Noisy Puppies?!?!?! Please Help!

[Labkisses]

Hi everyone

I have a litter of 5 labrador pups 5 days old today. They have been gaining 50-100g each per day and have been quite content until today. For about the last 4 hours they have not shut up, all of them constantly crying. Mum is showing no concern, we have put them on her teat 4 times but they are still crying.

Is this normal?? How much crying would you consider normal and when or should I be concerned?

I've contacted our vet and they said to perhaps supplement feed the pups. I've checked mums teats and they still have milk in them so I'm not sure if they are still hungry. She has toileted all of them also...I'm not sure what else could be wrong....please help!

Thanks in advance

[Aziah]

Could be several things, could be the opposite of you needing to supplement - they could be getting too much and be colic-y

ETA: Are they well hydrated, do they look healthy and round (rather than looking like they need a feed)?

I'm just thinking that with only 5 babies and a bitch who could have tonnes of milk you could have over-full babies, who are uncomfortable and could have a gut upset.

Edited May 6, 2010 by Aziah

[Lowenhart]

They could be cold. Warm babies rarely cry.

[persephone]

is the mum panting? are the pups snuggled up to her, or at the other end of the bed? Are they huddled together, or lying separately? Do they stop crying if picked up?

They may be cold, or , as is often the case, they may be too warm :D babies which are too warm ,too cold, too empty, or too full, cry.They could also be in pain, as mentioned.

get your thermometer and place on the bedding where the pups are ... see what temp. they are experiencing. baby pups cannot regulate their temperature- they can only complain...and try and find somewhere warmer/cooler. If this is not possible, they keep complaining.

Edited May 6, 2010 by persephone

[Christina]

After checking all the normal things like too hot/cold/hungry etc try burping them like you would a baby.

Sometimes they get wind & tummy aches. Over feeding or gutsing too quickly. Hold upright in your hand & gently massage around the back or try gentle belly rubs. Mum has probably tried everything she can like feeding/toileting etc.

This can just happen & they probably will settle down & be fine. Bit alarming though.

[Labkisses]

is the mum panting? are the pups snuggled up to her, or at the other end of the bed? Are they huddled together, or lying separately? Do they stop crying if picked up?

They may be cold, or , as is often the case, they may be too warm :D babies which are too warm ,too cold, too empty, or too full, cry.They could also be in pain, as mentioned.

get your thermometer and place on the bedding where the pups are ... see what temp. they are experiencing. baby pups cannot regulate their temperature- they can only complain...and try and find somewhere warmer/cooler. If this is not possible, they keep complaining.

Mum isn't panting, she is her usual self except I can see that she doesn't know how to settle them so she just ignores them now. I did try supplement feeding a couple of them but they weren't too keen on it. They have been quiet for the last hour now thank goodness. I'm thinking they might have been too cold, it was a very hot day and we had the fan the lowest speed but perhaps it was still too cold for them??

They have very round tummies and are crawling all over the place when they're not asleep which is a good sign I guess. Fingers crossed they were just a bit too chilly.

Thanks everyone for your replies. This is our first litter so we worry out about everything :D

[persephone]

What is the temp. in their bed? That's a quick way of working out what you need to do They may not have enjoyed the fan blowing on them either .... when it has been VERY hot here, and we have had little ones I freeze 3 litre drink bottles of water.. then when frozen, insert them into a large size terry sock (from opshops or wherever) tie off the end . Place in one , lying flat in one spot in the bed... show the babies, then see what they do! They are so cute when they discover the cool... they lie all around the iceblock, and as they get older, they flop over th e bottles, cooling their bellies. We have had pups survive mid 40 temps here with no aircon... but with their iceblocks

The beauty of this is that the pups and mum can CHOOSE - to be cooled or not ;)

[blacklabrador]

Is she in with them so they can feed whenever they need to for as long as they want? I would think that if they are crying but not making their way to the teat that hunger isn't the problem. I know its worrying!

[Labkisses]

Is she in with them so they can feed whenever they need to for as long as they want? I would think that if they are crying but not making their way to the teat that hunger isn't the problem. I know its worrying!

Yes, she is in with them so they feed as long as they like, and whenever she's not and they cry she checks to see whats wrong, most the of the time. But sometimes if they're crying for long periods and she feeds and toilets them and they still carrying on then she just lies next to the whelping box away from the pups. They have been good now for the last couple of hours and have had another feed so I'm thinking the fan might have been a problem.

I did notice that it was mainly 3 pups that were crying the most and they are the smallest. The other two are big hogs and maybe they sucked most the milk out before the others got a chance to fill their little bellies.

