DEAD PUPS...PLEASE HELP!!!! - Page 2

The cause of this can only be determined by your vet.

Possible causes include infection, either viral or bacterial.
Genetic - the mother may carry a lethal gene that is passed to the pups.
Husbandry - is the mother a good mother? Are the pups kept warm enough? They can't control their own body temperature for the first few days, so must be kept warm by a heating pad or lamp.)  Are they suckling? Does the bitch have enough milk, or is there something wrong with her nipples, or a hormonal problem that keeps the milk from coming in?

I have no idea how much you know about whelping and the care of puppies, so I've mentioned some things that may seem very obvious.

If this had been my litter, I would have taken the dead pups to a vet for an autopsy.

johntic,
there is much you have not said, and without more information you can only get limited advice.

What does the bitch do?
Does she lick, clean, and stimulate the puppies?
Does she nurse and how soon.

What is the whelping area like and how much do you involve yourself with the delivery?
And obviously, have you consulted a vet?

Is this the same Sire each time?

Is she delivering prematurely?

There is much to know.

Moons.

See a repro specialist.

I had this happen with a female twice.  The first time I ended up with 1 puppy out of 8.  At this time, coincidently it was discovered we had a CO2 problem with our furnace and our house had dangerous levels of CO2.  I explained the loss of the litter with the CO2 problem.  The next time I bred the female and the litter was born, I watched them extremely careful.  I weighed them 2x a day plus took their temp.  Puppies were born strong and soon their temps started dropping (the room was warm) and their weight was dropping.  I immediately began tube feeding and keeping the pups in a warmer.  I would get them strong and try them back with the female and they would get weak again.  I ended up hand raising the litter...not an easy task.  All the pups lived and I spayed the bitch afterwards.  She was tested for everything and nothing concrete could be found but it was obviously a milik supply issue.  These kind of dogs should not be bred.

Thanks Kovey....These are the kind of replies I am looking for..someone who experienced a similar problem to mine.
However, all my puppies were born very weak and were too weak to even try to nurse even with help.
I do not plan on breeding the female again.

BTW...I am NOT  a newbee...I have been breeding dogs and horses for many, many years and I have never ever before had this kind of problem.

Thanks again,
John

Is there a chance they were premature? If not, my guess would be an infection that wasn't severe enough for the bitch to have symptoms, but was deadly to the pups, and weakened them even before they were born.

If you plan to spay here, I would get the vet to take a close look at her uterus to see if there was something amiss.

I can only offer condolences, & the thought that some things are just not meant to be. How very sad for you. jackie harris

As someone mentioned it before it can be herpes virus.I would ask the vet to check this problem.If this is the reason,than it can be solved by giving the female a shot.

John,  "those are the replies you want to hear"?  So we should just tell you what you want to hear, which won't actually help your dog or pups since most likely it's not dangerous levels of CO2 in your house.....   You've never had this problem before, but now you are......It would be best to take her to the vet and find out if there is something wrong with her.  You don't always see outward signs of problems, and it's obviously not normal to loose that many puppies......that soon.

what you are saying sound like Mycoplasma, this produces lower numbers or non at all and the ones that survive can be alive or very weak and die. this is a simple test to check for this.
if this was my dog i would check the mycoplasma, vagina culture and brucella first, this is the first thing i always do when i get a new female. i want to make sure they are clean.