Can anyone help answer this question

[Heather Wallace]

I am studying the canine at the moment and the topic is reproduction.
One of the questions asks, give 2 reasons why the bitch eats the after birth. I can't find the answer anywhere but i think it might be:
1. When dogs where in the wild they would eat the afterbirth incase any other predator picks up the scent that there is pups about.
2. Incase of infection.

If anyone can correct me please do so. Or if you can add anything I would be grateful indeed.

[Dixieland Dancer]

The afterbirth also contains much needed nutrition. It was more important for the bitch to eat the afterbirth (placenta) in the wild than it is in our pampered pooch's lives. The instinct is very much still very well and alive in them though.

It was a fight to keep Dixie from eating it after each puppy. If I wasn't faster than her, then they were gone. She ate them like it was the best delicacy in the world. I only was able to keep 2 of the 10 from her. This also causes very runny diarhea in the bitch for about a week or two.

The reasons you have already mentioned are valid also but the nutritional value is probably at the top of the list along with keeping the den area clean so predator's can't find the area so easily.

Hope this helps

[Heather Wallace]

Thanks Dixie, the reason I didn't e-mail you direct was incase you got sick of me asking you questions.

Thanks anyway, I can always count on you.

[Karen]

I knew it was nutrition, but couldn't find proof of that quickly enough while I was doing 15 other things! Glad Dixie stepped up with the facts!