Hi,
I'm wondering if someone out there could offer me some advice or suggestions please?
I have a nursing bitch who whelped a litter of six pups sixteen days ago. On thursday night/morning last week she was behaving like she was when she was in labour. Pacing the floor, bed making, being very restless and panting & heavy breathing. My initial concerns were that it was Eclampsia. I got her to the vet who gave her a thorough check over and a blood test for Eclampsia. Her calcium levels came back perfectly normal. The vet diagnosed the beginings of Masitis as her mammory glands were rather warm to the touch compared to the rest of her body. She has been on antibiotics since Thursday morning and although her mammory glands are no where near as warm as before she still has the occasional episode of panting. Mostly later on in the evening. Is this normal as a symptom on it's own or should i be concerned? She is eating and drinking well and going to the loo. Thank you for reading. 

are the pups feeding well off all of her? maybe she is to full in the ones pups might not be emptying, or could be that pups are starting to hurt her if their teeth are coming though or maybe their nails need clipping? x

Panting is generally normal because it's warm in the whelping box and the womb contracting back to normal is uncomfortable. But it's a little odd if she's only just started panting with the puppies 16 days old.

Pups are feeding well from her and i am mindfull that she lays on alternate sides after each feed. I was told by the vet at the time of their birth that they are big healthy pups for their breed. I can't see any teeth coming through but i did trim their nails last night. I make her meals up fresh every day in the slow cooker. Chicken, rabbit, fish etc with puppy food, eggs and pasta or rice with a dish of welpi to follow. She always eats the lot and she lets me know if she is still hungry. When she pants it is normally not when she is in the whelping box but in one of her other beds. She has various beds around the living room where the whelping box and pups are and is always given priority seating where ever she wants to go. A friend pointed out to me last night that her panting stopped last night after the pups had, had a good feed. So could that be it then, when she starts      panting she needs to feed her pups. I am normally guided by what she wants to do and where she wants to go. Feeding time for pups seems to be the  last thing on her mind.

that could be it then shes full of milk and thats why shes panting ,just keep an eye on her and see if this is the pattern , maybe see if she will feed them alittle more than she is? but if pups are doing well and growing well i dont see a problem with pups (only saying this because of you saying feeding them is the last thing on her mind. good luck with your litter x

Thank you for your reply white lilly. It's only after i posted what i wrote that i think i've written it wrong. She's good at letting them feed whenever they wake up really. When she starts panting she's normally not in with the pups but laying in one of her other beds and she isn't interested in letting them feed. When i took her to the vets Thursday morning she said that my bitch had a lot of milk. I took the pups weight chart with me so that she could see if the pups were gaining enough weight for their breed and she said they were doing just fine only that mum had loads of milk. I do hope i'm making sense. LOL!!
     

yes you are :) i had a bitch that made so much milk and was feeding 9 LOL i found that when she got so full she would jump into the pups just to get rid of it LOL ,plus your girl is at the stage where she will be making the most amount of milk for them x

Hi
I had exactly the same thing with my bitch in the summer, she was panting a lot, especially through the night and I took he r to the vets and there was nothing wrong with her. It was really worrying me but she seemed to calm down a bit when I cooled her down. I think she just got hot and bothered and stressed out feeding 7 big hungry puppies all the time .

Hi my bitch has had her third litter of 7 puppies . I am having her spayed , when is the best time to take her.
She is feeding and cleaning her puppies also eating and drinking lots of water herself . I am worried about her panting most of the time she is in the whelping pen!  Is this normal her temperature is fine. Help !!!

I usually have my girls spayed when their pups are 11-12 weeks old.

I usually let mine have at least one season before I spay then it will be the normal 3 months from season..

In my breed you won't be able to show a bitch after a litter probably not until after her next season, (when her pups are old enough to be shown).

Coats often do a total drop after spaying, so for me it makes sense to have the coat drop and the long non showing time over in one go, otherwise a bitch with a litter at 6 1/2 might not get back into the ring for over a year.

Often the coat after a litter grows back with a kink and a bit off colour so often isn't back in top form until after the next moult so it may take a year to get a bitch back to top form anyway, so another hormonal coat blip would make things even longer.

I don't suppose coat coming and going is such a long process in a smooth/short coated breed.

Apart from anything else I prefer my older bitches not to have any more seasons than needed, as the more they have as they age the more risk of Pyometra.

Well yes it can depend on a lot of things, just saying what I usually do. Our last 3 or 4 litters have been from bitches which have only had 1 litter, which can also make a difference(as I decide whether I want 1 or 2 litters from a bitch).

Yep, my last litters are usually around 6 - 7, and if anything they have come back into the ring with renewed success after being spayed, even though they get fewer outings as veterans.