Yorkie Mother - eating her puppies

Question
Have you ever heard of a Yorkie eating her puppies? we have a beautiful Yorkie that is only 3 years old and weighs about 6 pds. She had a litter last week 2 females and 2 males, this is her second litter and she loves puppies and was a wonderful Mother.. until this weekend when one of her female puppies went missing. We went crazy and thought someone had broke into our home a stole the puppy that was only 3 days old. We called the vets in our town to keep a look out for the puppy, and also asked our vet if it was possiable that Missy eat her puppy.. the vet knowing her very well said no she would not have done that. Well last night before we went to bed I went to check on her, and her bed had blood on it.. I freaked out and was think Missy or one of the puppies was hurt. She is always in the house so we could not understand until we noticed that the second female was gone...  She had eaten the puppy. The next day her poop was very black with blood.. she was been given calium tablets daily and was eating Science Diet for nursing mothers. So was are trying to get some answers..  why did this happen? she is the best puppy we have ever had, so loving and perfectly normal until this happened..

Answer
Pat,

I am surprised that your vet would say that your mother would not eat her puppies.  If there is something wrong with a puppy mothers will sometimes eat them.  You will see this in nature because that is natures way of eliminating weak or sickly animals.  My concern is in the fact that she ate the second puppy.  Since this is her second litter did you notice any difference between the puppies that were eaten and her first litter?  Did they appear to be sickly or deformed in any way?  Is your female the only dog in the house?  Sometimes if a female feels that her pups are threatened by another dog they will eat the puppy because they are freaked out. There are a lot of reasons that she would do this and it could be just nature taking its course or it could be there is something medically wrong with her.  I would definitely call the vet again and ask what she thinks.  Also, when the mother eats a puppy it is usually right after the birth because the mother does not want the defective or dead puppy in with the other puppies.  If she is such a good mother that would explain it but usually if the puppies die or are defective days after birth the mother will reject the puppy and push it out of the bed instead of eating it.  I realize that this is a horrifying experience for you but do not blame your female.  I am sure she had a reason either medically or due to nature and not because she is a bad dog.  You may have to accept the fact that you may never know why she did it.  Keep an eye on the other puppies and it might be advisable to take mom and the remaining pups to the vet to make sure they are not sick.  You need to keep her in a quiet place where she will feel safe and unthreatened.  I am sorry you had to go through this but it is an unfortunate part of breeding you have to take the bad with the good.

Sincerely,

Melinda