Canine Maternal Hydrops

The question I keep going over and over.

Why did I decide to have a second litter from Lisvane Razzle Dazzle JW aka ‘Bubble, my constant companion and darling, clever, 5 year old great dane?

After having had the most wonderful litter in August 2010 from Bubble & Fred (Jaydania Fred Astaire JW) and having kept a dog, I had decided to mate Bubble once more and, this time, keep a bitch.

The mating went very well and, leaving nothing to chance, I had Bubble inoculated with the anti herpes virus 7 days after mating, and again within 2 weeks of whelping. I had been advised that this would prevent any problems, especially with fading puppy syndrome. 2 weeks after the mating , Bubble started a bloody discharge and, I was sure that she would be losing or reabsorbing any litter that may be present. My vet put her on a course of antibiotics, suitable for bitches in whelp and, in my mind, I had already decided that there may not be any puppies.

I took Bubble for a scan at 24 days and was delighted to see a belly full and realized that there would be at least 10. I carried on exercising her as normal and gradually increased her food and she progressed as normal. 2 weeks before her due date she started to increase in size, and I wasn’t unduly worried as I was expecting a large litter. I took her for her final scan a week before her due date by which time she was very big and, when scanned, showed a great deal of amniotic fluid, which was commented on and I then expected her to start early. We saw the pups inside moving around and all looked normal, apart from the large amount of fluid.

That night Bubble was very uncomfortable and her stomach was very tight, I expected her to start at any minute, even though it was 6 days before her due date. She was sick at around 5 am. At 6.30 her waters broke and I could feel a pup ready to come out. She wasn’t contracting, probably since she was so tight, and I struggled to get the pup out, believing him to be dead. At 7 am, I managed to pull him out and, to my surprise, he was fine, so I cleaned him up & popped him on her for a feed. Then suddenly another boy shot out, head first without his bag, and I gave him a rub and popped him on to feed. We were away and all seemed good. I had rung Jill Daly earlier, who was on her way and arrived just as boy number 3 came out, preceded by a huge placenta. It was now 10.30 and Bubble seemed good but still not contracting. Her belly looked a little less distended and she settled down for a sleep. I rang my vet at 12.30, brought them up to date, and said I would ring if we needed Oxytocin. Nothing happened, no contractions, but Bubbs was relaxed and the pups were feeding so we weren’t unduly worried but I called the vet who said to bring her in, as the car journey may start her moving.

At the vets she was given Oxytocin which had no effect at all, so it was decided to do a section rather than wait any longer. All hands on deck, we took the pups as they were taken out to clean them and get them going. 2 were dead, one had to be PTS and we had 9 to join the 3 at home. So she had carried a total of 15 pups in all. As my vet was closing her up she suddenly arrested. He worked so hard to try and get her back, but to no avail.

How Many?

Everything had been fine until that moment. None of us thought to take first milk off Bubble for that precious Colostrum needed. We were all in shock and our attention turned to keeping the pups going. I gave her one last kiss goodbye and we took the pups home. Both Jill & I were distraught, as were my 2 vets and the vets’ nurses.

The search started by friends, and friends of friends, for a surrogate bitch to nurse the pups, sent Face Book working overtime. Such an amazing response resulted in my driving 4 hours to Penrith the next morning to pick up Indy, Sheena Booths ‘Roucandane’ brindle bitch who had just weaned her own litter.

Indy took the pups as her own and all seemed promising, even though we had lost a boy by the time I returned. Then, over the next few days, each puppy faded and died, the last one was a little girl who had held on for 6 days and we were so hopeful for..... All of the pups had a rash, similar to a meningitis rash, on their tums, and my vet said it was a bacterial infection that they had no resistance to.

Why hadn’t I thought about colostrum? Why didn’t I have them injected with an antibiotic when they were born? Why didn’t I recognize that things weren’t right with Bubble? Why did I mate her in the first place?

I know why I mated her, why all of us breeders take the terrible risk of mating our precious bitches. If the late Doreen Web (Maxelga) hadn’t mated her bitch I would never have known the delight and heartache of owning a dane. I would never have had the years of love, fun and companionship that I have had from my generations of danes, or known the pleasure that I gave to my new dane families, as they carried their little bundles off to their new homes. I would never have met the wonderful friends, who leapt to help in any way that they could, if not for my danes.