HELP - NEW LITTER PUPPIES DYING

I could really use some advice. I have a 2 yr old yellow lab which I bred with a 3 yr old black lab female. She gave birth to 13 puppies, 2 died at birth and three have died since then. The vet suggested the mother was not producing enough milk so the owners and now bottle feeding, however another pup died this morning. Is there something else that could be wrong or any other suggestions, I don't want to lose any more puppies. Please any advice would be great.

 

Where is sams right now? Oh my, I feel terrible for you! There are alot of people on this board who should be able to help! I will say a prayer for you!

 

I have no experience with puppies. Can you call a different vet? Hopefully Sams or someone who knows puppies will get on soon to help!

 

poor things, wow 13 pups that sa big litter. are they keeping them warm and are they eating the food? I know little of newborns but do know they need to eat every few hours and with that many pups its going to be hard to keep them all bottle nourished.

Where is Sam when we need her, and Mike!!

honeybear

 

Thanks for your responses and prayers. They are eating about every 2-3 hours, the little girl that died this morning on weighed 10oz. They had her seperated from the mother and in a small box with a heating pad trying desparetly to save her. This is my first time having puppies and isn't going so well. My dog (the father) hasn't even gotten to see his pups yet. The mother is very aggressive right now. The vet said to open up the rooms in the house and let her move them to where she wanted say that she would feel more comfortable and hopefully start producing milk. As soon as they did this, she moved all the pups into the basement. I know it is not very warm down there and this concerns me. But what do we do, the vet said she will not produce milk until she is more comfortable with the surroundings!!!! I don't know what else to do

 

I'm so sorry, I don't have any answers either
I've just emailed Mike though, so hopefully he'll get that soon and be around with some advice.

 

I see that she has blankets but not enough so the pups could get tangled up, I would do what you did upstairs and the same as downstair. Can you massage her to try to get her to produce? it seams I have head that

honeybear

 

Ok. Heres the perfect reason breeding should be left up to the experts.

Ok. The first thing you need to do is feel each of the puppies. THey should have a temperature of 101.8'F. If they feel pretty cool to the touch, then they need to be warmed up. THe first babies could have been suffocated from the mother not clearing the mucas from the babies nose and throat. She could have also layed on them and suffocated them accidentally.

Breedng a bitch at that young of an age will warent these types of problems. One, she's unexperianced, scared and nervous.

She may also have a disease called Mastitis. Feel her tits and see if they are hot and red. If you knotice any swelling of the mamorary glands and teet ends you needto take her and the pups to the vet ASAP.

As for now, as long as they are laying on carpet, or a blanket in the basement and not on cold concrete, they should be ok. If they are on cold concrete, thats a HUGE health hazard.

13 puppies is a HUGE litter for a first time mom. especially at such a young age.

As for helping her bottle feed, as long as the puppies look fat and healthy , trying to bottle feed them can increase your risk and cause more problems. If the mother is uneasy around people with her pups. LEave here be. SHe probably won't feed unless she's alone. If you knotice her not feeding at all. THen you need to step in, remove the puppies and bottle feed.

You need to consult your vet ASAP. As the health of the bitch is at risk as well.

Its common and pretty normal for the runt of the litter to die. The reason being, they are the last to be concieved and usually not fully developed at birth. Hince the health problem and results in death.

DO NOT whatsoever let your male around the pups! That is a HUGE HUGE HUGE NO NO!!!!!! Since your female is already upset and nervous. SHe can turn very agressive towards the male and cause a fight, puppies could accidentally be harmed.

Also if the mother detects that something is wrong with the puppies or can't feed them all, she will kill them and eat them. (not always eat them). That could also be a reason they are dieing. She may be purposly killing them. Unexperianced mothers can accidenatlly kill them while moving them as well. By biting down too hard and causing internal injuries.


HOnestly, before you ever breed again, you need to do some serious research and educate yourself. All this could have been prevented with a little knowledge of what your doing. Have you even called your vet yet? THat should have been your FIRST step.

 

I was home sick the other day watching thats my baby on animal planet and this woman had a midwive for her dog. never heard of that for dogs, but she helped the mom along massaged her tummy (she had her pups over a 24 hour period.) helped clean the pups, weighed them, then tied their umbilical cords, she kept the pups away as another was coming. it was pretty neat

Sam at what age should a dog have pups. 3 years doesnt sound too young?

honeybear

 

Hi sorry i wasnt here sooner.......

Ok firstly to see if mum is producing enough milk gently squeeze her nipples to make sure there is plenty coming out this should be a creamy colour.

Also while doing this check for any lumps in her mammry glands to make sure she does not have mastitis also they should be warm but not hot..

To increase mums milk instead of giving her water to drink give her a puppy substitute formula like what you should be feeding the puppies.

Whats her appetite like increase her food and also feed her eggs creamed rice and fish this helps promote milk let down also so does a couple of drops of whisky into her milk.

Is mum up todate on her vaccinations have both parents been health checked before breeding them as there can be any number of things that could be causing this to happen.

Did mum carry the litter to term which is usually 63-65days but in large litters this can be as early as day 60....
If the litter has been born before day 58 then chance are and i know this is not what you are wanting to hear they will all pass away unless you can feed them every hour around the clock and also help them to releive themselves this is done by using a cotton wool ball or cloth dipped in some warm water and rubbed over there genital and anal area to help stimulate them to go.

The larger puppies should be place on the mother to help force milk let down as the larger the pup the better the suction.

Mum should have been wormed 1week before mating 1 week before whelping and then again 2weeks after the litter is born and every 2weeks after that till the puppies are 12 weeks old.

The main thing to do now though is to make sure mum is producing milk and getting the puppies back on her as her milk for the first few days has all the antibodies the puppies need to fight any viruses.

If you need any further help please feel free to email me and i will help you out good luck and my thoughts are with you...

Mike

Ps Nik thanks for the email got here as soon as i could

 

13 pups? That's not big, that is a hugh litter for a lab!

Hypothermia is a killer of pups, KEEP THEM warm! Feed them formula every 2 hours until their little tummies are full, rounded out on the sides, but not distended. Give MOM plenty of water, formula too and I gave my girl yogurt and nutritional supplements to help her while nursing her litter of 10. Perhaps your vet will make a house call to check the pups?

We lost 1 who had been born with maconium when she was 24 hours old. She managed to seperate herself from mom and litter in the hour and a half my daughter and I both slept, she died from hypothermia and I STILL haven't forgiven myself.

 

Mis read, Thought the poster said she was year and a half! oopsy!

Anyhow. How are the puppies doing?

 

Sorry this took so long - but THANK YOU to all of you who posted. Your suggestions were wonderful and we know have 8 beautiful puppies whom are all doing so very well. . I guess maybe I wans't as prepared as I should have been for this. I will definetly leave it up to the experts next time, however my heart is extremely saddened by the loss of the pups. I have chosen my pup ( her name will be bailey and as of yesterday she weighed 2lb12oz and will be three weeks old sunday! She's the lazy one of the bunch which is good because my male is really ambitous to say the least.

Anyways thanks again to all of you for having such a beautiful heart and being here to help people like me.

 

That is great news!! glad to hear they are doing fine

honeybear

 

I am so glad to hear all is well. It is sad when we lose animals especially when we are there for there birth.

Good look and i think bailey is a lovely name.

Mike

 

Glad to hear everyone is ok. I too thought about breeding but when I started researching boy was I blown away and quickly decided against that! Plus I would end up with tons of dogs cause I wouldent be able to give any of them up. Anyway good luck with the pups!