hi i was woundering if anyone could give me an answer or explanation for this one,my staffy gave birth last tuesday a day before her due date to 5 healthy pups,it was a very good,quick whelp with no complications.she was fine all day,then it got to the early hours of weds morning and it looked like another one was on its way,so i phoned the vets and booked her in,went to the vets he examined her and said he couldn't feel anything,and was quite sure that nothing else was to come,he said its inexperience,and she was nesting and digging for her pups.he also said she was very healthy,milk was fine ect and told me to stop worrying,anyway she is still behaving like this and its nearly a week on,she pants on and off (the room is at the right temp),nesting and whining,i have to let her out in the garden to relieve herself on a lead,because she dives right behind the shed and starts to dig and won't come out,shes still mothering toys even though she got her pups now,don't get me wrong shes being a brilliant mother appart from being a little clumsy with them,but i have been told that staffs are a bit clumsy with there pup.
any suggestion would be great
cheers vicky

Just a thought. When you say the room is at the right temperature, do you mean it's the usual room temp. that she is used to? Sounds as if she could be too hot. If it's not that, the vet may be right, some bitches do get very het up when they have a litter, but it might be worth taking her back to the vet, just to check that she hasn't developed an infection. Keep a close eye on her because restlessness can be a 1st sign of eclampsia too. Has she had an injection to make sure the uterus is been cleared out?
She's probably just a new mum, so try not to worry, but take her back to the Vet to set your mind at rest.

thankyou anwen,yes the room is at normal room temp,i spoke to the vet about eclampsia (sp?) he said no it wasn't that,then i thought maybe its a retained pup,as i know that all the placentas came with each pup it can't be that,but then i think surely she couldn't have anymore because she was so big during her pregnancy,when we had her scanned we only saw three i think the other two were hidding,they came out above the average weight for a new born stafford,all of them were well over 11oz's.The vet gave me some vitamin/calcium tablets to give her,and i give her a little lactol to drink every other day.

hi I once read that the digging and scratching behaviour was in response to pain so get her checked out if it carries on!!good luck!!

Hi kirkie, the last of my bitches to whelp did the same after an easy whelping, scratching and digging for a few days after her pups arrived. It worried me quite a lot as in the past my bitches have not even dug before the whelping. Now I wonder if her unsettled behaviour might have been because she was slow to let her milk down and the pups were hungry. I started to supplement them at two days and the clinging and scraping began to settle almost at once. She was in full flow by four days and then setled to be a perfect mum. But her behaviour didn't last as long as a week, so in your case I agree with the others and would have the vet check her again.

BTW normal room temperature is too low for 7 day whelps, and although raising the temperature will make the room a little uncomfortable for the bitch, she may well be happier to leaver them if the room is warmer. If you do increase the heat don't forget to increase humidity too . A damp towel over a radiator works well for this.

You can easily check if your pups are too hot or too cold by the way they snuggle up or spread out. I've got a Nordic breed, so maybe they are hardier than most, but they certainly don't need more than room temperature after the first 24 hours.

My girl did the same with her last litter. I put it down to her looking for somewhere to move her babies to if the whelping box became "unsafe" or too small. She stopped once they were on their feet and moved from the whelping box to their puppy pen.

Hi
My bitch had her litter and did exactly the same as yours. She was digging panting scratching at everything and completely wrecked a plant in the living room. I dont think she chewed it I think she just kept digging at it. I turned the heating down by 1 degree and she did stop the panting but she still digs nearly two weeks on although not as bad. I took her to the vet and he said it was her hormones. By the way she had 6 pups and it was her first time. Apart from that she and the pups are fine. I wouldnt worry about it, mind you it scared me at first. I forgot to say she also took a squeaky ball in her bed and licked and cuddled it as if it were an extra pup. I waited till she was out for a wee and took it away. She hasnt tried to put anything else in. Congratulations to you and mum on the birth of pups.

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Please keep in close contact with your vet. The only time I have had a bitch do this we nearly lost her with eclampsia. Make sure, now that she has whelped, you give her plenty of fluids and lots of calcium. Now is when she needs it. Mine got this because I stupidly gave her extra calcium during pregnancy. Never again.

thankyou all so much for all your advise,she seems fine now,the pups are doing great,they have all opened thier eyes now,all weigh over 2lbs,can defecate on thier own and are trying to stand up although they are very wobbly.thier soooo cute i want to keep them all!!!!!
i will keep you all up dated
cheers vicky

Glad to hear that. Give 'em a few more weeks & you'll want to give 'em all away!!!!! (only joking :D )

My first bitch did this with her first litter and it worried me too, I was at the vets with her when the litter was 3 days old and she continued untill I hit on the Idea that she may have sore nipples, I bathed her nipples in hand hot water and held a flannel on for several minutes changing it with another I had in the bucket of hot water and repeating this procedure every couple of hours and this seemed to do the trick