The vet was concerned that the 3rd little puppy shown on the x-ray was only 1/4 the size compared to the other two littermates and was premature in development. The puppy had passed away inside of the mother and the other two pups were quite large for their age, about 200g in weight.

It was tense, but I did it. There were two live puppies, but no 3rd puppy. The labor started at 4:00 AM. I was up all night. At 8:00 AM I assisted in the delivery of pup number 1. There was brown goo from the dam. It took me 2 hours to get the 2nd puppy out. All went well as I knew what to do.

The x-rays CLEARLY showed that there was a third puppy and that its bones were formed. I was ALL prepared to look after the wee one. I had all of the critical care equipment including an incubator and tube feeding stuff ready. However, there was no 3rd puppy.

The body broke the dead puppy down in 3 days.

The x-rays that were taken after the delivery of the first two puppies showed no retained pup. It is amazing how the body absorbed the dead pup in the 3 days since the last x-ray. It was coming out as black sludgy goo. I have the mother on antibiotics. The mom is not producing milk yet, but when she is and the pups start gaining weight, they will all go home, likely in a bout 3 days.

The mom is happy and the pups are doing well. The breeder of this litter came to visit. A wonderful story and what I love to do, help puppies.

The ultrasound shows three live pups and one that is reabsorbing. The ultrasound didn't come through all that clear but on the bottom left is the reabsorbed pup. It looks like an eye without an eyeball. Reabsorbing a pup, or puppies, is sort of like a human miscarriage. When the fetus dies, the mom miscarries it. However, when there is an entire litter it isn't safe for mom to abort a single dead puppy, so instead if a fetus dies the dam’s body absorbs it.

(it has been found that Altren or Regu-Mate (ALTRENOGEST) and other brands that are liquid progestin that can be used to maintain the pregnancy. But you only want to give this if you are 100% sure the dog is pregnant. With the proper equipment and not using a cheap ultrasound machine a proper vet can confirm pregnancy. But there are some things to be mindful of. 1st thing is it can cause seizures if there is a reason why the body is trying to absorb the pups. The good thing is that you can simply take the mother off the medication. Sometimes that is because the pups are not properly developed or other reasons. But as stated to stop the seizures simple just take the dog off the medication. Another thing is it will keep the dogs progesterone levels high. Normally progesterone numbers will drop to tell the dogs body that it is time to go into labor. So you will not know when it is time to preform the c section because the temp will not drop, so you will need to know exactly what days the dog was breed. But this method has been used under proper supervision and has successfully saved puppies from being absorbed, and were properly born.