Took pup back to vets and she is a little better, but mum is not :(  She is happy to feed her pups, pups are thriving on her, but she is panting a lot and has a calcium defficiency, vet has said to seperate mum from pups for a few hours per day and supplement feed them whelpi instead of 8 feeds a day to do 5 and try and totally wean them, we have tried this and mum is not happy being away.

So what do we do, force mum to stay away or let her do what she wants ??  She had a calcium shot last night and is on tablets now.

Lydia

In every litter I have had the bitch always get restless for a few days from about day 4/5.  Sometimes really quite frantic from time to time.  I have always thought it is because in the wild they would now be leaving the pups to hunt for food, and their instincts tell them the pups have to be hidden or buried out of the way of predators.  I find it helps to put the bitch's usual (pre-pups) bed in front of the whelping box with a blanket in, and they are generally quite happy to get out of the whelping box and satisfy their digging instincts in that.  Although last time, I found a great hole in my settee at this time!!!  Also, if left on their own in the garden at this time they will dig quite manically, and believe me it's no fun having to bath a mud covered nursing bitch at 2am!

Also, can you get liquid calcium (the vet should have it)?  This apparently is absorbed easier and quicker.  I always use it from when the bitch starts whelping right through until the pups are weaned.  With my first litter, I went to the vet when the bitch started the restlessness and was also told it was probably a calcium deficiency. Maybe it is, who knows, but all I can say is that most bitches go through it and it passes after a couple of days.

Thankyou, pups are 7 days old now and doing so well I would hate to take them away but obviously mum comes first

With our very first litter, our bitch had eclampsia, at 3 weeks old the pups had to be taken away from mum completely, luckily I had started weaning them at 2 weeks so they thrived.  Poor mum had to be put in a boob tube to stop the pups feeding from her, I just couldn't take her away completely with no contact!  Even with calcium injections it didn't help.

Just keep a close eye on her, if she's getting calcium hopefully it will help.

Good luck

hiya
just had a friend in the same position, she gave birth tp 6 healthy pups and within a week the mum collapsed with eclampsia, mum had to be taken away from them altogether, they are now 3 weeks old today and are all eating and drinking on there own ,the vet also gave her liquid calcium and this did not work either, she also has to wear a baby grow to stop the pups from feeding from her,
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update.
Well pups seem to be doing great, have all more than doubled their birth weight (day 8) even the one with pneumonia so hopefully she will pull through, going for another ab shot today.
Tried our best to bottle feed yesterday with no luck, eventually mum was going mad pups were hungry so we popped them back in with her was so unsure what to do !!  
This morning mum has stopped panting, has eaten a good breakfast even with complete puppy food mixed in (she is a fussy so and so and have been feeding her on tinned food just to get her to eat up to now) praying things are going to settle down.
Will carry on with her calcuim tablets and whelpi to drink

Thanks everyone for your advice !

Another update :)  Seems I am alone today though :( It's ok I'll just talk to myself :)

Pup has improved loads, anther ab shot and ab's to give her orally at home for anther week, hopefully that will sort her out

Don't feel alone Lydia ;)

Great to hear things are looking up for both pup and mum.  Will keep everything crossed that they keep improving.  Hope you're able to relax a bit now - I'm sure you've got lots of much need rest to catch up on!  I didn't sleep AT ALL for about two weeks when our litter was born and we were lucky because they had no problems - I'm just a panicker :) - so I'd be willing to bet you're pretty shattered by now.

Keep posting when you have the chance ;)

Teri