My friends dog had puppies one of them past away and the mother dog started to eat the dead one. That was so discusting. But what do we do this is not normal right?
2007-03-10 05:12:03 · 21 answers · asked by ♠lAUGhTERZ 5 in Pets ➔ Dogs
Yes this is totally natural as others have posted.
There are normally two reasons for this, though this phenomenon is very rare.
1. Natural: This is nature. The mother wants to keep her kennel clean. So if there are any sick pups or too many that she feels she cannot take care, she will remove them in the only way she knows, as a cannabolistic wild animal. I remember growng up with a female dog (was a doberman) that ate some of her dead sick pups. What a lesson to learn for a little girl that was! My parents had to explain that this is her way of keeping the place clean. I waited unobseved a full night once and some of the day to actually understand what was happening and you know what disturbed me the most? I saw the pups dying and then they were gone. And I couldn't do anything about it. Maybe this is why I am still working in the animal field today.
2. Clinical. As I said (and experienced) above, the pups could be dying. The dam needs to be checked. Is her milk okay? Do the pups have any infection.There could be so many reasons. To be able to solve this problem you need to understand what is happning? Is she killing all the pups or just a few? Some even happen when mom is tring to cut the umbilical cord and doesn't stop at the puppy. Others are when they over groom which is way a lot of babies are hand raised at zoos. The mothers just won't stop grooming and they end up injuring or killing the babies. Other reasons mothers kill their babies is because they don't know what they are. They just see these little whinny things that sound like wounded prey so they kill them. The mom should also be kept in a quiet area of the home, away from high traffic and noise. Also, if you are pestering her too much, she may be killing her offspring, to keep them from harms way. I would also suggest have a muzzle on hand just in case, you wouldn't want to lose the entire litter. But this is not to be left on all the time as the mom can become stressed out and trample all the remaining pups to death. And she will want to lick and clean the puppies. Last, (and worse) case senario you must separate the Female for all of the pups growing period and feed them with puppy replacement milk.
2007-03-10 06:17:50 · answer #1 · answered by Jessica♥sRRidgebacks 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is what happens in nature. She is just following her instinct. Take the dead puppy away but do not worry that she ate some of it. It is not a problem.. Actually there are nutrients in the placenta and cord of the dead pup.
Mom should have a check up a few days after giving birth to check out her health and condition.
2007-03-10 05:17:47 · answer #2 · answered by MyVetTeam2 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Its normal for a mother dog to eat its puppy because she knows that its dead. She will also eat any puppy that is sick or near death.But just make sure that the mother dog is well feed or else she will start to eat the live puppies.
2007-03-10 05:25:06 · answer #3 · answered by Gavi 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
That's normal, remove the dead puppy and make sure the mother doesn't try to eat any of the live ones.
2007-03-10 05:16:31 · answer #4 · answered by antonios mama ♥ 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
STARTED to eat? Meaning it was grabbed, or gently removed from her? You need to consider the breed and general health of both the mother and dead pup. How many other live pups were there, and did she care for them appropriately? It's not unusual but should be run by the vet. It seems as if people are going to "breed" dogs, they should know what they're doing. Hope this dogs gets spayed before it produces more pups we don't need.
2007-03-10 05:29:59 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Nature does not waste. Not only are mothers in the wild (and oft of pets) apt to eat the dead offspring, but often the umbilical cord and placenta too.
Lol, MyVetTeam2 just beat me by 7 seconds on this comment!
2007-03-10 05:17:53 · answer #6 · answered by Dark Dragon 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Sorry to tell you that is normal. Thats what animals do. Just get the dead puppy away from the mother and sorry about losing the pupy. :(
2007-03-10 11:40:02 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
That tramp,she takes photos of herself making pouty faces on the digital camera,in basic terms like a slut does. OMG OMG OMG!!!! Edit-what's extremely humorous is each and all of the morons who thinks that's extreme.
2016-10-01 21:37:28 · answer #8 · answered by liptak 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is normal, and yes, it is gross. Don't try to stop the mother, she will get mad and possibly bite you. Just let her take care of things, cleaning the remaining pups, being attentive to the litter. If she rejects a pup, you will need to be ready to care for it, most of the time the mom will take care of everybody, sometimes though, she will detect something wrong with a pup and refuse to care for it.
2007-03-10 05:17:04 · answer #9 · answered by fisherwoman 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Actually, it is normal. It worries me that people who have no idea about dogs giving birth is allowing a dog to get pregnant in the first place.
2007-03-10 05:14:58 · answer #10 · answered by KS 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