Natural delivery after a c-section? - Page 1

I'm faced with a difficult decision and was looking for input from any other breeders who have been in this position and what the outcome was.

Have any of you ever had a female who had a previous c-section then deliver another litter naturally? Do you feel it simply safer to do another c-section, pre-emptively?

The female in question is 4 and a half, has had one litter previously. C-section was due to the female suddenly losing a lot of fluid and it was done as a precaution. The puppies were fine and so was mom. One puppy had a hypoplasia which supposedly caused the fluid build-up? Xray today confirmed at least 7 puppies. I would prefer her to have them naturally, but I do not want to rush her in the middle of the night into the hands of vets I do not know.

My vet thinks it's perfectly fine to wait and see what happens, I of course am a nervous wreck. 

I had a female that her first litter was by section due to separation of the placenta..That happened when she was 2 1/2yrs old...She delivered 4 litters after all natural and no problems.....If you have any doubts, than follow her heart....If you are nervous when she goes into labor, momma will feel your insecurities, and that may affect her ability to deliver normally.....JMO

I do scheduled c-sections if the litter is 3 pups or less.  Natural if the litter is more than 3.  Scheduled c-sections sometimes on my older females, just to give them a break, especially for their last litter when they are spayed at the same time.  I do not consider natural whelp for a young female and a normal-sized litter a problem after c-section - shouldn't be an issue at all.

molly

Really good to know. I have a good friend who is ridiculously experienced delivering all kind of animals, dogs, included, who will sit with us.

I have another dog who had 2 c-sections, but we really did not give her the opportunity to go into labor especially the second time, there were only 4 large pups and my vet felt getting them out was safest.

It's going to be a very long couple of days...

I also have one who is about to deliver in a few weeks after having a c-section last time around. The vet said that there is no reason she shouldn't be able to whelp naturally.

Another question for experienced breeders.  I have a girl who is a week away from whelping and the ultrasound at a month showed only one pup. This is her first litter and it is my understanding that sometimes when they have a c-section with their first litter they will turn on their pups. Has anyone had any experience with c-sections in the first litter and how to you handle aggression with the newborns?  Or what can be done to prevent this from happening?

Judy

Judy, Ty was not aggressive but had zero interest in them. She would not even sniff them. She did lay quietly and allow me to place the pups to be nursed and I cleaned them. After about 5 days she started nursing them herself but those 5 days were a nightmare. She was never really into that litter, fed them and got out, never really played with them or wanted to stay in the box with them after nursing. Second litter I had to nearly drag her from the room to get her to go potty outside.

Any chance of your other girl fostering the extra baby if it comes to that? I would offer to raise the puppy with mine but it looks like we're going to have quite a few puppies. If I can take one extra I'll let you know.

JudyK - first-time mother having c-section is really not ideal.  It is almost certain that she will not understand that the puppy is hers, will not know what to do, and may be aggressive toward the puppy, or just abandon it and refuse to nurse or clean it.  However, one puppy may be a problem for natural whelp.  I suggest doing an x-ray a day or two before due-date and check out how big the puppy is - should be pretty obvious if it's too big to whelp naturally or not - if so, then c-section will be necessary or risk losing the puppy, risk having an emergency c-section to remove a dead stuck puppy - that sucks a lot more than having a scheduled c-section and possible hand-raised puppy.

if she does reject the puppy, then you can still muzzle her and have the puppy nurse from her (force her to lie down and stay put) - every two hours round the clock at first.  At least then you don't have to make formula or tube-feed.  If she's not aggressive maybe she will accept the puppy and start cleaning it on her own - still unless you are 100% certain she will take care of it herself (feed it, stay with it so it doesn't get cold, clean it) then I wouldn't leave the puppy with the mother between feedings.  You will of course have to clean it/stimulate pee/poo every 2 hours after feeding.

If you have another mother still nursing puppies, maybe that mother would foster the singleton, or at least feed/clean it if you put the pup with her every 2 hours.

Good luck, single puppies are never fun, especially in this scenario (new mother, c-section and single pup)

also keep in mind that if you do opt for natural whelp - sometimes a single puppy does not stimulate labor, so she might not go into natural labor which would result in the puppy dying - resulting in that emergency c-section to remove dead puppy I already mentioned.

molly

My female had no interest in them for the first couple of days...However after the puppies nursed for a few days the mother instinct kicked in....I have heard that sometimes "that" instinct never does kick in.....Guess I was lucky or had an exceptional bitch....But I know she was exceptional, in more ways than just being an awesome producer...

I had one retained puppy that the vet was able to manipulate of of the uterus through the abdomen without opening the uterus itself. The puppy, like the one my dog had naturally earlier that day, was unfortunately stillborn.

I don't know if doing that could harm the puppy, maybe my vet already had a feeling the pup wouldn't make it. It's worth asking about, I think, to not completely open up the dog.