Giving birth to a baby or a pup usually consider a wonderful experience for both humans and pets. When a dog gives birth to puppies, they will exhibit maternal love and behavior, but certain behavior of the mother dog sometimes puts their babies’ lives in danger. Why do dogs eat their babies?
Dogs eating puppies is one of those behaviors that nobody likes to talk about. This behavior is rare, but around the words, it happens, and mother dogs will occasionally eat their newborn babies.
Please note that pets don’t have the same moral compasses as humans. Some dog’s behaviors don’t make them monsters. They’re just following their instincts.
Don’t punish your canine alternately. You can stop them from such behaviors with proper care and training.
In the article, our Experts and pet behaviorists conclude a complete guide about why do dogs eat their puppies.
Why do Dogs Eat their Babies?
How to stop a mother dog from eating her puppies? According to pet experts and behaviorists, all Mother dogs have a protective instinct for their newborn pups, but sometimes it becomes riskier. Below we have mentioned all the possible reasons of Why do dogs eat their babies?
1. Inexperienced Mom:
Giving birth first time or giving birth at a very young age brings a lot of difficulties. Such inexperienced mother dogs develop very strange, irritating, and life-threatening behaviors.
According to pet experts, Dogs who give birth during their first heat are more exposed to develop Cannibalism. Research shows that a large ratio of dogs is found that eat their babies after birth in such conditions.
Servedogs Team found that mother pets can eat pups accidentally in a rare case, and the pet owner needs to be more curious about the dog’s birth stage, and they need to stop the dog from eating their puppies.
Research shows that about 10% of owners breed their pets to increase the number of offspring without considering their age.
2. Mastitis:
Mastitis is a breast infection in dogs that leads a canine to a very serious and painful condition. In the Mastitis, the nipple of the canine became inflamed, swollen, red, and become more painful and sensitive.
New burn puppies need to be feed after birth, and they try to get milk from the mother without knowing their mother’s situation.
Some mother dogs will prevent their babies with other behaviors, while some even kill their pups in this painful experience.
This is the best idea for dogs owner whos pets is suffering from mastitis to seek immediate veterinarian help to treat the illness and to feed Vet recommended puppy milk with Puppy feeding bottles.
3. Unintentionally:
After giving birth to new offspring, a mother dog wants to clean her pups and want to show her motherhood love. They start licking and biting to remove all the dirt from the puppy’s body.
They also bite off the umbilical cord and even eat her placenta and want to bring the newborn close to her body to maintain the body heat.
But sometimes, a young pup doesn’t tolerate such behavior and dies and thus, Unintentionally, mother dog loses her baby.
4. Following the instinct:
Many pet behaviors come from instinct. A theory shows that wolves are the ancestor of dogs. Many canines eat their babies due to a genetic cause and just following the instinct behavior.
Therefore this is important to note that Some canines behaviors don’t make them monsters They’re just adopting their instincts behaviors. Don’t punish your canine alternately. You can stop them from such behaviors with proper care and training.
According to pet experts, dog breeds such as Staffordshire Bull Terriers are famous for eating and killing their puppies, so every Staffordshire Bull Terriers owners need to be more alert in the birth time.
5. Lack of Recognition:
In delivery time, pets produce many different hormones, some of which help them recognize their babies’ pup. These hormones help to create that natural maternal bond.
In Normal delivery, dogs can sense their hormone on the newborn pup. However, Many dogs are unable to recognize their hormonal sense of babies after birth.
Such dogs consider their babies predators in their environment, and they will eat their puppies. This condition is most common in dogs who birth via C-sections.
Puppies birth via Cesarean section cannot catch the natural releasing hormones, which make the mother in trouble to recognize.
6. Stress:
Pain of delivery while birth is the most stressful period for the mother of any creature. Stress could lead humans, animals, and pets to strange behaviors. A stressful scared, and tired dog mother usually having no ideas how to deal with the situation.
According to pet experts, the main reason for stress which leads a dog to eat their puppies is a busy and noisy birthing area. If the mother pet notices any harassing behaviors from the humans, animals, or other dogs, she will start howling, barking, and even eating her puppies in stress.
7. Mercy Killing:
Some time puppy is born with a birth illness. According to experts, the dogs know about their pup illnesses, and they think that there is no chance of survival of the pup.
The mother dogs want to keep the other puppies safe and don’t want to waste resources, including feeding and shelter. In such a situation, the mother dogs eat their weak and ill pups to keep other safes. This behavior is also common in many other wildlife animals.
8. Lack of Puppies Response:
Some puppies at birth become injured, sick, and even die. When a mother dog notices that a puppy is not responding, like others, she tries to make them respond by licking, biting, and if not succeeded, they consider it dead and start eating the puppy.
How to prevent a dog from eating her Puppies?
Now, as we all know all the possible reasons dogs were eating their puppies, we need to intervene to stop the dog from the behavior. Do not creating more stress when you try to intervene and separate her from her puppies.
Take some prudent measures because this will make the mother angrier.
How to stop a mother dog from eating her puppies? Follow the below instruction to prevent a dog from eating baby puppies.
- First of you need to provide a healthy diet and plenty of water, proper beddings, and proper care to ensure a healthy delivery with healthy puppies.
- Don’t try to breed underage or ill doggie.
- Provide a restful and full peace environment for a dog while giving birth.
- Make sure a routine vet checkup to avoid a C-section delivery.
- If you notice that your dog is suffering from Mastitis, please make sure proper treatment and separate the puppies after birth and feed them with a bottle until the mother recovers from the illness.
- Make sure to reduce noise and prevent humans and animals from the birth spot.
- If you notice any stress or obvious behaviors in the mother, please keep a close eye and separate the puppies if necessary.
- If you notice that the dog is avoiding or rejecting one of the puppies, please take the pup to the vet to diagnose any illnesses and proper treatment.
FAQ:
Why would a mother dog kill her puppies?
The causes of killing puppies by mother dogs are many. According to pet experts, mother dogs kill their newborn puppies when they face the below-mentioned problems.
- She is an Inexperienced Mom
- She is under Stress
- She is suffering from Mastitis
- She is difficulty is recognizing the pup as their own.
- She kills unintentionally.
- She may kill the pup due to illness and protect other puppies safe.
Do dogs eat their puppies if you touch them?
A famous myth about dogs and puppies is when human touch newborn puppies, the dogs will then eat and kill the puppies. But there is nothing true in this myth.
However, the only theory which makes this myth true to some extent is hormonal issues. Mother dogs use hormonal senses to recognize their new burn babies. When a human touches the puppy, the human body odor eliminate the hormonal odor, and the dog cannot identify the pups as there own and kill them.
But serve dogs Team doesn’t believe in this myth. What you think, please share with us in the comment section.
Do Father dogs kill their puppies?
Why do male dogs kill puppies? No, Father dogs usually don’t kill their puppies. However, occasionally a father dog can kill their newborns.
The exact cause of this behavior is not confirmed, but according to some pet experts, this behavior could be the cause of brain health problems, hormonal issues, ill puppies, etc.
Will a mother dog, eat a dead puppy?
Yes, some mother dogs eat a dead puppy. This irritating and strange behavior is most common in inexperienced and stressful mother dogs. The main reason behind why a mother dog eats a dead puppy is a lack of response.
A slow pup with no heartbeat doesn’t make any response, and the mother considers it just a piece of flash and eats them.