I am totally devastated and shocked. my beautiful girl  had 6 beautiful babies 2 weeks ago today, sadly one was stillborn and despite my best effort for about 45 mins I couldn't get her going. however the remaining 5 were strong and thriving. mum is never left unatteneded in the whelping box and I am up all night with them til 4 weeks old so these puppies have been watched 24/7 since birth. all puppies were solid and chunky and all feeding well and eyes just opened and starting to try toddling round the box. last night the puppies had a feed and were all sleeping soundly, my girl was by my feet asleep. suddenly there was a loud screaming and I first off assumed someone had woke up hungry! my girl run to the box and I got her in and picked up the little girl that was screaming, the other pups made straight for mum and I went to put the litte girl to mum thinking that will calm her down when I realised something was very wrong, when I looked the puppy had a very pale tongue and nothing I did stopped the screaming, I checked her airways which were clear. the sreaming stopped and she started gasping.....within minutes she took her last breath......I tried to revive her but she was gone.
I am so utterly heartbroken and in 12 years of breeding I have never seen this is a puppy this age that was big and strong and showed no ill health at all. it was almost like she had a sudden heart attack?
I am just so upset and even though I know they have had 24hr care I keep questioning if there was something I did wrong or something I missed, just stressing myself out even more.
To say the Christmas cheer in our house has been completely lost is an understatement......she looked just perfect and I am terrified about the rest now and am jumping up with every squeak or cry that they make.....its an awful feeling thinking that this could happen to any of them as she was not unwell at all. the sudden onset and speed of her death was like something I have never seen other than in newborns maybe hrs or days after birth but not at this age and with her doing very well and so strong?
has anyone had anything similar?
vet has said most likely a birth defect

Devastating. Out of interest were either parent heart tested?

Is it worth getting a PM on the puppy to get some answers? Have you had the vet out to check the rest of the litter as well? I would be doing that

no both parents are hip scored elbow scored and thyroid tested which I have done for generations but not heart graded only normal heart check from my normal vet. after this I will be introducing heart grading too even though in four generations I haven't encountered any heart issues at all in this breed.....but like I say have never experienced this ever before and this my 4th generation :(
my vet had said that they recently done a couple of pm's (different breeds etc) but no answers and that can often be the case.

All the babies will be checked but again at this age there wouldn't be very much that could be done and often a regular heart check up (auscilation with stephescope) can sound completely normal but doesn't mean there isn't a problem so hopefully they will all sound normal but if im honest it wont give me any piece of mind.....obviously they will be rechecked again at 7-8 weeks too. I hope its just a very sad case and I have been very unlucky (story of my life) and that my worry over the others will come to nothing.

just the shock of it has left me feeling numb.......I had no concerns about these babies at all......what happened this morning came totally out of nowhere.
mum and puppies will all be going for a check definitely but I don't think I will get any concrete answer as to why this beautiful little girl died so suddenly  :'(

breeding is so hard and for anyone that thinks its easy.....think again. heartbroken :(

I really feel for you at this sad time.  It's a shock you were not expecting this. It may be as the vet advised and there isn't a reason why..
its hard to not worry but I hope you get comfort and also joy watching your puppies grow until they fledge to their new homes.

Such a shock and all I can offer is you have a (dog) autopsy done on this puppy because I went to fading puppy syndrome.  The breeder of our Whippet lost a litter when they were all doing well up to the time this all began and one by one, they all died.   Heartbreaking.  Not to say this is what happened to this puppy because it sounds more accute than FPS where the puppy 'fades'.  And in that, perhaps more likely to be to do with heart?

It might be worth looking into heart grading for all breeding stock, whether this is a heart issue or not remains to be confirmed.
The rott club I know plan to hold a health testing day next year and all breeds are normally welcomed as I've helped organise them for the past 2 which have been done. They have been in Surrey which is easy enough for you to get to I believe?
Sheena Milne is a cardiologist in Surrey who you can see under the BVA scheme without a set health day, might be worth having a chat to her anyway.

like I say I will now be introducing heart grading. i have a cardiologist I can go to about 40 minutes from me so will be doing that before i even considered doing this again :(
I have seen fps and this was nothing like this it was sudden and minutes and she was gone....fit well and strong beforehand. still cant get that moment out my mind :(

Only similar incidence I had in a puppy of same age was suspect ted to be Liver shunt, but in this case the pup had this happen at 4 days and I was able to revive, and then it happened twice more, and in the end I had pup put t9o sleep at 12 days.

Pup had been the largest at birth but by the time he was PTS was the smallest (not gaining as well as the rest).

We have become used through our care and attention to rear most of a litter born alive, this is not what nature expects to happen, and there can be any number of one off/unexpected anomalies that have a greater or lesser effect on survivability.

As for potentially inherited issues, I'd not be jumping to that conclusion unless there was a known issue in the breed/line, as so many things can cause an issue in the unborn pup either from external exposure or placental incompetence.

I'd forgotten about liver shunt and yes, this could (only 'could'!!) be what was going on.   In which case, sadly, the outcome would probably have been the same.   A friend had one who she'd homed, not thinking there was anything wrong with him.   Clearly this wasn't the case and despite fighting for him, his then owners returned him to my friend who again did all she could for him, in an attempt to save him but sadly it wasn't to be.   He was obviously a deal older than this puppy, having been sold at 8 - 10 weeks as usual.  Again, if only for the sake of the other puppies, I'd get  Necropsy done.   Knowing what caused this unexpected death might give you some warning re the others, at least.

I think now im past the initial shock I can think just like you have just said. Sadly mother nature can be so cruel and that although she looked perfect we just never know what could be wrong internally whatever it was her body could obviously compensate for a set time and then suddenly no more.
This is my 4th generation and I have no health concerns in the bloodline but of course the whole litter will be going for a check up.
Thank you for the replies and I hope that I can soon start to enjoy the other 4 babies I must admit I am still jumping up with every noise they make

Sadly a loss like this does take the shine off the enjoyment of the litter.

My personal view is I would rather anything wrong show up at the stage where the heartbreak is only mine, rather than rear a puppy who goes to a new home and then is found to have a serious issue.

So may huge adjustments to physical processes have to be made at birth, rerouting blood supplies to organs etc, it is a wonder it goes right as often as it does.

I hope things are settling down now and all is progressing well.   I have to say there were two stages when, having reached them without any major disaster, I heaved a sigh of relief.   The first was obviously once through the early weeks, and onto weaning, puppies eyes open and moving around reasonably soundly!    The next was once up to a year!    I loved having puppies, don't get me wrong, but it was always somewhat of an edge of seat time, for me.

Thank you for your comments Barbara.  I too fully agree that if there is something very wrong then I would definately prefer it to come to light sooner rather than later. Just like you have already said our instinct is to expect all puppies born alive to make it even though mother nature dictates otherwise.

Just no matter how long I have done this I take any loss for any reason or age so very hard and always feel like I could of done more when in reality and after the heartache has eased I know I do everything in my power to give them the best start and am here as their breeder for the duration of their lives.

Just so sad at times and has definately took the enjoyment away at the moment as I just constantly worry and check them obsessively

Thanks everyone...x

Breeding is only easy for those who don't care