could someone please help give me some advice my dog went into the first stage of labour at 5am this morning she was digging shaking very severe this carried on for a while then started panting very fast then she was not eating at all then about 3pm it all stopped and now she is only panting very little has anyone ever heard of this before as i am getting very worried now oh this is day 62 thankyou

May be nothing, but it may be a lot. You need to get her to a vet NOW.

you need to talk to your vet if at all worried :) ring them up now ;)

i did contact the vet and they said i was to wait for 24 hours before i have to take her to them unless she is destressed dont know what to do this is so worrieing she is panting just now again and she is wimpering i feel so useless

and she is still wagging her tail poor soul

Hello Veronica,

Try not to worry too much about your girl (easy said than done as I sit here and watch mine in labour!!).

It's quite common for some bitches to have a false start.  Often the weight of pregnancy and the pups moving around can make a bitch feel very uncomfortable and they can cry and moan as if in pain etc.  This can also lead to episodes of panting and the signs of early labour.

It's possible that your girl is started her labour on day 62 but this can depend on what her breed is (some have shorter labours than the "traditional" 63 days, others just seem to "limber" up for longer and some just surprise us by being relatively OK one minute and giving birth the next with little warning.

When I'm trying to decide whether to worry about a bitch in whelp I ask myself a set of questions, depending on the answers will depend on what I decide to do!

a)  Is the bitch due, early or over due to the first, subsequent and last mating dates
b)  Has her rectal temperature dropped significantly (i.e. below 99 deg F and preferably below 98 deg F)
c)  Is there any discharge, if there is, it a normal clear or white discharge or is it a dark green (dark green = placental separation)
d)  Is the bitch as well as can be expected (i.e. no sign of collapse, disorientation etc.)
e)  Are there any contractions?  If so how often are they coming?
f)  Is she pushing?
g)  Is she asking to go outside for the toilet frequently?  If she is, is she passing frequent but small quantities of faeces? (Most bitches feel the need to defecate or so they think as the pups pass along the birth canal and subsequently compress the bowel.)
h)  Finally if I'm still undecided after working through this list I ask my vet to do a "PreMate" test to check the level of progesterone circulating in the blood.  At the end of pregnancy i.e. at the commencement of labour, progesterone will drop to less than 2ng, if the level is higher than this then labour is not ready to start and there's no cause for alarm.  If however the level has dropped then I would be looking for a delivery within 24 hrs or if absolutely necessary some form of medical intervention.

In case you are interested I had the "PreMate" test done this afternoon and there was no progesterone present thereby indicating that labour should commence within 12 hours.  My bitch has now started to toilet trips, the digging in the bed, the dreamy look in her eyes and has taken to her whelping box in anticipation.  Hopefully I will see pups before tomorrow morning.

Good luck with everything and let us know how you get on?

Chris

just a little update after all my worrying my bitch had her pups on day 63 she had 5 pups 3 girls 2 boys all doing fine thankyou for all your advice

:D

congratrulations--------when she went quiet was that just before she started  to push ??