Mom eating? Disappearing puppies?

[tashaW]

Is it normal for a female to eat her live pups?? This is her 1st litter she had 8 pups & everyday we go out to check on the pups and feed her 1 is missing we are down to 6 pups now and they are only a week old.. There is no way anything can be getting to her pups and eating them... Has anyone else had this happen?? Im wonderimg if I should get the other 6 away from her before she eats them also??

[selzer]

I almost think this needs to be a new thread. The old one is almost a year old, and this is a critical situation.

A couple of questions:

1. How old is the bitch?
2. Did she whelp naturally?
3. Where are they housed? How do you know nothing else can be getting to them, like a snake or a raccoon?
4. Why are you checking once a day? How often are you cleaning their area, and how often are you feeding your bitch?

With a better understanding of how she is housed and fed, and her age, maybe we can offer suggestions, and figure out what is going on.

If a bitch does not feel safe, then she may kill her puppies. I don't know why this is, and have not experienced it, but I have heard it.

[wolfstraum]

I knew of a newly imported Rottie that did this - threatening the new owner as well....hormones - insecurity in a new environment - who knows.....I would have not kept her, let alone not bred her, but she has had several litters without incident since then.....

Lee

[jetscarbie]

My dad use to raise hunting beagles. The pregnant females had dog coops in the air to go into (it had heat lamps in it) when it came time to delivery pups.

One morning my dad went to feed the dogs. When he got to the females coop....she was outside her coop. He opened the lid to check on the pups.....and there was a huge rattlesnake inside. It had ate all the pups and was so fat it couldn't move.

[krystyne73]

we found a young injured, border collie when I was a kid. We took her home and the next day we found she had buried puppies in the yard, put some in the water bowl...can't remember if she ate any but she was only about 6 mon old and we never notice she was pregnant when we found her.
I think it could happen if the dog is young and malnourished.

[BUBBAGSD]

Originally Posted by tashaW

Is it normal for a female to eat her live pups?? This is her 1st litter she had 8 pups & everyday we go out to check on the pups and feed her 1 is missing we are down to 6 pups now and they are only a week old.. There is no way anything can be getting to her pups and eating them... Has anyone else had this happen?? Im wonderimg if I should get the other 6 away from her before she eats them also??

This happened to a friend of ours a number of years ago, the breeder closely supervised feedings and when the mom and babies were together and only had them together when she could see them. It is very uncommon but does happen

[Catu]

Sometimes it's not malice or lack of maternal instinct. Sometimes a pup dies for any reason, the mother doesn't know what to do with the dead puppy and her instincts tell her she must keep the den clean to prevent the dissemination of any disease and she eats the pup.