Possible Pregnacy Complications

Question
I have a female i use for breeding. She is not even a year old. I moved her 2-1/2 weeks into her pregnancy cycle to a nursing cage. She was her active self until it was time to deliever. At first she was breathing heavy and I thought just labor. It has gone a week past delivering, no babies and she seems to be quite sick, real sluggish, teeth grinding, furr not normal. She does not show signs of being pregnant and is actually getting skinny. Could the young have died inside her causing infection. She is an extremely active rat and now just lays around.
Your opinion is appreciated.

I have several rats and feed them dog food and unsalted peanuts. Is this a healthy diet?  

Answer
 It sounds like something is definitely wrong.  Sometimes the babies die inside of the mother and are reabsorbed naturally but sometimes they will fester inside, causing infection.  I would definitely take her to the vet; she may need a cesarian to remove the dead fetuses to save her.

 Dog food by itself isn't a complete diet.  Some people use it as an ingredient in home made diets, but if that and peanuts are all that you are giving them it isn't the best diet for rats.  Peanuts are all right as a snack every so often but they do contain a lot of fat which isn't good for them.  I would recommend switching to a quality lab block (Harlan Teklad, Oxbow Regal Rat, or Mazuri) or seeking out a reputable home made diet (links to follow).  No matter what you are feeding them it is important that their diet is supplemented with fresh food daily, including fruits, veggies, grains, and meat.  Here are some links to some home made diets:

http://www.shunamiterats.co.uk/diet.html
http://www.boardmanweb.com/rattery/nutrition.htm
http://ratfanclub.org/diet.html
http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/recipes1.htm
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/recipes2.htm

 Hope that helps, good luck with your rats!