Bitch not excepting puppies completely

[goldnbear]

My three year old bitch has 5 day old puppies on the ground, and I wanted to see if I can get some additional opinions. She is the sweetest bitch in the world, and I never expected this from her. This is her first litter. She was in first stage labor for over 24 hours and by the time second stage hit, she was exhausted. She was in 2nd stage for two hours and then her contractions were tapering off. I got worried, called the vet, got some oxytocin. 15 min after first injection, 1st pup was born. Then came #2, then #3 and #4. The bitch did not care to clean or eat placentas until #3. So I had to clear amniotic sac in order for these pups to not suffocate. #3 and #4 were born dead with a black nasty discharge, so by the time the bitch was finally interested, I took these away from her because I didnt' want her to get sick from these dead ones. The dead ones had prematurely seperated (the day before I had seen this black discharge), and were not properly formed either, but were full size. Anyways. I gave more oxy, and then #5 came, stuck in the canal for a bit, I got gloves on and lubed up to try to apply traction, puppy was out by the time I got there, out of amniotic sac. He was dead also. Tried to revive for 25 minutes, no luck. I did let the bitch eat his placenta and she did clean him up. Contractions were stopped, gave more oxy to ensure all pups were out and to clean her out, surprise! #6 popped out. He was alive. She cleaned him as well. So after all of this, the poor bitch and I are both exhausted, not having slept in 48 hours. The problem is now, that she will not clean or lick these puppies. She will allow them to nurse, but we have observed her nip them or growl at them at times. She acts though they are not her puppies at all. Not defensive over them or anything. Her whelping box was originally in the kitchen and the vet felt that it might be too high traffic for her and so we moved it to a spare bedroom. She is still doing about the same. Still nursing, no stimulation. I have been pottying the puppies myself which is getting old. Of course, I will do at as long as necessary, but I love this bitch, she is beautiful and well bred, and I really want her to succeed at this. She also has been having trouble eating. I have had to encourage her to eat with canned food and watering it down because she is not drinking a whole lot either. She doesn't want to leave her box, yet she almost doesnt' know what to do in there. I have been giving her extra calcium (yogurt and cottage cheese) in case it was a preclampsia issue. I am at a loss. If anyone has ever experienced this, or has any suggestions, I am all ears. I have tried putting food stuffs on the pups for her to lick off- she just licks it off and then that's it. Thanks in advance!

[JsMom]

Are you weighing the pups to make sure she is producing enough milk for them? Try to keep things as stress free as possible - she really had a horrific labor/delivery - poor girl. Too much stress and she will stop producing milk and you will have to supplement to keep them alive. If they are not gaining, please have her and the pups re-checked by your Vet ASAP.

Not every bitch is cut out for motherhood - I hope a breeder can give you some advise here. I have only had one experience with this and our girl lost her milk and we bottle fed the pups - they did survive but it's exhausting - every 2 hours. The mother did keep them clean and pottying. I think they tube feed now instead of bottle feeding.

Keep us posted.

Edit: I spoke with a breeder friend and told him your situation. He is an experienced breeder and his response is as follows:
The bitch has been through a tremendous amount of stress. (She may never accept the litter.) About all that can be done at this point is step in for mamma to tube feed and stimulate and clean up after the little ones.
I would not be adding any supplements (calcium) to the bitches diet unless instructed to do so by a licensed veterinarian. There isn't much potential benefit and it could cause a great deal of harm.

In the short term maintain a schedule of caring for the pups and get the bitch into the Vet for a thorough exam and full blood panel.

[Legend's Mom]

Wow, this is a hard situation for you. The puppies will need to be stimulated once a hour for the first 2 weeks to go pee and poo. If she is nipping and acting a tad aggressive with the puppies i would see if you can find a surrogate mother to fill in with feedings. (this DOES happen, so maybe ask your mentor, or breeder friends)

I a little surprised at the number of times you used Oxytocin. How much was used each time and was there a vet on site to check the bitch before giving each time? If Oxytocin is given TOO quickly and the puppies are not far enough down the uterine horn, this CAN cause death to them. Now, for the puppies that were not formed correctly, that is a different issue all together. Females getting ready to whelp a litter should start Cephalexin 10 days prior to whelp in case one puppy should die in utero it would not spread that toxicity to the other puppies.

Also, NEVER, NEVER use Calcium around this time...very bad idea...read article below.

Good Luck with this, if you need any other help or opinions, you may PM me. Some moms just take a while to warm up, others may NEVER accept. Just be extra careful, a mother can SIGNIFICANTLY harm a puppy...especially if she feels they are not "right" or "healthy" inside... :confused:

Im so sorry. Hugs to you and your sweet girl.

