URGENT HELP NEEDED ?

[whiteriver]

no pups made it and she is doing great i am concerned about her mammary glands ,they are tight and full of milk ?

thx again

[Windkist]

Leah,
What does the Calcium do other then prevent calcium defeciency which is common in bitches that welp?

I to agree that you shouldn't give oxytocin unless it is last resort and with a stuck pup it wouldn't have done a thing to help would have actually harmed the female like you said.

I'm going to use some information from Myra Harris to explain this. She gives seminars on canine whelping all over the country.

"Excessive calcium supplementation during gestation has been incriminated in predisposing the bitch to eclampsia and dystocia....." (dystocia is another word for inertia)

The reason for this is thought to be that a diet high in calcium will increase the ph of the blood.

"When the blood is more alkaline, the parathyroid hormone is apparently less able to stimulate bone calcium release...."

And it is that all important bone calcium release which keeps uterine contractions going strongly enough to avoid inertia.

Basically.. over supplimentation of calcium before whelping causes the parathyroid not to work properly. Calcium is very important in causing contractions. Many times my vet will give a calcium injection rather than use oxytocin because it won't cause placental seperation but, will increase contractions. I now just order the Calsorb gel which does about the same thing. I also do not feed a high protein high fat food to my PG bitches which causes the puppies to be huge and then can cause them to become stuck. I feed a regular adult dog food during pregnancy.

After whelping Calcium supplimentation is important to prevent eclampsia. So, after go ahead and give your bitches, EXTRA calcium in the form of cottage cheese, yogurt and if you find her shivering or acting hostile towards the puppies you can use the calsorb as well.

Leah