The American Beagler Forum

we have two litters at two locations..at about a week old we had one in litter A and 3 in litter B do the same thing..

at about a week old they stopped nursing would not feed from a bottle or an eye dropper and then within 24 hrs died??

the one in litter A had no extra heat or anything in the garage..the 3 in litter B had heating pad/lamp inside the house

both moms had to have c-sections because of complications both were on antibiotics and one bitch was on other meds

any ideas on what would cause this???

had a litter of bulldogs do that once,9 pups in all,they quit eating at about a week old and started dropping like flies.i would say the moms milk went bad but they would not hand feed either.i know this doesn't really help answer what happened but at least you know your litter wasn't the only one.

i HAD A PUP ABOUT A WEEK OLD LOOKED FINE BUT IT WAS LIKE THE MOTHER KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG.IWOULD PUT IT WITH THE OTHERS SHE WOULD SHOVE IT AWAY.A DAY OR TWO LATER IT WAS DEAD LOOKED JUST AS HEALTHY AS THE OTHER PUPS.

thanks for the responses...if nothing else it is nice to know that it is not just us experiencing weird things like this

What type of bedding did you have them on?

I had mine on straw with a plastic bottom the rest are six weeks old now and look great.

I had mine on straw with a plastic bottom the rest are six weeks old now and look great.

When I first read this I thought about the Canine Herpes virus. It is said to be the leading cause of fading puppy syndrome, however you said both females delivered pups by C-section so I am not so sure.

The other possibility is pneumonia. When pups are born "Naturally," a good mother is very rough when chewing off the cord. This is natures way of knocking the sack fluid loose from the lungs and nostrils. Several years ago I started aspirating the pups noses at birth as I too was loosing 2-4 pups in a litter. I had noticed that the mothers that banged the pups around at birth didn't loose any pups, but some mothers were very gentle with the pups. I was loosing pups from these litters. I did some research and found out that the pups were dying from pneumonia. The vet told me that 90% of the fluid that gets into the lungs come from the nasal canals. So, I started helping the mothers whelp the pups. As soon as the pups are born and the mother is finished with the sack and cord, I will take a baby nose aspirator (I like the one with the removable clear plastic tip), and aspirate the pups noses. Since I started this practice, I rarely loose a pup.
Now I know you said they were born c-section, however if they weren't shaken well and aspirated well at the vets, there is a good possibility the fluid got back into the lungs.