# help,...dog eats her pups



## J_Lloyd (Dec 12, 2009)

what causes a dog to eat her pups at birth?


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## robertyb (Dec 12, 2009)

Can be because she is a 1st time mom and does not know what to do.

Can be because she is not capable of supporting the whole litter and she knows it.

Can be because she knows there is a defect/problem with one or more pups.

I am sure there are other reasons also but these are most prevalient I think.


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## hoochfisher (Dec 12, 2009)

> Can be because she knows there is a defect/problem with one or more pups.



number 1 reason right there. sometimes they know if one will not make it. there instinct is to do that so the stronger pups have a better chance.


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## SHADOWRUNNER1812 (Dec 13, 2009)

*female eating pups*

you see this in young female dogs  who have never had a litter , or if something is wrong with the litter you have  a few choices breed her again an keep a close eye on her with her litter or dont breed her at all i own a large kennel an a dog like her gets 2 chances in my kennels the first time on a young female i can under stand , because she dont know what to do or she is lacking some thing that is making her body crave the flesh of pups ive seen that a few time s  in the 49yrs ive been dealing with dogs or she is not a good canadate for having pups after the second time i generally either hunt the dog an forget about breeding her totally or i give the dog away totally ive had it happen 2 times one a young beagle female, an one a pit bull female neither dogs are part of my kennels any longer either , i gave them away an the pit was spade an the beagle is being hun ted in the woods for deer , i dont breed any pet dogs either or the female with her pups too many people are touching them this is another reason some females eat the pups to hide them no one should be handleling them rite now except one person the one she is comfortable with  handling her , stress can cause this too, but what ever you do, do the rite thing not all females are good canadates for breeding , some after the first litter are fine some are not !


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## zzweims (Dec 14, 2009)

If she kills one pup, it is likely a defective pup.

If she kills two pups, it is likely a defective mom.


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## CedarSwampRetrievers (Dec 14, 2009)

The only one I've had to eat pups was one when I was a teenager. She went through wire, boards, glass, you name it to get out when she was in heat. A couple days before she whelped she got out, was picked up by animal control. The officer was out sick that week, so couldn't get her out. She was skinny as a rail, had two pups left out of a litter of 10-12. Took her home, kept food in front of her, etc. the next morning, one was half eaten. I kept an eye on her, but she started on the other one. I went back to AC and asked if she'd been eating the pups to stay alive. He admitted that while he was out sick, whoever was supposed to be feeding them had not been. She also came down with distemper (confirmed by vet/blood tests) from her stay there and had to be put down. 

Dogs do still have instincts for survival of the fittest. In this situation, mom and pups were sick. I do have to agree with zz, if a healthy dog had done this, something's prob not right with her. 

Tess had a pup that something wasn't right with. She was lethargic, wouldn't eat, etc. Tess wouldn't necessarily push her away, but wouldn't encourage her either. I tube fed, until she would drink it from me putting a couple drops at a time in her mouth, but even then she didn't wouldn't gobble at it like a normal pup would. She developed an infection, went to vet, got antibiotics, but she didn't make it. After I took her from the rest of the litter, Tess was more relaxed. She did not fret over that pup being missing/out of the box. I kept the pup in a crate right beside the whelping box so I could keep trying to let her nurse. She acted as if the pup wasn't even there. She knew there was something wrong with it even though I would not accept it. 

On the other hand, I've also had the other extreme...Sassy hated annoying puppies...after weaning, didn't want anything to do with her own, even as protective of them as she was. A couple years after I had her spayed, a female started whelping when I went to the store. She went in my closet, one of the pups was dead when I got back, not sure if it was still born or she laid on it. Anyway, I put it in a bag and set it in the other room while I moved her and the other two pups back where she needed to be. During that time, Sassy got the pup out of the bag and got on the couch on it and was cleaning it and trying to get it to nurse. I took it away and went to check on mom again, she got the pup and went to my daughter's bedroom with it. She had also taken over a litter that the mom died when they were 3 weeks old the year before.


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## bilgerat (Dec 15, 2009)

maybe you need to feed her more often?


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## R G (Dec 15, 2009)

My father had a Beagle do it before and caught her at it.  It seemed that the dog did not know where the umbilical cord stopped and the puppy began when she was cleaning them.  On the next litter he had to be with her when the puppies were born and help clean them up.


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## DROPPINEM (Dec 15, 2009)

zzweims said:


> If she kills one pup, it is likely a defective pup.
> 
> If she kills two pups, it is likely a defective mom.



Makes sense to me


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## Streetsweeper (Dec 15, 2009)

My beagle female has had 2 litters, both litters have been still born except for 1 in each litter. They died the nextday, I tried everything. I fed her vitamins, fed her the best food possible, and did not hunt her from the time she was bread until she had them. I have come to the conclusion that she is not a "fit" mom. So, I will not be trying it again. I have called vets, asks friends, pretty much anybody that knew anything. All have said that she has to have something wrong with her. 

The pups are perfect, in size, development, etc.... I am just giving up on her having puppies. Unless someone can give me something else to try????????


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## Katie Brake (Dec 16, 2009)

Start feeding her Canned dog food about a week before she has her pups and this will usually stop it...  It has always worked with our coon hounds.


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## CFGD (Dec 16, 2009)

hoochfisher said:


> number 1 reason right there. sometimes they know if one will not make it. there instinct is to do that so the stronger pups have a better chance.


co-sign!


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## Bigtalker (Dec 21, 2009)

My uncle had this problem with one of his beagles one time and someone told him to get her off the ground with the pups. He took it to the extreme and put mom and pups in a house on stilts in the back yard for a while and it worked. The man told him something about the mother doing it because she is worried about predators. Don't know if it will work for you, but it worked for him. The same dog ended up having several litters and never ate another one. He got her off the ground everytime.


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## Givens BMC (Jan 2, 2010)

My grandfather had many, many Beagles.  He bred them, hunted them, and raised them.  In my 30 years of being around this with him, never did any of his females ever do this.  I've been breeding BMC since 2006, and never has any of my females done this (young or old).  I understand that if something is wrong with a pup, then the mama will do what she needs to.  To eat all or most of the litter, is not good at all.  If it was me, I'd never breed her again.  A veteran BMC breeder told me, that a mother can pass this trait on to her female pups.


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