[Labkisses]

What is the temp. in their bed? That's a quick way of working out what you need to do They may not have enjoyed the fan blowing on them either .... when it has been VERY hot here, and we have had little ones I freeze 3 litre drink bottles of water.. then when frozen, insert them into a large size terry sock (from opshops or wherever) tie off the end . Place in one , lying flat in one spot in the bed... show the babies, then see what they do! They are so cute when they discover the cool... they lie all around the iceblock, and as they get older, they flop over th e bottles, cooling their bellies. We have had pups survive mid 40 temps here with no aircon... but with their iceblocks :D

The beauty of this is that the pups and mum can CHOOSE - to be cooled or not ;)

Thats a good idea about the drink bottles! Will have to try that out I havent had a chance to check the temp of the whelping box yet, mum is sleeping in there at the moment with them and I dont want to wake the poor thing. She has been exhausted in the last 5 days. It is has been a hassle and worry to feed her too because she's off most of her food and I've had to resort to hand feeding her just so she gets something. I'm hoping she's producing enough milk although she hasnt had much to eat herself.

[alpha bet]

One really good thing to do with little dudes like this - especially if they seem very unsettled.

Pick them up one at a time and hold them against your skin at the base of your neck and remain very calm and just talk to the pup. Usually after a few minutes you will find the pup starts to settle and relax into your neck. The warmth of your skin will comfort the pup and the vibration of your talking will feel reassuring to the pup.

We do this will all the pups from the time they are born. Usually they snuggle in and fall into a deep sleep. It bonds them to the human smell and the older they get the more people orientated they are.

[persephone]

The warmth of your skin will comfort the pup and the vibration of your talking will feel reassuring to the pup.

and it feels pretty nice to the humans as well . that little wet nose doing a search... then the relaxing and moulding to your shape ....

labkisses , I saw FENUGREEK powder suggested in another thread- for helping the bitch with milk production.

[Labkisses]

Alpha bet - thank you for the tips, they are the cutest little things and its hard not to cuddle them alllllllllll the time

Persephone - thanks for that, I will have to check it out atm they are all quiet and content thank goodness! Its a big relief I tell ya!

[Miss Danni]

Labkisses, if you use a fan, make sure that it does not blow into the box at this age. Set it to blow over the top of the box so that it is basically moving the air around in the room but not contacting the puppies.

Also, wet towels in the box are a quick method of cooling down hot babies. Wring them out a little and lay them in one section of the box and then put the whingy pups onto the towel. If they are hot, they will quickly get quiet as they cool off and once cool enough, they will wiggle off the towel to the dry section of the box. Just replace the towel once it dries out too much to be cooling.

When one of our Mums didn't eat a great deal after whelping, we managed to keep her happy with egg flips flavoured with Nutrigel for a few days until she got her appetite back. Oh and roast chicken hand-fed to her as well of course

[goldielover]

Also, perhaps try toileting them all. Even if mum seems to be doing a good job of toileting i sometimes have to help

[Whipitgood]

Pick them up one at a time and hold them against your skin at the base of your neck and remain very calm and just talk to the pup. Usually after a few minutes you will find the pup starts to settle and relax into your neck. The warmth of your skin will comfort the pup and the vibration of your talking will feel reassuring to the pup.

Love this idea! This works well in skin babies - skin to skin contact, so obviously skin to fur contact works just as well!

[Labkisses]

Labkisses, if you use a fan, make sure that it does not blow into the box at this age. Set it to blow over the top of the box so that it is basically moving the air around in the room but not contacting the puppies.

Also, wet towels in the box are a quick method of cooling down hot babies. Wring them out a little and lay them in one section of the box and then put the whingy pups onto the towel. If they are hot, they will quickly get quiet as they cool off and once cool enough, they will wiggle off the towel to the dry section of the box. Just replace the towel once it dries out too much to be cooling.

When one of our Mums didn't eat a great deal after whelping, we managed to keep her happy with egg flips flavoured with Nutrigel for a few days until she got her appetite back. Oh and roast chicken hand-fed to her as well of course

Thanks for that Yesterday the pups were crying again and panting, this went on for about 4 hours and we had had enough. Mum had toileted them, we even assisted to make sure they were ok. I put one of the pups on the cool tiles and it settled down immediately and fell asleep.

We took them all to the vet in the afternoon anyway and they all had higher than normal temperatures. So the vet suggested taking the dry bed out during the day as it might be too hot, and leaving the fan on very low for them. We did that today and it seemed to work. No noisy puppies

[persephone]

...and maybe try those ice bottles for them poor little mites- no wonder they are noisy I would be putting a firmly anchored sheet or something down for them- there is no purchase to be had on tiles..and they need something for their claws to grip as they move around. It is important , IMO, to give babies every opportunity to use their muscles correctly ..and therefore to have bedding which is rough enough to use to pull/push themselves along

When do we get to see pics of this little family?

[MissMonaro]

We used a cool mat for one of our litters that was born in the warmer months. When I removed it to wash it, they cried...put it back in and pups all happy again.

Another thing you could use is a damp towel in one corner....only when the pups are able to move off though. Lie them down on it belly down....but definately do not blow a fan directly on to the pups.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Just remembered what I did this last litter which was born on the 2nd of Feb.

I put some gel packs under the vet bed at one end. The pups motored on and off that area. This was the first time I had used vet bed and pups can really motor around on it.