I had a litter this morning. It was my bitch's first litter. She ended up having 10 puppies. We had her x'ray'd last week and were expecting 9. She had a very normal, healthy pregnancy and a normal whelping. Although she did get tired. We had one stillborn that was obviously not right. Then we had three more that were perfect. They came out with their umbilical cords already torn and out of their amniotic sac. In each case their placentas came out with the next baby that delivered. I believe they suffocated in the uterine horns. My theory, and the vet agreed, was that since there were so many puppies they got "out of line" when presenting for delivery. Thus the torn cords. Has anyone ever had this happen? Is there anything I can do next time to prevent this? I am so overjoyed with the 6 healthy puppies we got, but heartbroken for the ones I couldn't save.

Sorry for your loss, but happy for the 6 healthy pups.

Yes, this and many other unexplainable things have happened to most of us. With the few stillborns I have seen over the years, they are occasionally malformed, or incomplete development, but often they look like full-term normal pups. Somemtimes the cords get twisted, the sacs get torn, etc. and there is nothing we can do about it.

That's what makes whelping puppies a tough job--rotten hours, sometimes sad results. We just have to accept the things that go wrong, and move on. Most of the time there is no one answer or "fix" to what happens.

MK

I agree with MK. There is'nt anything you can do. I have ask numerous times. Its just natures way.

Years ago I had one bitch that would routinely have one dead pup per every 3-4 she had, they looked totally normal (even did necropsy's on them and nothing unusual found)... I guess it's God's way of doing things that we just can't question.
Congrats on the litter!
Aloha,
Jackie

My last litter, I had one pup that was stillborn. He was the 6th puppy born out of 8. My girl went about 2 hours between delivering the 5th healthy pup and him. That's not an abnormally long time, so I'm not sure exactly what happened. He also came out still pink and completely normal looking. We worked on him for almost 30 minutes trying to get him going, but he never showed any signs of life. I don't think there's anything you could have done differently. Sometimes, it's just nature's way. So sorry for the 4 you lost. But congrats on the 6 healthy babies!

I am trying to keep that in mind. I have raised horses for years and definately have the mindset that if they are born dead then there was probably something wrong, regardless of how they looked. I just hate not knowing. It was strange. The first 2 puppies were decent size 10oz. Then I had a dead one 8 oz. Then 2 healthy that were only 7oz. Then 2 dead that were 8oz. Then a healthy 7oz. Then a dead 9oz. Then a healthy 10oz. It was odd that the midrange ones were the ones to die...I would have expected it from the little squirts. It was also all females that died and 2 black, two yellow. It was all just weird. But the rest of the crew is doing very well. I appreciate all your comments! Thanks!

I could only guess that the ones that were lost had been separated from the mom for too long. It doesn't sound like anyone really got "stuck" in the canal and the sizes were on the small size, able to be passed. We usually have pups that are between 14 and 19 oz.

All of those are very tiny pups. Where they full term?

Those are very small puppies, so I wouldn't think they would get stuck, but never say never, right? My litter of 10 were all 15-17.5 oz. and thankfully free-whelped without issue.

Stillborns happen and you can make yourself crazy trying to figure it out. Focus that energy on the pups you have and move forward...I know it is hard. Good Luck!

If you want to know what happened, you can have an autopsy done on the puppies that didn't survive. I don't know what you had on hand for puppies when they are born. My vet gives me epinephrine to keep on hand when whelping puppies, sometimes that helps, sometimes it doesn't. The puppies do sound small, did they go full term?

62 days on the dot. My bitch was very healthy going into her pregnancy and gained the appropriate weight. No ifections ect...just little babies. She is a 67 pound girl and the dad is 80. Hopefully they grow and catch up. My girl has plenty of milk, but would you supplement at all to get them going?

We just had our first whelping here too and the very last pup to come out was stillborn. She was still in her sack, placenta attached. She looked fully formed, but who knows. Like the others have said, it's just nature's way. That doesn't mean it didn't sadden me, but I knew that these things happen when I got into this.

Congrats on your new litter!

Those are really small puppies you had, makes me wonder too if they were full term or not. Was the date of whelping 62 days with progestrone testing or were they just naturally mated? If naturally mated they could be early whelps as the male semen can live in the bitch for up to 7 days. As I said I did necropsy's on my bitch's pups that she would have born stillborn and everything looked normal but they were still stillborn.
Aloha,
Jackie

Some throw small pups and it's just the lines. They'll catch up, and was a lot of puppies. Did you pen breed or hand breed? If breeding is done too far apart you'll have underdevelopement and it will affect the females the most. Try breeding on the 11th and 13th day next time and see if that helps.

I had to go back and look at the weights of the pups again. They were very small. Sometimes you might have a small one like that but most are about 15 to 17ozs or mine sure are. I would be interested to know if prog test were done also. We all loose one every now and then.

They were naturally mated, and not progesterone tested. I will try shipping semen next year and using progesterone testing to see if that makes a difference. All are doing well this morning and eating like there is no tomorrow. Thanks for the advise and encouragement.

I had a litter (first time for bitch) where there were 10 puppies-all undersize, 6 stillborn, and 2 died within 2 days. The biggest of the litter ( about 10 and 12 0z) lived. The only thing we noticed was alot of fluid in the sac.
The surviving pups are now approaching 2 years old. We did autoposies and ran every test we could on mom. Never found a cause. Her next litter was fine. We did progesterone testing so we knew she carried them to term.

My litter last year was an average number of pups...8. It was the bit-h's first litter. However, they were very small(6-8oz.) except for 1 male. He was 1 lb. Two were stillborn(placentas had detached too early) and one died at day 2 with pneumonia. There was meconium in their sacks. The good sized boy was very strong and survived and he's beautiful; large boned, great head and coat. The rest were also surprisingly strong pups and quickly gained weight. They were just as large and some bigger than my previous litters at 8 weeks. All had good bone and coats. So, you never know from the size at birth.

Thanks everyone for your stories and recommendations. All of the puppies are doing great. They have all gained between 2.5 and 4 oz and seem to be thriving. next year we are going to AI my bitch after progesterone teting and make sure we are at 62 days...just to be safe.

Thanks everyone for your stories and recommendations. All of the puppies are doing great. They have all gained between 2.5 and 4 oz and seem to be thriving. Next year we are going to AI my bitch after progesterone testing and make sure we are at 62 days...just to be safe. It has been a tough time with losing so many, but I am very thankful for what I have.