Mother eating puppies - Page 4

When my bitch had her first litter about two days after whelping she became very iriitable with her babies and I immediately gave her some powdered calcium and never had another incident.  This litter she was supplemented after whelping with calcium and Vit D and haven't had the same problem. Vet agreed with me that it was probably a calcium deficiency.  Only supplement after a bitch whelps, not before.  Worked well this time and it's something that I will continue to do with subsequent litters for this particular bitch.  I suspect that many issues of maternal aggression towards whelps might relate to calicum insufficiency and not necessarily temperament.  Vet said that in her experience GSD's are the most likely breed to kill their young.  Interesting comment.

Janet , I would never breed this female again. You mentioned that she had done this in her first litter now with her second .

Some female dogs  such as female humans  kill their offspring  bottom line it is not normal !!!   this trait  of killing offspring  can also have a genetic link . My advise to you  do not breed the female again and in the event there is a suvivour  esspecially a female do not keep to continue the line !!

I m sorry this happend to you it must be hard breaking !

Pia

I agree with you , Pia........

I'm trying to post again, already tried to say what Pia said - killing and especially eating puppies is NOT normal behavior - if this were my female I would never breed her again nor sell her for breeding.

molly

Janet,

that's really good to hear you are hand raising the pups,
it's very sad that even happened, but at least by caring for
the last two pups, some good will come out of it.

I had a yellow lab that loved people & was a very good mother,

but on occassion she would really house on my GSD pups,

and in my house I need everyone to get along, and she just hated
pups that weren't hers, so she was spayed and rehomed to a lady
that had her older sister, soon as she moved in, she was the boss
of her older sister, but they got along great.

Louise,

 I was not referring to supplemental calcium by mouth in my comments. I was thinking about physiological changes related to calcium levels and how they interconnect with how the muscles, including the uterus and heart  function as it relates to normal or fairly normal whelping or C-section.

I was doing three things at once when I read the comment about 'especially if given supplemental calcium during pregnancy, at least I didn't read it clearly. That being said though it makes perfect sense that a bitch could become anxious and/or experience behavior changes related to calcium because it causes increased neuromuscular excitability, but this could be true whether it was hypocalcemia or hypercalcimia. Add to that that interrelationship of calcium,phosphorus,and magnesium etc. it's complex.

My reasons for not giving calcium during pregnancy have nothing to do with "induced nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism". That is typically related to malnutrition if I remember right. That sounds like it would make a good thread of its own but related to this case I think it's removed. I doubt that this bitch was eating these pups due to a parathyroid issue but I suppose it's possible. With this bitch it sounds like a mental problem and I don't think it will go away.

Sadly,in this particular case, IMO,this bitch should never be bred again and should be spayed, since this is the second litter she did this with.  

Yellowrose, I was not thinking of supplemental calcium that comes from cottage cheese etc. that would /should have no impact  on this.