hi, my girl had pups on the 1st jan having 5 pups, we did have her scanned early on and he saw 6 but as i say was early on so know numbers can be wrong, she settled well with the pups although is been quite protective of them and isnt happy to move away from them at all, we rang vets to let them know 5 pups were born and were advised as long as all is well not to take them down yet for a check up if bitch is been grumpy about people she knows it may realy unsettle her with a trip to the vets.
now my problem is today (4 days after whelping) she has started digging again and shaking and groaning, just like she did when she was going into second stage of labour, shes also got that spaced look about her, what should i do? do i risk taking her away from pups to go vets or is this normall behaviour, is it possible for a bitch to have a split whelp?  none of my other dogs have ever done anything like this before and im worrying, vet just says if im worried to nip her into there open clinic. any advice please xxx

If you are that worried, then I would pop her along to the vet, just for peace of mind.

Good luck, hope all goes well.

I'd be popping along to the vet with her. Maybe she's got a retained puppy, maybe she's got eclampsia, but hopefully she's just uncomfortable with her uterus contracting. But I'd want my vet to have a look and tell me which. Best of luck.

>do i risk taking her away from pups to go vets

I always ask the vet to come to my newly-whelped bitches to check them out, rather than take the bitch (and pups) to the vet.

I always ask the vet to come to my newly-whelped bitches to check them out, rather than take the bitch (and pups) to the vet.

In an ideal world -but not all vets do home visits any more, and not all breeds would accept a stranger at home so soon. I don't even let my own children visit me for a week if I have newborn Malinois pups -chances are they would not make it through the door safely, despite having known my dogs since they were puppies. I think if my vet turned up (hardly a favourite person at best of times!) just days after birth I'd have to muzzle the bitch and I'd not want to do that for her sake. So as far as I am concerned, no vet at all UNLESS there is a problem.

I have always had the vet in to mine , but that spaced out look is a warning sign . Get her to the vet asap .Pups can stay on heat pad at home .

I agree, take her to vets now.

I've taken a Bitch AND her pups to the vet on the day of whelping.

Hope all is well.

thanks for all the replies, ive taken her to the vets, hes checked her over and taken temp etc and said its probably just her not feeling to good after whelping, hes told me to keep an eye on her and given me his mobile number incase i need to call or im worried, so hopefully alls well, just having to be carfull when shes digging as shes burrying the pups at the same time. x

Glad all is well :-)

>just having to be carfull when shes digging as shes burrying the pups at the same time

Perfectly normal, and it's why most of us sleep with the bitch for several weeks, so we can rescue pups during the night.

Your bitch is digging in response to the pain she is in.  Her uterus will be contracting for a few more days yet.

That spaced out look is shown for both pain and eclampsia, so you were right to get a vet to rule out the danger of eclampsia.  Too big a danger to ignore.

I hope your girl soon settles.  :-)

i know about the sleeping thing, starting to wish i wasnt single so i had someone to take turns with..lol, feel like a walking zombie and there only 4 days old, even got some cordless baby moniters so when im cooking the tea and sorting kids out i can still hear every noise, my family and friends think ive lost the plot as none are into pets let alone breeding, but must admit my dogs are better company than most of them anyway..lol x

Kristy
It's only your family and friends, so don't worry!!!!  :-)  :-)

We perfectly understand on here.  What we consider to be normal, draws sighs and raised eyebrows from the non pet crowd.

Welcome to zombie world my dear!  You are in good company!  :-)