We are day 50 and preparing for the happy event......well at least we hope so!! We have an appointment with the Vet on Monday to discuss a possible elective Caesar as with her last litter she suffered from inertia after the 1st pup's bum presented. The pup died and the other 3 were born by Caesar. I would like to be armed with as much info that I can and was wondering if anyone here has had any experience

Do you think that if a bitch has inertia it will always have inertia?
My friend bred a litter of pups and on the second litter she had inertia, but on the 3rd litter to a different dog she whelped them all on her own.  Is this unusual then or do they usually always follow the same pattern ?
Rachel

If she suffered from inertia last time chances are she will again.
I always believed and was taught that if a Dam suffers from any condition she should not be bred from again.
I hope all goes well for your girl and her litter this time.

My advice would be not to let her have another litter after this one as if she has a ceaser this time then next time she has a litter she may suffer from a ruptured uterus because it becomes thinner with each ceaser..

Good luck and all the best..

After a lengthy discussion weighing up the pros and cons of an elective C Section the Vet and we have decided to let nature takes its course and will go down the section route should the need arise. The Vet thinks there are 5 or more which might mean smaller pups than before and I think in a funny way our girl seems more aware of what is happening to her this time. Certainly she has teats full of milk which was sparse last time.
This time I will get her up to the whelping room earlier and will try my best not to leave her on her own

To be honest I would want to try for natural whelping anyway as you need to know if she had inertia due to some problem of puppy presentation etc.  If she has inertia again you will need to seriously rethink your breeding program, as this is then most likely to be a hereditary problem and likely to manifest in her offspring.

With  my own bitches my first home bred had a C section, but it was her third and last litter which was small for the breed and she had not had a litter for 3 years.  Her daughter and Granddaughter both have had 3 litters without a problem in this regard, and great granddaughter has had her first litter also.

If I had a C section for a first litter I would breed a second to find out if this were a one off or a problem.  If the later then the daughters would not be bred from.

Having read up on these problems it would appear that inertia is more likely in my breed. The Vet thinks she just got tired very quickly and didn't have it in her to push the pups out but we will never know. This is the last litter this girl will have regardless of whether she delivers naturally or by C Section. I don't know what is happening to the breed but it is a while since I have heard of these bitches having a natural birth. I would estimate that about 90% have C Sections.

Well that is what happens because people breed on from bitches that can't deliver naturally and it is hereditary.

The only way out of it is to actively choose self whelping bitches to breed on from.

Before the advance of veterinary science these bitches would have died whelping and not passed on this trait.

Whether the bitch herself is bred from is immaterial now.  If it turns out she can't produce naturally it is the future of her daughters as useful breeding stock that needs to be assessed.  I suppose one would also use her sons with great care as of course th trait could be passed on to their daughters like with the tendency to undescended testes.