postpartum dog

Question
QUESTION: My dog had 5 pups three days ago. 2 died at birth. Now she does not want to feed the pups. She has vomiting and diarrhea. She also seems lethargic at times then paces around at other times. Could she have an infection?

ANSWER: Yes, she needs to see a vet right away. She could either have milk fever or she might have a retained placenta. Vomiting and diarrhea are not normal for a post-partum dog to have. Some diarrhea is, but not with vomiting. Is she vaccinated for parvo? How old is she?

Regardless, call the vets and get her in tomorrow if you can. Don't wait any more days.

I hope she will be okay and soon.
Please let me know what you find out.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Her vaccinations are up to date. She is 7 years old. We changed he food from dry to wet since she had the pups. Could this be an allergy?

Answer
Not an allergy, but a violent reaction to too sudden a change of diet. That would explain the diarrhea and possibly the vomiting, but the pacing and the lethargy are not normal and she still need to be seen to make sure she doesn't have a retained placenta. Diets should never be switched suddenly nor should you go from dry to straight canned food. She should be on a high quality puppy food like Science Diet Puppy growth and free fed it, but you should transition her slowly over 7 days and not until her current diarrhea has stopped. She only needs to be on a dry food for now-but you can add a can a day also if you want.

You need to think about retiring her from breeding at this age. She will only have less and less viable litters. It's not fair to her or the pups if she has nothing but dead ones from now on. Time for spaying!
But for now, get her into a vet.