Do most of you find that it is normal to have at least one stillborn pup in a litter? I have had litters with no stillborn pups, but I think it is fair to say that I have had more than my share of stillborns. In a litter of 10 I may have 2. The most I ever had was 5 out of seven. I usually expect at least one in a litter. I would love to reduce this number to zero.

It seems I generally have 1 per litter as well.

I have none or several.

One litter of 11 I had 5 stillborn, one malformed.

But I have had numerous litters of 7-11 with NO stillborns.

MK

I haven't had a lot of litters, but of the 6 I've had in past 5 years - 5 litters had no stillborns & 1 litter had 5 stillborns.

In 25 years, I have had some to none. In litters that were extremely special or when X-rayed for a final count and found 3 or less, I will do an elective C-section. My vet and I have never lost a puppy or a bitch during a section.

I don't know that I have had many true still borns over the years. A couple that I can think of that were born..sack intact and easy delivery but could not revive them.

I have lost puppies that took too long and were out of their sacks. Just lost 4 out of a litter of 9 due to this. I don't consider this a true stillborn.

I had a singleton this past fall that we lost due to detached placenta a few days before the planned c-section.

Losses are just a sad part of this hobby unfortunately.

Dr. Hutch says 10% is the norm, I ran the numbers and combining all litters guess what- we are at 10%