I'm just throwing my brain against a wall to see if anything sticks.
Any chance that your dog was in pre eclampsia before the C section? I do believe it causes a fever spike in some dogs along with heightened blood pressure, protein in urine, panting, anxiety, etc.

It is more common in small dogs. Was this a fairly large litter for a Cav? I am not sure what an average litter size is for your breed.

Dear Melissa,

Thank you for helping me with this. She had a litter of three bitch puppies who are all doing well. She had a drop in temperature on the day of expected delivery, along with loss of appetite, which made me think that she was going into labour, which didn't happen, and which led to the caesar three days later.

This morning we went to the vet again and he now thinks there is nothing wrong physically with her at all. He thinks it is psychological, in that I, as pack leader, have been hand feeding her and she now thinks she is pack leader and can have this all the time.

I have taken her for a good walk this morning, just got back, and carried out some basic obedience training with her in the field. There is no getting over it, if she won't eat I will have to syringe feed her for the next two weeks, until I can wean the puppies early and then she can fast until she feels like eating properly.

I don't know what else to do except maybe borrow a dog from somewhere to give her some competition in the feeding, but I would be worried about bringing in infection for the puppies.

The puppies are fine and growing like weeds, thank God.

Good morning when you wake up Melissa! It is 9.30 am here, no idea what time it is with you, but I would guess you would be sleeping.

Sue

I'm a chronic insomniac so I'm still up.

I know these little angels can be a bit stubborn and can have minimal food drive. If hand feeding is getting enough calories in her that it works so be it. I don't envy that workload though.

I also agree I wouldn't let another dog in the house.

Best of luck with your girl. Don't forget to keep up with the calcium.

PS... Not much is cuter in this world than Cav puppies. Put up some pics if you get the chance.

Well, I put a bowl of food in her den and ignored her for the morning, and she ate it. Now she has eaten some convalescent food and although her stomach is gurgling, she is fine. Clearly it was a psychological problem. We are going for another walk in a minute and doing some more training, very strange indeed.

Thank you so much Melissa for your help, when I was in despair at ever getting her to feed you were there. You are very kind and I hope you get some sleep tonight! Here are some photos on a link that my husband took yesterday - http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001541107065

Best wishes,

Sue