I've a maiden bitch that whelped Saturday and beyond the normal new mom issues of whining when a baby wonders to far away, she is doing her job and being a good mom,. But she continues to pant heavily. This was a natural delivery, there were several retained placenta's, of which most, if not all have been expelled. I gave a quarter cc clean out shot when I knew she was done. She delivered the number that was very clear on x-ray. Her temp has remained normal, taking it several times a day, she's drinking and eating well. Voiding and pooping OK. Normal discharge for two days post whelp. But I worry this is more panting than the normal "I'm hot" panting. I'm sure some stress of being a new mom is involved. When she sleeps, she breaths thru her nose but never at a completely normal rate. At times the panting is as if she had been running for 10 minutes. Other than being patient and wait for ALL of mother nature to kick in, what should I look for? She on a good diet, calcium levels are being covered appropriately but by now I would expect her to not be panting as if she is about to deliver another puppy. I know there aren't any more, normal palpating.

I would load her up on ice cream, yogurt etc... Good luck!

Options are:
-Hot. Turn the AC down/Bring her indoors.
-Low Calcium. Give her calcium.
-Retained placenta. Do another shot. Give her calcium first because the Oxytocin will cause more milk production and that can lower her calcium even more.
-Stress. It'll pass.
Good luck.

How hot is the room? If the litter is normal - you probably need to cool it down in there for her!

Thanks for the suggestions. The litter is inside, air conditioning set on 80 degrees, ceiling fan going. Radiant heat in middle of box for babies (mom not lying on it). Will give 4 cc's of 10% calcium SQ and follow thirty minutes later with 1/4 cc of Oxytocin. I'm feeling somewhat better........

Sounds to me like she is hot. My mothers and puppies can't tolerate any extra heat in this weather. Put a wet,cold towel on her for a few minutes and see what happens.

Wow, thats hot. After the babys are a couple of days old they might not need heat at all. Very seldom in the Summer do I use much heat. And I could not stand 80, sure your mama dog will keep them warm. If you just had a couple or a very small pup maybe some heat.

I hope you tried cooling her first to see if she's too hot. You shouldn't be practicing medicine on your bitch unless your a vet.

Palpation does not always work; vet or breeder. A pup could be high up under the rib cage.

If no suggestions work soon, I would go to the vet and ask them if nothing else is wrong to do a radiograph.

I know of a few breeders that had pups a day or days after the bitch appeared finished whelping. Some were live and some deceased.

You could easily bring the temp down in the room by about 8 degrees and the puppies would still be comfortable. I usually keep my room even in winter at 72 for the first 2 days then go down to about 68-70 after that. I find if it gets too warm the babies seem restless. You could put a cool towel and some ice packs on the floor outside of the box for her to cool down.
We had a litter born in a heat wave many years ago ,so we whelped the litter in the basement as it was cooler than upstairs even with the AC. It was about 64 downstairs and all the new born puppies were comfortable,they had a heating pad if they got cold, and mom was cool and calm.
I also give some extra vitaman C and if mom is restless some evaporated milk(it's concentrated and tends not to give them diarrhea).

*Worried* breeder got the Oxytocin and 10% Calcium somewhere. Maybe from the vet. Maybe in another fashion.

If it's not from the vet I wouldn't be messing around either unless the OP has a veterinary or medical degree of some sort. Has OP spoken to a vet at all? A 2nd clean out shot with a panting bitch should be okayed by a vet.

As for calcium, why sub q and not oral? There are oral calcium preparations used post whelp besides iced cream or tums.

Temperature of bitch taken but what is it?

80 sounds too warm for the bitch to me too especially if you have chubby newborns that have body fat. 74 should be plenty warm if not 72. Try the cool towel and check her teats for an early mastitis. Is she drinking plenty of cool water? You might want to try some gatorade and make iced cubes out of the rest of the bottle. Hand feed her the gatorade cubes.

An xray was mentioned also. Pre whelp xrays can miss pups, even the clearest looking ones as we have a deep chested breed. You're talking about almost 2 days post whelp of heaving breathing. It's not normal.

First thing I'd try (as others suggested too) is get the room temp down to about 70 degrees. I keep one of those outside type thermometers handy and occasionally prop it inside the whelping box to check the temperature in the box (I have a Jonart so walls are 24" high) and you'd be surprised how stuffy it can get in the box. I think pups would be fine without the heating pad in a draft free box and if it were me I'd get the heating pad out of there ASAP, JMO, they're getting enough body heat from the dam. I know someone who lost 3 pups to dehydration one by one using one of those heating pads before the breeder realized what was happening. Make sure you check those babies for hydration if they've been laying on it.

You say you have the AC set at 80 degrees. I am on the east coast and it is HOT! If I had newborn puppies here today, I would probably have a fan on them. If you pick up the puppies and they are not cold, as in they feel warm in your hand, they are OK and don't need any external heat. When puppies are chilly, you can see them huddle together. Are your puppies heaped up, trying to keep warm? Or are they apart from one another? Unless they are all in a pile, the extra warmth you are providing is not just unnecessary, it is probably making them too warm. They should be totally quiet and peaceful.

I have to agree with Gail R. My girl pants for days after she whelps, reason? She's too hot. If all vital signs are good, diet, drinking. Take her to a cool place, air conditioned or outside, if she stops panting. She was too hot.

Thank you all for your suggestions and input. Heat mat removed, additional fan added to the one that was already going, drug dosing I mentioned earlier was under the guidance of a vet. Hung a thermometer in the box and was 77 degrees. I think things are better

Thats still to hot. As another poster stated, make sure you check the puppies for dehydration.

Worried, That's still hot. After 2 days my puppies are kept at 70 degrees. Otherwise, they'll be too hot and they can't pant to irradiate the excess heat. Put the AC at 75, and she should be a lot better.

I'm happy you're not getting annoyed at our suggestions. Ultimately, you're the breeder and there but it seems everyone is saying it's too hot.

I kept the area at 75, draft free for a recent litter. My bitch wasn't hot, everyone seemed comfortable.

Hopefully the heat coming down will help. Please update and good luck.

Air conditioning set at 80 degrees. That's not air conditioning. Too hot!

Tell that to my husband!

After adding the second fan, box temp cooler, mom resting quietly. Puppies are quiet. All is well in the whelping box. Thanks forum members for guidance and knowledge.

Wonderful!

Thanks for the update with the good news!!

Glad things are better for mom. It is just as important the pups are not too hot as others' stated. Heat stress is not good. I think I had to give my bitch Tums a couple x a day for a few days after her last whelping. She also got vanilla icecream and Stoneyfield Natural Yogurt and canned pumpkin to regulate her stools which were very loose for about 2 weeks afterward. The pumpkin worked wonders. The uterus goes through so much contracting each and every time the puppies start nursing. It will taper off over the next week or two. The key is to watch the discharge for a tomato soup look rather than darkish blood/clots. Odor would also signal infection. Let us know how mom and pups are periodically!

All is going well. Thank you again for all the great suggestions and words of encouragement. I'll learn to be more patient.