My Belgian Malinois bitch, 6yrs old, just gave birth to her first litter of 8 pups (also my first litter).

Please help. I have lost three pups in 48 hours.

1. The first pup died in the first 12 hours. This was not surprising as the pup was born extremely small, probably premature.

2. Second pup died about 24 hours after birth. He lost the suckling impulse and faded quickly. Tried to feed him with puppy formula but he began breathing irregularly as well as having seizures every ten minutes in the last hour of his life. He died coughing up a substantial amount of blood.

3. Third pup: noticed drop in body weight at end of day 1. Also had minimal sucking impulse and died coughing up a little blood after several hours of attempting to feed/revive.

4. Now I am faced with a fourth pup that has a suckling impulse but is very weak at the end of day 2. Body weight has dropped. I have been placing him on the teat all day and he attempts to suckle for a bit but falls off. He is whining loudly. He has blood in his stool.

I am at a loss for what is going on with these pups. I have considered the age of the bitch as a possible cause for the weakness of the litter. However, she has always been in top physical condition and has never had any health issues in her life. She has been on a raw diet nearly all her life.

I am beginning to suspect physical trauma in the pups from rough handling by the bitch. The bitch seems to have a hard time maneuvering in the box without stepping on the pups or plopping on top of them when she stands up and lies back down in the box.

Maybe it is of consequence that none of the pups were born in sacs.

I have read extensively on this site about whelping procedures and have followed all instructions as closely as possible.

Any thoughts about what may be causing this very weak litter would be welcomed. What should I do about this weak pup with blood in its stool? What special precautions can I take to protect the remaining four healthy pups?

Thank you for any advice you might be able to give.

What did the vet say when you called him/her out?

I'm very sorry the pups are dying, and hope the mother is being monitored by the vet too, such a terribly sad thing to happen, I hope you get some answers soon.

Unfortunately, weekends are slow on the board, and those with breeding and/or veterinary experience may not be reading this.

This litter needs help ASAP! You don't mention having spoken to your vet. Please do so immediately! Is there no one else you can talk to, a breeding mentor, perhaps even the stud owner?

I'm very sorry this is happening, and I hope at least some of the pups can be saved, but I don't believe asking for advice on the Internet is going to help you at this point, considering the urgency of the situation.

He came after the second one died, (the first was very underdeveloped and I didn't think the problem was related). He told me then that he thought it was fading puppy syndrome due to genetic issue and suggested bottle feeding if i noticed lack of weight gain in any other pups, and tube feeding if that didn't work. for the pup with seizures i tried a small drop of karo syrup in case the seizures were sugar related, but didnt work. I bought my vet's explanation at the time since both puppies were the smallest of the initial 8 and because of the 2nd pup's seizures. I am bringing the third body in for him to examine today. hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. though I am thinking more and more that this may really be a case of poor mothering. since the second pup passed I have been in the whelping room observing constantly. the bitch is very rough and careless with where she sits, often plopping down directly on the lot. what are your suggestions on separating the healthy pups from the mother? I am thinking of doing this before i leave for the vet's to drop off the little body. thank you for your speedy reply.

I'll be honest, I'm not in a position to give you advice on breeding or veterinary topics, hence my suggestion to contact your vet right away. I'm glad to hear you've done that.

I've PM'd a couple of people who are in a better position to advise, but I don't know if they will see this in time.

From my layman's perspective, I feel my priority right now would be to look after the living pups, even though I know it may be helpful to have some tests run on the expired pup. Is there anyone else who can take the body to the vet, so you can stay with the dam and litter? If she's smothering or injuring the pups, I wouldn't want to leave her alone with them, but I can't tell you to separate them because I just don't know if that's wise, either.

Just saw this and I am no expert but doesn't Ed have a really fantastic puppy formula ? Maybe that is worth trying.

ok, so as suspected the cause of death was internal trauma- collapsed lung and internal bleeding. I just lost the 4th, same scenario, blood out of rectum though. had i only known. I feel like my vet mislead me to believe it was genetic. I should have questioned it sooner. The pups are separated (the remaining 4) from the mother. I tried leerburg's formula, but the pups did not take too well to it. perhaps it was the bottle's nipple??? I work from home so its fine for me to be with the pups. I am allowing the mother to nurse them under close supervision, but that is the only time they are together from now on. Its going to be a grueling few weeks. thanks for everyone's response. and wish me luck!

It can be very hard to know what is causing losses in a newborn litter. I'm glad that you have figured it out. Mothering takes experience for some dogs, and 6 is pretty old to be starting out.
But almost all bitches do in fact figure it out, and come to be good at it.
I'd feed the pups as best as you can, and try to quit feeding them as soon as possible. The temperature of the formula is critical, it needs to be right around 100 degrees. Try to keep the puppies full enough so they are not constantly crying. The sound of their cries disturbs the mother and blocks her milk let down. For some dogs it takes a few days for production to come up and for milk letdown to begin in earnest.
Get some sort of rail up in the whelping box so that the pups can be behind the mother and around her without being under her. Try to teach the mother to do the work, she will. Don't yell at her, try to be super mellow, you are a lactating coach here, not a trainer.
If the puppies are crying she will sit on them, do anything she can to make the crying stop. Try to figure it out, work with her.
Best of luck. Post again and let us know how you are doing.

I tube fed a runt pup that the mom refused to nurse.

I did it because my then at home daughter saw the pup and cried for me to save it. Don't know if I'd ever do it again.

She kept the pup after she got married soon after that and it had a couple of health issues.

I think nature has a reason for this sort of thing and keeping "some" of these pups has only added to the health issues so common in dogs today.

Amelia, how are things going?