Whelping Experience

[lvoss]

I wanted to share my experience this morning with the birth of Rally's litter. For those who have ever considered a litter because they think it might be "fun" or because the thought selling the pups would give them extra income, please read.
Last night Rally went into labor with her second litter. This was a planned litter, we had an ultrasound done at day 30 and a pregnancy x-ray last Friday. Everything looked normal and there were no complications expected. At 3:30am it was clear something was not right. We took Rally to the emergency vet, $170 to walk in the door, they did more x-rays and found one of the puppies had become mispositioned and was stuck. A c-section was recommended since ultrasound showed that one of the puppies was in distress, heart rate was dropping. We went ahead with the c-section, $2500, which took about 2 hours. They were able to deliver all four of her puppies but the one in distress had its heart stop shortly after birth and they were unable to revive her. Rally made it through the surgery alright and was recovered from anethesia in about an hour and could be with her puppies and discharged. The 3 surviving puppies are doing well. We have been a nervous wreck since this all started and are only just starting to relax enough to rest.
When every thing goes well, whelping is a stressful event but when something goes wrong, it is difficult to explain how incredibly scary and nerve wracking waiting for someone else to care for you babies is. I have had many breeders through the course of the day share their experiences with me and what I have found is that most of them whether early in their breeding histories like myself or after 20+ years of breeding have had a similar experience. It is not a matter of "if" this will happen to you if you chose to be a breeder but "when". Rally was in excellent health and what occured was strictly bad luck in the puppy becoming mispositioned. There is nothing we could have done to prevent the situation. Since Rally was in good physical shape she had a quick recovery from the anesthesia and seems to be in good spirits and doing well, I can not imagine what it would be like if the girl were not in top physical condition.

[Quercus]

Oh, Lisa…I am so sorry :( I am glad to hear that Rally is recovering well, and that most of the babies survived.

What a hard thing to go through, and you are so right that it is something to really think about before breeding.

[seko]

Sorry to hear that, but it seems now everything is fine for all the doggy family!
Give mummy and the little ones a cuddle and get a good rest for yourself!
Hope to see some pics of them all.

[nala121498]

Thank you for sharing what must have been an incredibly stressful experience. I'm glad to hear most went well and that Rally and most of the puppies are doing well. As seko said, get some well deserved rest (I'm sure it won't be for a while).
I'll keep good thoughts for all of you…

[jys1011]

Lots of ((HUGS)) for you & Rally & the pups. And I'm so sorry about the one lil pup that didn't make it. Breeding is very serious & events like this remind us why.

[Basenji_Boy]

Owning them, showing them are one thing…...breeding them is quite another issue. My heart is out to you.:(

[Vanessa]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. Im glad Rally is doing well now. They are beautiful babies.

[iluvmali]

My heart goes out to you for the loss of the wee-one. Thank God you've got 3 healthy pups and momma.

[tanza]

Yes, Lisa surely did everything right… and having puppies is NOT for the faint of heart or "just" to "I think it would be fun to have puppies".... Another sad story, a very good friend in Ohio, his bitch whelped her second litter on the
21st, three stillborn pups.... like Lisa this was a planned breeding... everything was done as it should be... alas, no pups.... just lots of bills!