Cross Breeds

why did 7 pit bull puppies die?

a friends pit bull had 11 pups 6 days ago and 7 have died, any1 know why this could have happened, is it normal for so many to die, i have offered to hand rear 2 of them, is this a good idea? just want to give the rest of them a good chance of survival. any ideas?

Public Comments

1. It is normal for a pup or two to die in a large litter as due to so many in the womb and some not getting proper growth/nutrition. With having 11 pups and 7 already dead my guess is that something went wrong in the womb such as an illness that caused the puppies to get sick or not develop properly. I would suggest that they take the last 4 to the vet and inform them of how many have already been lost. Good luck.
2. Unskilled BYB's again...sorry but unless you are fully qualified to hand raise pups their odds are even worse with you. Sad facts is that this dog most likely shouldn't of been bred. I'll venture to guess there was no breeding mentor or vet assisting with the birth, no pre medical care nor any vet involved when the pups died. Talk your friend into getting her dog spayed and you will be doing more good than saving this litter, you'll be saving the hundreds of litters of litters that this dog will be responsible for in the future if she's allowed to produce any more litters...
3. Maybe they arent getting enough milk from mom? Mom could have a disease she passed down. Parvo? Cleft pallet? These puppies need to be taken to a vet to make sure there arent any deformities or health issues. If they need to be bottle fed, the vet will tell them and show them how to best take care of them. I cant imagine sitting around and watching my litter of puppies die and not do anything about it. Get them to the vet!
4. it is normal for a loss of two with labor so i guess you could lose 7 as well or the pups werent taken care of not being mean, at birth, they can die if they dont have right temperature at early age, not eating enough, have to pay close attention to what pup is gettin how much and if there is any pup being pushed away from litter mates too much. they could have just been sickly and sometimes the mother will sense this and not take care of it too. too many reasons to list, cords around pups neck ect. just like people many things can go wrong and that is why we rely on a doc.
5. There are many reasons for puppies to die (and not for nothing do bitches have multi-births). One might be Fading Puppy Syndrome (Google it), or perhaps mum doesn't have sufficient milk for her litter, for some reason. Whatever the reason, both mum and her puppies need to see a vet to find out exactly what's going on. It might be worth you taking one, but it would be far better to keep them all with mum, and find out what she's had all these losses before making that decision. Hand-rearing puppies needs a lot of work, and experience.
6. They could have died for many reasons. Does mom have milk? Is her milk bad, meaning does mon have an infection, she is passing on to the pups. Was mom fed puppy food and given vitamins during gestation, so her pups would be healthy? Their may have been a genetic defect? Who knows, unless a vet does a necropsy of the pups. Yes, bottle feed the remaining pups, especially if mom's milk is bad. Good luck!
7. Only way to find out the cause of death would be a necropsy, but I'm sure that your BYB friend doesn't want to spend that kind of money. PB's are one of the most common dogs euthanized in shelters, where some of these pups would be sure to end up, so it's just as well that some of them died. Your friend needs to have their dog spayed and quit adding to the over population of dogs. YOU are not qualified to take over the feeding of such young pups. Your "FRIEND" needs to have the rest of the litter, and bitch, seen by a vet. Should have been done within 48 hours after birth..
8. I wish everyone would involve a vet in all dog pregnancy and puppy raising because so many losses could be prevented. So many things could be wrong. Now that this has already happened you absolutely have to have a vet determine what is happening. They could have deformities like clefts, they could have gotten cold, they could have a virus, the mother could be sick, not producing milk, they could have a heavy parasite infection, they could have enough fleas to cause anemia.... If the mother was not producing milk and you take them from their mother and keep them warm and fed with puppy formula every 3 hours around the clock and help them to urinate and defecate (they cannot do this on their own and you need to have a vet tech show you how to do this) they could survive IF none of the other things are true...such as the parasites, viruses and deformities. It's unlikely that all those puppies would have died just from milk problems without you noticing that they were not eating or gaining any weight. The best chance for a healthy puppy is a healthy mother with healthy milk. It's complicated to know how many of those things are missing in this.