so you only see the rules that apply. See How compliance works for the status badges.
- Lifetime counter (dams only) — her lifetime litters and caesareans, derived from her in-app litters plus the pre-Whelpkeep baseline you entered (never typed directly), shown against the caps that apply to her states.
- Records & pedigree documents — every document or photo linked to that animal: pedigree and registration papers, DNA / health tests, vet certificates, microchip records and photos.
The lifetime counter on a dam's page
Open a dam to see her Lifetime counter — two totals, Litters and Caesareans, each derived from her records (never typed directly).
"{n} prior + {n} recorded"
Under each total is a small line such as "2 prior + 3 recorded". The prior number is the pre-Whelpkeep baseline you typed when you added her; the recorded number is the litters (or caesareans) logged in Whelpkeep since. Added together they make her lifetime total.
The cap-warning banners
When a dam nears or passes a state cap, a coloured banner appears above her recorded litters — for example "One litter away from the 5-litter lifetime cap (NSW / VIC).", "This dam has reached the 5-litter lifetime cap (NSW / VIC).", "This dam is over the NSW limit of 3 caesareans…", or "NSW: after 2 caesareans, a vet certificate is required before a 3rd pregnancy."
- Amber means she's approaching a state cap.
- Red means she's reached or passed it.
Whelpkeep only warns — it never blocks you from saving. Always confirm the current rules with your state regulator.
The Caesarean chip
In a dam's Recorded litters list, a litter tagged Caesarean was delivered by caesarean. Each one counts toward her lifetime caesarean total above.
Related pages
- Sires & Dams referenceEvery field on a breeding animal in Whelpkeep — name, role, species, breed, date of birth, microchip number, desexed, and the prior-litters and prior-caesareans baseline.
- Create a litterRecord a litter in Whelpkeep — choose the state, pick the dam and sire, enter the mating and whelp dates, and start the per-litter checklist.
- How compliance worksHow Whelpkeep tracks your state breeder ID, ticks off a per-litter checklist from your records, and stamps the right legal wording onto contracts.