Hi

My shih tzu had puppies 5 day's ago, she started having them under the bed, so we moved her to a whelping box where she had them. She still at every opportunity, goes under a bed or behind something and start's panting and digging, she appears to be healthy, is this normal behavior or do dog's, like us get pain's after birth so she think's she's going to have another puppy????

When my bitch did this after whelping, she had eclampsia.
Call your vet now - if yours has the same, it's a life-threatening condition.

Hi

Thanks for the comment's, she is fine for maybe hour's feeding the puppies o.k eating well, e.t.c she just does the panting while digging, but soon stop's when i get her from under the bed! but i'll keep a close watch for anything more serious

How long has it been going on?

since the birth on sunday

Sorry, this should have been posted under breeding, very new to the forum, enjoying it very much

all mine have gone off digging in corners for a while after the pups where born. not sure why, but didnt have any bad effects on them

o.k thankyou, maybe it will stop soon

I do sincerely hope so. If she starts to look a little odd -twitchy, or shivery, or nervous, or unsteady, call the vet straight away in case she starts fitting. I don't want to scare you, but I very nearly lost my first bitch this way.

(The vet did check that there were no retained placentas, didn't he?)

Hi

I was at the birth and removed puppy from the bag etc each placenta followed as expected, could a bitch have exclampsia that long, i thought it came on suddenly then it was panic station's!!! did your bitch show any sign's awhile before? thankyou

She developed it at 3 or 4 days after whelping. It was her first litter, of 10 pups, and our house move had been delayed till the morning of the birth, so she was agitated and unsettled anyway, which made any symptoms hard to detect.

That's why I say keep a very close eye on her - if she gets no worse over the next few hours, she's probably okay. Fingers crossed.

Hi there,

Are you given the bitch calcium , although there is debates I think about whether it prevents eclampsia or not it does not harm her to have 2 a day or that is my vets opinion anyway. " x 400 mg.

My bitches puppies are now nearly 5 weeks old and she is still getting 800 mgs a day as I felt she had a big litter to cope with.

Hope all is well. I got the vet out 2 time emergency times as my bitch seemed unwell , she had a mild womb infection, with a high temp.. she was digging for a while but I believe this is common for a bit even in normal situations as her cervix will be going back.

If in doubt even call the vet for advice

Pam

BFn Pam

I've started giving her calcium today, i think that because it's her first litter, she get's very stressed if the pup's cry, she act's all calm if i put her downstair's away from the puppies but as soon as she has fed them and they don't settle immediately!! she get's agitated and looks at me as if to say HELP thanks for everyone's comment's

Hope she relaxes and settles soon.
:)

So do i night's, are hell at the moment, worth it thought :)

Hi Mollygog,

I admit to not been an expert but I have jsut been there and knowhow you feel, I am now just relaxing at 4-5 weeks, we never left ours unattended for 1 min for the first 3 weeks and then we left them for a little more and a little more. It was about 24 days before we did not sleep in the room. Everyone is different but I know how worried I was all the time. Mines are now running about mad.

Good luck it will get easier then you are onto poop patrol :-)

pam

Thanks for the support, although that stage at the moment seem's ages away, thank god for the forum i found it as i was watching the puppies, which are right under my nose, the funny thing is i have had bulldog litter's in the past and thought to myself shih tzu's will be a lot easier! how wrong can you be:)