Worried
 

Zoe had a litter 2 days ago and has started puking tonight. She has puked at least three times in the past hour. It smells sickly... DH says it smells like poop (literally). Now, she has been eating puppy food for the past two days which isn't what she eats normally.. only when having babies... but didn't puke until now. She is still drinking water so I know that is a good sign.

I am wondering about maybe a puppy or placenta that was left? This would hopefully be the worst case scenerio. She had two. This is the first time she has only had two. She has always given me three... that's why I was kind of leaning toward maybe a left puppy... I did feel her stomach and didn't feel anything out of the ordinary... maybe I'm just overreacting?

Zoe is a great whelper with no past problems (not that she can't develop one now). I am a worrywart when it comes to my babies so if anyone has any thoughts I'd appreciate them.

Do you have a mentor you can call with whelping experience? I know things can get bad fast sometimes. I would call someone.

Just my vet ~ who is now on vacation. She hasn't puked again so I'm hoping that is nothing serious. She doesn't feel hot... course, my new thermometer (whelping) is dead and the other (kids) isn't reading. I am going to just keep a close eye on her for the rest of the morning. She is acting normal ~ making the bed... Dh says she probably just ate some grass and your freaking out over nothing... ahhhh, but isn't it better to be safe than sorry? It is in my book!

Just a thought, but since she's diapering the pups, maybe it's making her vomit, and that's why it stinks like poopie?

I hope that she's all better fast:love:

Not sure why she is/was puking, but if you are even tiny bit concerned about a retained placenta (or anything else), I'd take her in to be sure there is nothing. I'm sure you know that a retained placenta can lead to more serious problems. I hope it was nothing and she' all better this morning, but again like you said.............better to be safe than sorry. Pups should be going in any day now for tails & dew claws anyway, right?

A retained placenta is hopefully not your worst case scenerio. Get her to the vet now. A retained placenta would cause her to go down on you, infection and death. Get her to the vet now. A POP shot should be in order, 12 to 24 hours after a whelp, especially if a there is any thought of a retained placenta.

So, many things can go wrong after a whelp, even if the whelp was routine. The smelly vomit is a sign that she is having difficulty. Get her into the vet now. Overreacting after a whelp is not overreacting.

Changing her over to puppy food should have been done in her last trimester. But, should not have caused a problem if you fed the same brand as her usual food.

Thank you all! After a sleepless night all is well. This internet can be a godsend or the opposite. Once Zoe started vomiting I start researching. In the back of my mind are all the possibilities but once you start refreshing your memory ~ I had her diagnosed with three different things.

Zoe will be seen by the ER vet today just to make sure last night doesn't happen again tonight. Thanks again ~ there were a couple breeders I was waiting to hear from and Mardelin, you always come through! Your post usually snaps me out of my "running around with my head cut off and not thinking" mode. Not that the other posts didn't help but Mardelin just has a way of waking you up in a no nonsense way. Thanks again!

FYI - After a routine whelp on one of my girls - all was going well. A POP shot had been given and things were progressing well. A week after the whelp, I walked into to the whelping area for an hourly routine check.
My girl was down, rushed her to ER. Blood test were run and diagnosed with eclampsia, since there was no sign of infection. Calcium was administered via IV. The next morning, she projectedly vomited; smelly. Ran her to a Repro Vet. Blood tests, sonograms were run. Nothing found, except dehydration and calcium levels were a bit low and slight anemia. They put her on IV fluids, with mega doses of antibiotics. She was kept, by afternoon she was emitting such a smelly discharge, an infection was going on. Cause was not determined, but she was stabilized. I requested a spay, they ran a coagulation test and found her levels were off, a spay couldn't be performed, she'd have bled out. She was kept on mega doses of antibiotics for over a month. When all was stabilized, a spay was performed. Her horn had been ripped during the whelp. Something that couldn't have been seen with a sonogram. Her spay was a lengthy procedure as cauterization had to be performed every step of the way. So, again a routine whelp does not always guarantee all is well. It's always better to err on the side of caution.

Good Luck and I pray that all is well with your girl.

Please update us.

Sorry its taken me so long to get back on here... Busy day! All is good with Zoe ~ sigh of relief! Zoe is back to her old self once again. Thanks again for everyone's words of wisdom, thoughts and prayers!

Good news. As I tell everyone, your work just begins when the pups are whelped......Good luck.