[Legend's Mom]

"Question: Oxytocin (Pit shots).

Can you discuss the proper use of oxytocin injections during whelping? It seems that many breeders use oxytocin early on in the whelping process, when they feel it isn't progressing fast enough.

DrHutch: A puppy in the uterus has only two elements maintaining its oxygenation and life, one being the heartrate of the puppy, two being the blood pressure from mom to the uterus.

The whole goal in whelping is to maintain vital elements. Oxytocin I use in a very specific manner. If you've gone three hours without a puppy, I use one dose of oxytocin. My dose of oxytocin is two units per ten pounds of body weight. Oxytocin is normally 20 units per ml; I never use more than half an ml, no matter how big the bitch is.

I give one injection; if nothing happens, I give a second injection 20 minutes later. If nothing happens, I go to a C-section.

If you get too much oxytocin at a time, you will cause the puppies not to be expelled from the uterus but shrunk wrapped IN the uterus. The two injections of oxytocin actually increase the blood pressure to uterus which is beneficial to the puppies. If we keep giving them, we LOWER the blood pressure to the uterus, which robs the puppies of oxygen.

Using calcium with the oxytocin... now that we can monitor calcium levels in our practice I do not normally give calcium if the bitch is normal, because it causes the heart to slow down. If I need to give calcium I now use Calsorb, an oral gel that is absorbed almost as quickly as injectable. I can give it in small amounts more often, and don't have to worry about the side effects of injected calcium.

To clarify, my standard protocol (with oxytocin) is two injections; if two don't do it, two, four, ten, twenty, is not going to do it. In most cases I keep score by how many live puppies I deliver, not how many C-sections I avoid. I wait three hours from the last puppy.

My signs of dystocia are:

Temp just before labor readjusts back up to normal;

If I have no puppy born in four hours.

That is my definition of primary uterine inertia.

Straining hard for an hour... that is when you would NOT give oxytocin. Longer than three hours between puppies, that's when you DO give oxytocin.

Any black, red, or green discharge before any puppies are delivered indicates placental detachment and needs attention.

Ultrasounds, fetal monitoring devices, are critical to determine fetal well being. The ability to monitor the fetal heart rate is essential with WhelpWise or having an ultrasound.

I have worked and consulted with breeders using WhelpWise; it's ESPECIALLY important if a veterinarian does not have ultrasound, because there is no other way to monitor the whelps and fetal health."

[goldnbear]

Thank you everyone for the thoughts, opinions, and advice. I had spoken to a number of vets and breeders about this situation and also posted on here to get yet more opinions. Sometimes your gut feelings are usually the best. But anyways, the puppies are now two weeks old and thriving beyond belief. My bitch was exhausted as anyone can imagine who read about her delivery. We didn't do a blood panel, which in hindsight I wish I had done, because the signs she was having, in many of the vets opinions that I talked to, were signs of Pre-eclampsia. Not eclampsia, but the early warning signs of such. Not many vets are even aware or advise to treat for this. Several that I did talk to rec. to give calcium supplements as soon as the bitch's temperature drops. This bitch in particular, if she is ever bred again, will definately need it since she now has a history of it. What convinced me the most of this condition though, was as soon as she was given the supplement (hours maybe), she started eating and licking the babies. Maybe a coincidence, maybe not. However, I didn't give quite as much as they rec. for fear of the adverse reactions as well, which I still don't quite understand completely. But this has definitely been a learning experience! The puppies are doing great as I stated already, but I can't show how ecstatic I am! The largest is over 5 pounds already at just over 2 weeks. The other two are not far behind. They are all beautiful, and we are very happy with the outcome. Well worth all the work involved, and thankful that my bitch is alright! cheerleade

[Legend's Mom]

Thank you so much for coming back to us and updating us with how the puppies/mommy are doing!!! Im so ecstatic for you too! Every litter presents a new challenge and a new way to learn! Good luck with them, we would love to see pics!

Blessings! banana

[JsMom]

Oooh - happy too that all is now going well! 5 lbs. at 2 weeks? Holy Moly! She's working overtime at nursing! :eek:

Continued best wishes headed your way! :434

[goldnbear]

I would love to show pics, but I can't seem to get them small enough. It keeps saying they are too large. I keep cropping them, and it just isn't working. Any other suggestions?

[JsMom]

There is a link at the top of the page that says Picture Resize - send it to Johnwa and he'll resize for you. :D