Sigh. My wife and I have been fostering for a local rescue for about a year and a half. We’re about to adopt out our 20th dog. It’s been a lot of work but very fulfilling.
My wife got a call this afternoon from the rescue. A foster took their dog to the vet because it was sick. Nope, not sick- pregnant and going to go into labor very soon. The foster said nope and left. They were desperate for someone to take her. My wife is a saint and said yes.
We currently have a 2 year old foster (plus our 3 dogs). He had a meet and greet tonight at 7. We got the pregnant dog around 5. The meet went great and they are going to adopt him on Saturday. We we walking them totheir car and chatting for a little bit.
When I came back inside I saw the pregnant dog licking. I looked closer and saw there was a puppy. Sadly, it was not moving. She kept cleaning it and trying to get it to move, but to no avail.
The vet told us we should expect another puppy every 30-45 minutes. The ultrasound said she had 5. It’s now been 3 hours and nothing has happened. All throughout that time she has been picking up the dead puppy and licking it. It’s so heartbreaking. They said as long as she is not in distress not to worry. This is going to be a very long night.
I’m not posting this for adulation or advice, it’s just cathartic to write it because I am a mess emotionally. We have never dealt with something like this before. I’m not religious but I’m praying that there are 4 healthy puppies and mom in the morning.
We’ve left the room for a while to give her privacy so hopefully she’ll birth the others. Hopefully there will not be a visit to the emergency vet tonight. I’ll post an update tomorrow. Thanks for letting me air this out.
The head of our rescue said we should leave it. Taking it away would stress her out more. Thankfully, for now, she is calm and not in physical distress.
Not the greatest of news. At 4:30 she had another and it seems healthy and one more at 5:30. Both are nursing and making noises. Then nothing happened until the last hour or so. There were 2 more stillborn.
Why on earth would somebody foster in the first place if they’re going to react like that?
‘We can’t deal with all these puppies’, followed by taking Mama home and calling the rescue to arrange another place as soon as possible: that I can understand. But just walking out and leaving her at the vet? Why would somebody like that have agreed to foster at all?
[thorny takes deep breath and consciously releases anger]
You’re doing a very good job. Thank you for doing it.
I’m glad she has two live pups to nurse, and hope that will soon console her. I’m sorry about the high percentage of stillborns – that does happen, but three out of five is a lot. It might have something to do with whatever conditions she was living in earlier, or with a bad match with the father, or with her own genetics. But I expect the rescue will get her spayed as soon as appropriate, so no need to try to find out.
Now that she has two live puppies to occupy her, losing the three others may not trouble her for very long. After all, she wasn’t expecting a certain number of pups. It’s demoralizing for you, but two healthy puppies isn’t a bad outcome.
Well, I was wrong. I thought I saw 2 earlier but it was partially covered by a sheet and bent oddly. She still has one more in her. If nothing happens overnight, we’ll have to take her to the emergency vet. It’s almost certain that the last pup is not alive but it needs to come out soon for her health. She is tolerating us less and less getting close to her. Getting her out of the pen and into a crate is going to be challenging. The rescue said maybe the previous foster could get her out. No chance, my wife would beat her ass if she saw her.
Oh, that poor mama dog. In the midst of her ordeal she got hauled around and then abandoned, as she probably saw it, by the people who’d been taking care of her, abandoned to strangers yet, then such a hard time delivering her puppies, and only two survived–she’s probably just had one of the saddest, scariest, most uncomfortable nights in her whole life. Thank you, thank you a million times, for giving such loving and conscientious care to some of our forsaken friends.
You have my empathy, years ago my cat Queenie gave birth to a litter and only two lived. It’s hard to take, and specially in circumstances as you’ve described.
Thankfully, she had the last one this morning. She’s now resting. It’s going to take some time to gain her trust. Looks like we’ll have her and the pups for a few months.
If they’re still doing well, then those are probably all right.
And she is indeed likely to be highly protective of them. Brand-new puppies when the mother doesn’t know the humans caring for her and them is a very touchy situation – very gentle dogs may bite if they think their young pups are at risk. If you can avoid it, try not to touch the pups, or look like you’re trying to touch them, until/unless she seems to be inviting you to.
Were you able to remove the stillborns? If not yet, maybe you can do that when she has to go outside. ETA: Or she may do it, eventually.