Hi,

My bitch whelped 9 puppies 16 days ago. Medium size working breed. All ok until this afternoon when she was sick immediately after eating. We tried her again with a meal after a couple of hours which she again brought up. We offered her water which she refused, so decide to syringe her some water with glucose which she was happy to take.  Unfortunately she then started to bring the water up too.  The vet has checked her over and her temperature is normal, no heat or swelling in her teats. She doesn't think there is a calcium deficiency as she is having goats milk, cheese, eggs and natural yogurt in her diet and didn't think it was wise to give her anything other than a jab to stop her being sick at this stage but to call her again if she was still the same bu 11 pm or sick again    She hasn't been unattended since having her babies so I know she hasn't eaten anything she shouldn't have or been out of the house.  We do have other dogs in the house but they have only come into contact while passing to go into the garden. Her gums are quite pale and she is obviously very unwell and is not wanting to be with her puppies.  We have just started to wean them so they are happy to lap milk, so I'm not overly worried about them at this point in time but am very concerned about my girl.  Has anybody had anything similar, any advice please.

I would be worried about a retained placenta or puppy or something going on inside.  If she is obviously unwell and her gums are pale then thats rather worrying and tbh Id have her back at the vets sharpish like tonight tbh.  Did they take bloods or even a urine sample?  If she isnt wanting to be with her pups and throwing up even water then she needs help.  Let us know how you get on.

We did have her checked over the day following her whelping and all ok, shot of Oxytocin given too.  There is no foul smelling discharge, her loss has eased and is now quite pale in colour. Would it still be likely that it could be a retained puppy or placenta at this stage?  She has slightly picked up since we saw the vet and can now keep water down, been syringing glucose water very little and often since we got back from the vets at 9.30.  She has gone back into the whelping box and cleaned her puppies and is now nursing them so she does appear slightly more keen than earlier but she is still very obviously not herself. I hope someone has some advice as this is so worrying.  The vet we have used for over 20 years has just sold her practice (all finalised last week) to a large chain and the vet we saw wasn't our usual vet.

If she isn't keeping the calcium rich foods down and still feeding the pups she could easily develop eclampsia so try and get her to chew some "Tums" which will boost her calcium and settle an upset stomach.

If no better by the morning get her back to the vets for some blood work.