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Delilah is an 18 month old Boston Terrier who presented to us in the
midst of a dystocia (problem giving birth. Delilah was 65 days
pregnant when she came into the clinic. The normal gestation period for
dogs is between 62 to 65 days. The owners had been taking her
temperature daily for the previous two weeks looking for evidence
that she was going to start to give birth because typically the body
temperature will drop below 100 degrees within 24 hours of whelping.
Delilah's temperature had dropped 20 hours prior to presentation.
She had started to have contractions 4 hours before she was brought in
because her contractions were non-productive.
On presentation , Delilah was anxious and panting. Her belly
was very full with puppies. She had a bit of bloody discharge
coming from her vagina. A vaginal exam revealed a puppie's head
stuck in the birth canal. We attempted to deliver the puppy
vaginally but we were unsuccessful. In Boston's and other
bulldogs, dystocia is a common problem, mostly due to the large size of
these dog's head versus their narrow pelvic canals.
We performed ultrasound exam of the uterus and found the puppies to
be still alive. At this point, we were forced to perform a
caesarian section. In this procedure, the mother is gently
anesthetized and an incision is made into the abdomen. The uterus
with the puppies inside is brought out of the abdomen and it is incised,
being careful not to cut the puppy. One by one, the puppies are
removed from the uterus. Each puppy has it's own umbilical cord,
which is connected to a corresponding placenta in the uterus. The
fetal sacs must be opened, the puppy is then exteriorized and the
umbilical cord is clamped and cut. The puppy is handed off to
waiting assistants who clear its airways, dry it off and stimulate it to
get it breathing. Meanwhile, the surgeon moves on to the next
puppy. As long as the puppies are in the uterus, the mother is
supplying them oxygenated blood, so we have some time to get each one
out. However, we want to minimize the effects of anesthesia on the
pups so the procedure is done as quickly as is safely possible.
Once all the puppies were out, we removed each of the placentas from
the uterus. Because the owner's want to breed Delilah again, we
sutured her uterus closed and then closed the abdomen in a routine
manner. She will be able to breed again, but will have to be
delivered by C-section again.
While we were finishing up surgery, the nursing staff were busy
getting the 4 puppies up and going. We were very fortunate in this
case that all the puppies made it. As soon as Delilah was up and
anesthetic free, she was reunited to her pups who quickly took their
first meal.
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| Stimulating Puppies |
Happy Mom |
Clearing Passages |
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| Drying and warming |
Swinging puppy to clear
airways |
Mom comes to recovery |
Reunited |
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