Dam killing/eating her young - Page 2

Molly,

I do agree as well!

Vickie

I know of two reasons,

Fear, perhaps the owner didn't handle it right, location, strangers or strange smells, too much meddling, animals like their privacy when giving birth.

Or something was wrong with the pups that set the mother off, they smell something and know its not right, or maybe something physically wrong with the mother.

Most often in my experience it is something to do with the first.

Finally you can't rule out the mother just no knowing what to do.

Before you totally gave up on the bitch, if you try again leave the bitch in a private place and stay away, let nature decide.
If you get pups don't go near them for the first three days and even then don't touch them for a week to ten days.
Don't let anything spook mom such as strangers or other animals.

Yes I've seen this before.

P.S.
If possible use a different sire next time in case there truly was something genetically wrong with the pups.

blah.  If you have a dog who gets so nervous that her own owner can't handle or be near her pups during or after whelp or she KILLS AND EATS them, then she shouldn't be bred.  Something is wrong with her - bad nerves probably.  It is NOT normal for mother dogs (or any animal) to kill and eat an entire litter of pups!  Period!

I have one mother who will pick up and carry her pups around if she gets stressed in the first few days after whelp.  I leave her alone for the most part and don't allow anyone to visit the pups for the first few days while she settles down.  She has NEVER harmed a puppy - just picks them up and carries them around if she is stressed in the first few days.  THAT is normal and something that can be dealt with by leaving the mother alone and quiet for the first few days after whelp.  The rest of my females - for 14 YEARS of breeding - have never had even one moment of trouble with me handling newborn pups, being around them, frequent checks, blanket changes, etc and most of them are absolutely fine with visitors peeking in as well.  If I had a female who harmed a puppy because of <insert reason or excuse> she would NEVER be bred again.

molly

Well I guess thats the choice the owner must make.
I used to raise foxes and they would eat their pups if disturbed every time.   After the kits were a week old it never happened.
Rabbits will eat their young if you touch them too soon as well.
We don't really know what went on, some people do put a lot of stress on their animals.
I have only seen a dog do this once, but it happens a lot with wild animals in captivity.
Cats are well known to move litters if they don't feel safe.
And I have seen other animals shun a newborn who was not healthy.
Its not cut and dried, black or white.

moving litters (to safety in the mother's eyes), protective behavior, and shunning, pushing away, burying, or even killing a newborn that is not healthy along with eating a stillborn pup (already dead) is what I would consider normal animal behavior.  Killing/eating an entire litter is something completely different IMO.

molly

I agree, but I was not there.

My previous post was wrong.   His bitch bit a few, and ate the head off of one.  It was her first litter.  The next litter she was fine. For what it's worth.

That's too sad, I would not breed her again,

that behavior always baffles me.....as I have a male dog that has a mothering instinct to him, yet he's not a whimp,

it's just that he has a kind heart...Dogs have been domesticated to be our companions, that they shouldn't

get nervous if humans handle their pups, they should trust family members, unless the dog is new to the family..

As for rabbits, I used to have over 40 bunnies, and that is so true, if you wanted to inspect the bunnies, you had to
put a strong odor on the moms nose like vick vapor rub, or something similar, that trick would work...

Her first litter would have been her last around here.
SS