Whelping/discharge

Question
QUESTION: Hi Joyce, thanks for the help the other day with my temp question. Today I have another concern. Last night around 8p she started having rapid very rapid breathing and them started panting fast. I got up and gave her some water and then she acted like she need out side. I leashed her up and out we went. While we were out there my neighbor let out his 2 male dogs and the rushed right towards her, she started barking and growling and bit one of them on the leg. She has never acted this way before as she is very familiar with these dogs and they often(before the pregnancy)played together. What could have caused this reaction from her? Once I brought her back in she seemed to be back to normal, breathing and all. She did some pacing across the couch and stretching and some long staring at me but nothing else happened so we went to bed. This morning I took her with me as I took the kids to school and she did some moaning in the car quickly turning to her rear and looking, I brought her back home and left her for about 2hrs, came back all was fine, when I took her out to potty she had a clear slimy discharge, I cleaned her up and put her back in her cage and went out again for about 2hrs(the only reason I left her these 2 times were because I was going to the court house and didn't want to leave her in the car too long and then to take kids to DR and didn't know how long it would be)this time when I let her out of her cage she seemed more excited to see me and she jumped to put her legs on me I noticed something fling from her. I picked up a very thick(almost like rubber cement)mucus that was clear/light light green and about the size of a tsp. since then I have about every 30 min been wiping a more slimy clear discharge from her area. I have also noticed an odor coming from her almost like iron, which made me think she must be bleeding but there has been no blood. I have called the vet and was told this sounds normal not to worry but I will anyway. Also she hasn't been doing much nesting, some digging here and there but mostly sleeping or just laying on her side with her eyes open. Any help would be great and sorry this has become so long I just didn't want to leave anything out. Thanks again and Thanks in advance Amber

ANSWER: Hi Amber

The more information I have the better it is for me to help.

It sounds like she may be ready to whelp.  She won't want any dogs (familiar or not) near her or her "den".

The discharge you described is her mucus plug. Which is normal.  The panting and "green" tint is a concern.

Are you comfortable giving her a internal? You want to see if you can feel a pup.   If not, I would recommend taking her to your vet, to get a green light and to ensure that a pups isn't trapped.

Good luck and keep me posted.

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

QUESTION: Well I didn't take her in but the vet said to bring in the discharge in and they would take a look at it. They said it looked ok and it was her plug. After looking at it again its more of a yellow/honey mustard color not the light green I had thought, bad lighting I guess. When her mother was in labor with her and the other pups she did the same heavy panting and rapid breathing, but that was only during the active stage of labor, which is what I thought might be happening last night. And the whole temp thing, I have still been taking her temp and there is no consistency to it. It will go from 97.4 to 98.8 to 99.4 and then back around 97.8 and then up to 100.3 so I don't know what to make of this. The 101.3 was around 6p it is now 8p and her temp is 99.3 so I guess I should test again at 10p and if it is still dropping this could mean something. I don't know she isn't doing much nesting, should I worry about this, every now and then I will catch her looking at her rear all crazy and then at me like "mom help,whats going on". Oh also her milk has come in. I don't know if this is anything special but I noticed some crusted on one of her teats as I shaved her belly today to get all the hair away so the pups can latch on with ease, anyway I gently squeezed and little drops formed on top. So that that I guess. I will try to give her an internal and let you know what I find or don't find. Thanks again

Answer
Yellow/honey is good.  Green/black is bad.

Being prepared is good.  Panicking is bad.

LOL  It's tough especially when they can't tell you what "hurts" or what's "wrong".  They look to us for guidance.  

Milk coming in is a good sign, mucus plug being expelled is also good.  BUT they can both happen 10 days to 24 hours prior to whelp.