Hello, bit of background! This is our dogs second litter, first litter was very successful- mum was a natural and all pups thrived! This litter was born 10 days ago, 2 pups, then a still born, vet came out as mum seemed to be struggling, took her for a c-section, she had 2 more pups in the car, then another 5 born by c-section. Mum and all pups doing very well, for the first 2 days I helped her feed the pups with a top up of whelpi (advised by vet) and for the first week every day I weighed them. All putting on weight nicely and mum is feeding them all herself now.

Today mum had been acting a but odd, not spending much time with the pups, moving them out of the box, barking to go out to the garden, digging, barking to come back in. She just seems really unsettled.

The whelping den is in the downstairs loo (no one is using it now!) so it's very private and away from the noise of our household! She's never been a dog who needs to be with us all the time, she likes her space, so up until now she's been very happy in the downstairs loo with them, coming out from time to time and laying in the kitchen.
I spend most of my day in the room next to the loo so I can see what's happening.

We have another dog (her pup from first litter) who is around but can't go in the downstairs loo, mum doesn't seem stressed at having her around, actually she often comes out of the whelping box to lay with the other dog.

Yesterday we had 2 unexpected visitors, in hindsight I should have said they couldn't come in, but I didn't- they only had a quick peek at the pups but I'm wondering if it's unsettled her? Also today she had her stitches out- so she was away from the pups for about 45 mins whilst I took her to the vets.

She's eating really well, feeding all the pups, drinking loads.

Do you think today's odd behaviour is anything to be concerned about? She didn't act like this last time.

Thank you for any views

ps, this forum has been a wealth of knowledge for a long time but this is my first post.

My first thought is Eclampsia, often at peak lactation the calcium levels can't keep up, carrying pups (sometimes even killing them) looking into space etc can be signs, this can be an emergency.

http://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Health/Puerperal-Hypocalcemia/Symptoms.aspx

Thank you, I'm ringing the vet now. I had wondered about this but her symptoms didn't seem right, however this morning she's had diarrhea and been sick!

> My first thought is Eclampsia,

Me too.  Hopefully this can be identified, and treated.   You obviously need her to be with these babies for quite some weeks yet.   But would the vet not have picked up on this when he took the stitches out today?   Perhaps not.

Updated as it might be useful for others:
I'd checked her temp which was within normal range but slightly high, the vet also checked and again it wasn't too high, so they took blood samples, did tests for parvoviruses and also did an ultrasound. They found an infection in her uterus. Missed because her temp wasn't high.
She stayed at the vet for a few hours on a drip to get her fluids up and also antibiotics. After a long discussion myself and the vet decided that her being at home was going to be best - she was getting distressed. She came home, fed the pups, ate some food and slept. We took her back to the vets first thing next day, she'd eaten breakfast and kept her antibiotics down and generally seemed much happier so vet was happy for her to stay home. We go back on Wednesday next week when she'll have another ultrasound to see if the infection has gone.