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Whelping Stories - C-Section due to Uterine Inertia and a sideways pup.
A breeder friend had to go to work. We knew her dam was coming into labour from taking temperatures and we knew she would have puppies that night after 7pm. So she brought her dam over for me to dog sit (mid woof).
At 10 p.m. the dam went into the next stage of labour (pushing) and produced the normal dark bubble. I sat relaxed. All was good and the kids were in bed.
She pushed at 10:10 p.m., and 10:15 p.m.. Every 5 minutes she took a rest. I walked her around then she pushed at 10:49 p.m., 10:51 p.m., 10:54 p.m. and 10:56 p.m. and produced a "light colour bubble" inside the dark one.
I had never seen this before. ?? It was strange, but I still was not worried. I was thinking it could have been 2 puppies from the same horn, trying to get out at the same time.
At 11:08 p.m. I walked her and noticed there were green drips on the floor. Green is 50% okay, but I don't like seeing green because it means the placentas are detaching. Then I saw blacky green and I was worried. Something was wrong. I was doing all I could think of walking, internals, feathering, tums but her contractions were weakening.
11:24 p.m. I walked her and she had a good contraction, BUT it produced this 3rd greenish colour bubble. ???? OH DEAR, this was not good. A pup from each horn and they could not decide who was going first. There was no room to really move in her. She was HUGE.
The dam popped the first dark bubble.
From 11:24 p.m. to 11:44 p.m. she had no contractions. An internal showed what seemed like 2 puppies trying to come out at the same time. I pushed them back in and walked her and paged the vet.
Feathering was not even producing contractions. I believed she had a combination of uterine inertia caused by a very large litter and the first puppy was not able to get into the birth canal for some reason. After failed attempts to push it in the dam shut down.
There were no contractions from 11:24 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. and feathering wouldn't even bring them on.
The vet had agreed to meet us at the clinic for a 12:30 a.m. cesarean.
The vet did an internal and agreed with my diagnosis. Uterine Inertia with the first puppy at the birth canal entrance lying butt first and maybe sideways.
In doing the c-section we saw the first puppy WAS sideways. With a small dam and 7 puppies the other puppies were pushing on it so hard it couldn't move to get in a better position.
The problem pup was the champagne sack and champagne puppy.
With a big litter it is very very common to loose one or more of the puppies. It is nice to get one or two pups out from a big litter so that the others have some room to move, but it was the first pup that held up this litter.
All of these puppies survived, 7 thriving puppies, although one was a little slower to revive.
This is a case where without vet intervention, the puppies would likely have been still born, or have died at birth, without the breeder knowing there was anything wrong.
Day one after the pups were born the dam is doing awesome. This was her first litter and with a c-section it can take a while for her to accept her puppies. She was given pain medication, and a shot of oxytosin to help bring down her milk. Whatever we did is working as she is being an excellent mom. I think the bonus was that we did the c-section BEFORE she went into distress and got too anxious. A few years ago I likely would have waited this out a little longer, but experience told me different.
Courtesy of MistyTrails Havanese
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Although this section is based on a
whelping of an English Mastiff, it also contains good general whelping
information in large breed dogs. You can find more whelping information in the links above. The links below
tell a story about Sassy, an English Mastiff. Sassy has a wonderful temperament.
She loves humans and Adores human children. An all around mild mannered,
wonderful Mastiff. Sassy however is not the best mother towards her puppies, she
is not rejecting them, she will nurse them when a human places them on her to
feed, however she will not clean the pups or pay any attention to them. It is as
if, they are not her puppies. This litter is getting moms milk, with major human
interaction, manually giving each and every pup what they need. In return, the
pups will be super socialized and will make remarkable pets, however the work
involved is astounding. It takes one dedicated breeder to keep this situation
healthy. Thankfully this litter has just that, a dedicated breeder. Read the
links below to get the full story. There is a wealth of info that everyone can
appreciate and benefit from.
C-Section in a Large Breed Dog
Newborn Puppies... What you need
Whelping Mastiff Puppies One to Three Days Old
Things do
not always go as planned (imperforate anus)
Orphaned Litter (not the plan)
10
Days Old Plus ++
3 Week Old Puppies
Puppies 3 Weeks - time to start
potty training
Puppies 4 weeks old
Puppies 5 weeks old
Puppies 6 weeks old
Puppies 7 weeks old
Socializing the Puppies
Mastitis in Dogs
Whelping Large Breed Dogs Main
Whelping, a new
found respect
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