Bitch in whelp now. have some questions. can somebody help? - Page 1

Hey guys,

My female went into labour about 6 hours ago. first puppy and third puppy didnt make it. second puppy ok so far. drinking milk and had the first bowel movement about 10 mins ago. my question is, will my female have more puppies? scan showed 5. doc said could be more. i'm asking this cos its been about 3 hours since the last puppy was born. how long will she be in labour for? the time between the first and second pup was about an hour and a half and the time between the second and third puppy was roughly the same. her stomach looks big. is it normal to have such a long gap (3 hours or more) between puppies?

Also, she has had a litter before so this is her second litter. when the puppies are born she does everything, once she's done cleaning should i immediately allow them to feed. the puppy who is alive didnt feed immediately but with a little bit of help from us the puppy is now feeding. still a bit weak but looking for milk and whining. hope thats a good sign. dont want to lose this one either. please let me know. i'm really nervous and i hope i am not doing anything wrong.

Thanks,
Mav 

i would call the vet and see if you can get an ultra sound to see if the remaining pups are in trouble..

I would be calling my vet if I already lost two!

 I tried but cannot get a hold of him. the two i lost were still born. 

Call your emergency vet.

Two pups still born and the one living pup slow to start that does not sound good for the litter as a whole. 

 The nursing puppy sounds normal. Sometimes it takes a little while to nurse vigorously. Being born is hard work for the puppy too.
Still not able to get a vet to answer you? Do you have Oxytocin available?

 stupid vet answered half asleep cos its 6 am now where i live. they said its normal and dont worry. i dont have oxytocin with me. puppy is nursing ok  now. whining when hungry and looking for milk. i would take female to the emergency vet but dont know if its ok to move her? and even if i do take her, it will be to the same emergency vet who said its normal. other vets will open their clinics in 3 hours time. 

 It might be normal it might not. It is normally ok to move the bitch. You need to keep the puppy warm with a heating pad depending on the outside temperature where you are. If you have a stuck puppy you could lose the other puppies. 
You could call the vet and say "I'm coming in for an x-ray".

Maverick, It's not that uncommon for a bitch to take 10hrs or more to whelp a litter.If she's straining with no results I would be concerned, but if she's comfortable between pups I wouldn't worry to much, just watch her close to make sure she's not having problems.However It is not a good sign for two pups to be stillborn, not neccesarily bad for the bitch, more then a little dissapointing for you. You said she had a previous litter, how did that go and how many puppies if any were stillborn in that litter? I have seen bitches that consistently had several stillborn puppies in every litter, also losing some of the pups that survived over the next few days.                                                                    Michael

I've had girls have 3 pups, then take a 3-6 hour break, then have the other 1/2 of the litter.
I would get a leash on her and take her for a little walk with some hand towels and scissors handy incase she has a pup during the walk.  exercise promotes labor.  I've seen bitches lay down and sort of "psych" labor out too.