Dam eats pups- anybody pls help - Page 1

I am writing this for a friend. His bitch has had her fourth litter. This litter was after a year. The first two litters there was no problem. In the third litter the bitch ate 7 puppies- oh god its terrible. In this litter which was born a year after the last she has consumed two already. will some one pls explain this phenmenon and clarify what can be done to stop this other than seperating the mother and putting a dog muzzle.

Wish I had an answer for you.Same thing happened to me with a bitch that was sweet as pie.She had no problem during the actualwelping process and when I finally left her to go get a few hrs. sleep myself everything appeared to be fine.Checked in about 4hrs later and it was like a freaking blood bath, thought I was dreaming or something.Out of a litter of 9 if I recall correctly 3 managed to make it.She did not actuall eat them just killed them and tore them up real bad.This is the same dog that sleeps with the family cats. Had another litter 1yr later and everything was fine........Weird thing to happen,I don't know if she just paniced or what she was thinkink.......Sorry I could not be of any help,just wanted you to know you were not alone

While it's possible that a bitch will eat a failing puppy, when they attack/destroy viable, healthy puppies there is a huge problem. It's not a problem I've faced but I've heard some "tricks" other people have used. Valium. Sedate the bitch constantly. Muzzle. Do NOT let her be anywhere near the pups without a muzzle and constant supervision. Separation. Keep the bitch and whelps completely separated, hand feed the whelps until weaning time. The best advice is to spay the bitch and NEVER let her reproduce again. This is not the temperament you want to bring into the breed. JDN - US

Mathaus I have raised a litter of puppies when this happened to a friend of mine. We where lucky as my bitch had whelped a week earlier and was herself an excellent laid back mother. She took the puppies in and raised them. My friend's vet explained that from literature he had seen there were a couple of explainations ie one of the hormones went haywire, the bitch didn't recognise the puppie sas her own or even stress from the birth. The vet recommended spaying the bitch which was done. Also suggested that all the bitch puppies that where not being retained by the breeder be put into homes where they would be spayed. Bitch puppy that was retained from the litter has had a successful litter but the vet did feel that it could run in families. Sorry I can't be of anymore help. Regards Freundhund

I don't agree with the spay and don't breed, you think it is genitic she ate her young? I thinks she just freaked out.Aside from the one time I mentiond we had no other problem with her and she produced very nice off spring.I would research things a bit further before spaying her. That is a knee jerk reaction to something you just can not explain

[quote] That is a knee jerk reaction to something you just can not explain [/quote] No, it's not a knee jerk reaction. A knee jerk reaction would be if I had a bitch like that and spayed her myself with a corkscrew! Temperament is genetic. Do you want to breed a line where there is a chance the hormones will go nuts at whelping time, the bitch has a bad temperament at whelping time, or whatever excuse/reason you want to use at whelping time... is this something that is NECESSARY to continue in the line? JDN - US

She can eat them for two reasons: 1. She is over stressed/anxious 2. She is in pain It is natural for any animal, including people to be in pain and to freak out during/after labor. It is not the reason to spay. Just keep her in a real quiet setting , preferably in the place that she chose herself, with dim light, or even dark, and give her some pain medicine or light sedative, and slightly sweet raspberry leave/chamomile tea. Do not overdo with sedatives, as it will go through the milk to the puppies and may be too much for them.

I had a bitch who also ate her pups. She had a very easy delivery but afterwards looked a bit strangely at them like she didn't know where they came from. I slept a few hours and came back to no pups, no blood, nothing. It is a very upsetting ordeal for an owner to go through! My vet breeds also and said it was due to a hormone problem. They said that there was no reason to expect it to happen again that this just sometimes happens. AFter about 48 hours she started looking for them. I guess the hormones kicked in. When she had her second litter she was fine from the moment she had them. I knew what to look for this time. We did not leave her alone with them for the first week as a precaution but it wasn't needed. I kept a bitch from the second litter and she had a litter with no problems at all. I was also told that a bitch can do this due to stress or sometimes they get so overzealous when cleaning the umbilical area that they open the abdomen up. Once they do this it is a natural response to continue the cleanup. Another bitch I acquired, killed her young pups when they would crawl close to her food pan. She was already animal aggressive and we took her away from the pups and got rid of her. THAT I was taking no chance of passing on. Not much help I suppose, except to let you know that you aren't alone in this happening! Sorry to hear you had to have the experience.

Question - what age were the pups when she ate them and were the pups full-term and healthy? I know of a bitch who had an emergency C-section a week early; 2 very immature pups were alive, the rest were dead, some very rotten. At first she nursed the little ones, but then became very rough with them and had to be controlled. It seemed that she intended to eat them, but they died anyway despite best efforts. The next mating she did not conceive. A good mum sorts out problems; a bad mum creates them. Good mums are great!

Nonsense.....spay her yourself with a corkscrew? Maybe you should refrain from reproducing yourself? You don't think that hormones can get a little out of wack in a canine pregnancy just like a human pregnancy? Is that to say every human female that has has a hormonal imbalacnce should be spayed? Such a stupid reply from someone who until recently usually had something worth listening too to say. It does not have to have anything to do with temperment, or genes or maybe it does. You for one are not doing a real good job of selling me with your knowledge in your replys.It's ok not to answer anything if you do not know the answer to a question rather then make yourself look like an ass.As I stated before, Aside from that one incident she was a sweet dog, never an ounce of trouble including with breedings AFTER the first breeding when all that took place.And that reminds me, Valium to a lactating bitch?.... Don't quit your day job.....lol........