A very sad morning*graphic*

[lute]

The Aussie puppies were born last night! Six very strong and healthy puppies. 1 red merle female, 1 black tri male, 2 red tri females, 1 blue merle male, 1 blue merle female. The first one born was a tiny red tri. Smaller then the others. Her mother bit off her back toes on one foot. We figured it was accidental. About midnight we all went to bed. Mother and babies settled in. Everything was fine.

This morning when when my friend woke up she only found 4 puppies. The black tri boy and the red merle girl was missing. We looked everywhere for them. The only reason for their vanishing is the mother eating them. They were big healthy puppies. Eating good. Nothing wrong with them at all. We also found the small red tri girl had got both her ears chewed off to her skull. I took the little one to the vet this morning for euth. No need for her to suffer any longer.

Heartbroken my friend called around to other breeders to see if they had any litters with mothers willing to foster the three survivors. She found a breeder friend that is expecting a litter of Aussies on Wed. The bitch is very motherly and tries to mother all puppies in the house. Even ones that aren't hers. When the litter begins to whelp we are taking the pups to her. She only lives about an hour and half away. Until then we have the mother dog seperated from the pups and every two hours or so we let the pups feed. Supervised and with a muzzle on the mother. We are stimulating the puppies ourselves. When we first stimulated them this morning they had a lot in them. It was like the mother didn't even help them potty.

The mother of these pups will be spayed and placed in a pet home. We can't have this happening again.

[Seravieve]

Oh my.. that's horrible. I have no experience whatsoever with dealing with birthing dogs and baby puppies.. but that just sounds awful. I cant imagine why a mother dog would eat her babies when theyre perfectly healthy. And the thought of gnawing off the little one's ears.. awww. Thats just so sad.

At least your friend has found a breeder willing to help the remaining 3 little ones. Wow.. some just werent meant to be mothers, eh?

[pomtzu]

How tragic! I've never heard of a mother eating healthy pups - it just makes me cringe!

Glad you were able to come up with a solution for the remaining puppies. I hope they can grow to be strong and healthy.

RIP little ones.

ETA: A candle burns in PetT for the 3 little ones.

[lute]

Wow.. some just werent meant to be mothers, eh?

Nope. She had one litter before and was kind of rough with them, but not bad. Normally they get better with every litter. She only got worse and I'm glad we separated them when we did. Who knows what she'd do with the others.

[Husky_mom]

so sad...

glad the remaining three have great chances now... good luck with them...

[shepgirl]

I've heard of this in some shepherds that are anxious and nervous but never in other breeds but I guess it happens. Great that you found a foster mom for the rest of the litter or you would have lost the whole litter.

[lute]

I've heard of this in some shepherds that are anxious and nervous but never in other breeds but I guess it happens. Great that you found a foster mom for the rest of the litter or you would have lost the whole litter.

I doubt we would have lost the rest of the litter. They've all been nursing pretty good from her and if the worst had happened we would have bottle fed them. My friend and I both have experience bottle feeding. We found the best possible person to foster the pups. My friend is very confident these pups will be fine once introduced to their new mummy. We'll be most likely leaving early tomorrow morning as the bitch's temp has dropped to 97 degrees.

This can happen to any breed. It's not something that could really be pinned to one breed.

[Alysser]

That's terrible. I'm so sorry this happened to the puppies, healthy ones none the less. I wonder why she did it? I'm glad the other puppers are okay though and they are gonna go to a foster mommy for now.

[lute]

The pups are now with their foster mummy. She took to them right away. We are going back to see them again next month when we go down there for a dog show.

[Sin]

I'm so very sorry, for you....

[Husky_mom]

despite the sadness involving this.. it got me curious as to what may have caused it... I came across this on a site...

" I have read that in a few cases a bitch can have an improper hormone balance at, and following, the time of whelp which can cause her to not be in a "mothering" mode; to the end that she sees the puppies as "invaders" and will either abandon or harm them. The articles indicated that this was usually a first litter issue with a bitch affected thus, and that the production of any future litters had to be supervised. This supervision involved the testing of the bitch's blood to verify that the various hormones were at their proper level at, and following, the time of whelp, and if they were not some supplementation was done to correct the hormone level.

And of course I think there is the very rare case where the bitch is mentally deficient and can never be a proper mother to her puppies, but of course I can't quantify that."

[lute]

despite the sadness involving this.. it got me curious as to what may have caused it... I came across this on a site...

" I have read that in a few cases a bitch can have an improper hormone balance at, and following, the time of whelp which can cause her to not be in a "mothering" mode; to the end that she sees the puppies as "invaders" and will either abandon or harm them. The articles indicated that this was usually a first litter issue with a bitch affected thus, and that the production of any future litters had to be supervised. This supervision involved the testing of the bitch's blood to verify that the various hormones were at their proper level at, and following, the time of whelp, and if they were not some supplementation was done to correct the hormone level.

And of course I think there is the very rare case where the bitch is mentally deficient and can never be a proper mother to her puppies, but of course I can't quantify that."

I read that too. I thought it sounded like it could be a possible cause for it. The more I thought about it and the more I watched the bitch I don't think this is it. It wasn't that she was really wanting to kill them. She had barked nonstop for 24 hours when she was away from her pups and wanted so bad to nurse them. I think she just had a couple screws loose. The bitch is back in her kennel run. We're going to dry her up and if the possible home we have for her doesn't work out we'll be making a trip to Ohio to return her this weekend.

[bckrazy]

Omg.

How horrifying, and sad, for your friend... I can't imagine how I would feel about my dog after realizing she ate three of her puppies. Just, disgusted. Dogs are still animals, though, and sometimes they do things for a reason or no reason at all, just acting on instinct. I know how saddened I was when one of my Betta daddies ate most of his fry, and that doesn't even compare.

I feel for you. It's wonderful that the surviving puppies have a surrogate Mom. Where the pics at??? I hope their Mom finds a good home where she won't have any more puppies!

[lute]

Omg.

How horrifying, and sad, for your friend... I can't imagine how I would feel about my dog after realizing she ate three of her puppies. Just, disgusted. Dogs are still animals, though, and sometimes they do things for a reason or no reason at all, just acting on instinct. I know how saddened I was when one of my Betta daddies ate most of his fry, and that doesn't even compare.

I feel for you. It's wonderful that the surviving puppies have a surrogate Mom. Where the pics at??? I hope their Mom finds a good home where she won't have any more puppies!

The bitch will be spayed. There will be no more puppies for her for sure! No pics right now. I didn't have my camera with me. We will go back next month to see them. They will be about 4 weeks old or so. I'll get lots of pics then!