I have bred my dog for the first time. She delivered 6 puppies earlier today before 11am. I have called the vet but there useless and are telling me to wait 24 hours!

1m sure there are still 2 pups in her, 1 of which is in the birth canal, I can feel it there. I called the emergecny practice and wwas told that it can take upto 24 hours.

Ive beed giving her calcium supplements to help her. She is not at all uncomfortable. and is allowing all pups to suckle. There are NO contractions

can someone advise me what I should do other than my vets advice of let nature take its course! Im worried that there may be a problem and the vet wont help me.

Hi,

If your bitch appears to be relaxed, feeding her  pups and  isnt contracting then dont worry, she may just be resting. Dont overdo the calcium, all you need to give her is a tsp of glucose in her water to give her some energy..The only time you need to worry would be if she had been contracting for more than an hour and nothing was coming out at all..and she seemed distressed. We recently had a pup born almost 24 hours after the rest, we thought our girl was done she was very calm and I wasnt able to feel anymore pups inside her and amazingly the following morning she just started contracting out of the blue and gave birth to another pup sadly it was dead..not too sure why as it looked perfect and was still in its sack and the umbilical was still attached? I have known of other cases thought where the pups have been alive, so just monitor her for now and obviously if anything changes that causes you concern speak to your vet again.

Good luck

> not too sure why as it looked perfect and was still in its sack and the umbilical was still attached?

The reason would have been placental detachment and the pup will have suffocated once the oxygen ran out.  Pups born after a long interval alive will have still been attached to the wall of the uterus with functioning placentas.  This is why it is vital to get puppies born quickly once oxytocin is given as the placentas will detach due to the drug.

If I knew for sure there were more pups I would not leave it to nature and the high risk of  losing a puppy unnecessarily, and of course possibly causing illness or death to my bitch.  On the other hand a puppy already dead may take a longer to be produced.

> If I knew for sure there were more pups I would not leave it to nature

Totally 100% agree, and I no longer accept that the vet is always right.  I took a bitch in out of hours, so had to see the on call vet.  I told him that my girl had one pup left inside her, but was no longer contracting.  He examined her - no, he said, it's her spleen.  No, I said, it's a pup. 

He did a scan to prove me wrong.  I saw the heartbeat and asked him to section before I lost the pup.  Pup was fine, I'm glad to say.  But I wish people would believe us when we know there are pups still to be born.

Can I just turn up at the OOH vet?

They told me to ring otherwise they wont le me in. They wont accept im worried :/ and need her to see a vet.

I'd call and say i'm on my way now(End of), its an emergency.. They seriously can't turn you away once you're at the door needing medical attention.

Totally agree with Suejaw, phone and say you are on the way and need to see the vet immediately. I do not think that a vet can deny treatment, therefore they could be in big trouble so hopefully will get their backsides into gear.

Let us know how you get on.

Agree with suejaw.  I would (and have) force their hand.  I usually, in an emergency (or what I personally consider to be urgent), phone from my mobile and say that I'm on the motorway and on my way in.

Hi everyone. thankyou for your help, I called the vets and told them I was on my way there regardless of what they say.

I have just got home with my girl now. the pup had turned in the birth canal and could not get out obviously. sadly to say the little un died! :(, as much as I am upset about that Im just so glad my lovely girl is fine. She does have a very slight tempreture and after being made to wait over 40 minutes before a vet would see me I refused to leave my girl there, I will be taking her straight to my vet first thing where I know she will get the proper care she needs. shes comfortable but does have a discharge which is black but I have read that this can be normal after birth.

I can be assured the next time I need a vet I wont be waiting, I will have to insist on them seeing the straight away!

I am so pleased that you bit the bullet.  :-)

Well done you for pushing the vet.  In all fairness, I have to admit that I expect to see my vet at any time, day or night.  They charge well for the service, and I expect to see someone if I consider it to be urgent.

I do hope that your girl improves and that things settle down for you.

pleased to hear that your bitch is ok... well done you for pressing them to see her, that is appalling that they were willing to leave her :-( The discharge you are describing is totally normal and will change over the next few weeks, I know with my bitch it lasted about 4 weeks, not staying black the whole time.... At least you can get a bit of rest now knowing that your girl is ok. Good luck with your babies and Run free little one.

Pleased your girl is ok.  I can't understand the vet turning you away when you say need help.  I would be writing a very strong letter outlining that althought the section was needed, you pointed out a long time before that you needed their assistence and they refused resulting in a lost pup and nearly your girl.  It no consolation to what you've been through but i would ask for compensation for your lost pup, it might have been saved.

Hugs to both of you.

So glad you bitch is fine. I always say go by you gut instint. you know your dog better than anyone. no point in leavig and then saying 'I wish I had done something before'

Hope all continue to thrive. As others have said, we know our girls best. Was it the vet who came out the one who had previously refused? If so, what was their eventual response when they realised you were right?

They need to be held accountable.

Sawheatied: I took my vet to them and yes I think it was the same one on the phone, he knew everything and I was told with him being very arrigant that I had just stressed my dog out for no reason and that I had also wasted my money :o . He did change his attitude though when I made him do the consultation and he done an inturnal exam. thankfully he was able to manipulate the pup to get it out, but it didnt survive :(.

Im my opinion it died because they refused to see my girl when i called them late moring early afternoon so I will be writing a letter and asking for an explanation as to why they refused to see her when I wanted them to, esspecailly when I was paying for treatment, it wasnt as if I was asking for it for nothing.

I asked my vet to come and see her this morning but he couldnt get out of the practice till 5pm (when the other vet was back) but he checked her tempreture heart rate ect and he said all was fine, her heart was a little fast but he said that was stress. He has asked me to keep an eye on her for another week if she has black discharge friday im to take her straight in first thing in the morning. but she is settled, and looks so contented :)

Thankyou all again!

> esspecailly when I was paying for treatment,

Too right!!  And this is what made me so mad when you say they refused you.  Have to be honest, if I had a vet who acted as if they were doing me a favour, I would be changing.

Let's be fair, vet charges are pretty high, so, for any of us to be insisting on a vet, means we are pretty sure that we need help!

I'm just so glad that your girl is ok.  Although it was awful (and probably unecessary) for you to lose a pup, I am sure you are relieved that your girl is fine.  Congratulations!

> Too right!!  And this is what made me so mad when you say they refused you.  Have to be honest, if I had a vet who acted as if they were doing me a favour, I would be changing.
>
>

I had this happen with my second litter and by the time the vet would see me I had lost two pups as Mum had a gut infection just before whelping, and remaining pups and Mum needed AB's..

So sorry to hear that you lost one, but glad mum and the others were ok. I also would not have taken no for an answer if I could definitely feel a puppy actually in the birth canal, every minute counts once they are detached from uterus, so well done for insisting.