As humans we equate childbirth with intense struggle and pain. If you’ve experienced it personally, either as the mother or the support crew, you would agree. I agree. The birth of my son went on for around 24 hours and was intense for me. I can’t even begin to imagine how it was for his mother. When we talk about painful events, childbirth is our most common comparative measure. You hear people say, for example, “They say passing a kidney stone hurts almost as much as childbirth…” Or, “I hear an icepick through your eye socket hurts almost as much as childbirth…” Even if you haven’t experienced giving birth firsthand, you’ve seen intense depictions of childbirth in film. Because of our human experience, our default understanding is that describing birthing as difficult is an understatement. But all species do not necessarily have an equivalent experience.
In the obstetrics world, we talk about dystocia (“difficult birth”) and eutocia (“true” or “normal” birth). In the human world, even a “difficult” birth may not qualify as a “dystocia” because “difficult” is “normal.” Human babies have disproportionately large heads to house our (mostly unutilized) gray matter, and these large noggins need to pass through a relatively small birth canal. This is difficult. But for a birth to qualify as a dystocia, it must have increased difficulty…beyond what is considered the normal range. Babies coming out backwards or sideways, twisted umbilical cords, or slower than usual progression of uterine contractions or cervical dilation are all examples of what qualifies as dystocia in a woman.
In the canine obstetrics world (which we call theriogenology), the terms dystocia and eutocia are perhaps even more appropriate because a “true” birth in dogs is not painful, not a struggle; it is without difficulty. Puppies are little, sausage-shaped torpedoes, designed to easily slide right on out with no drama whatsoever. Once abdominal contractions are visible, a puppy is usually born within minutes, with no whimpering, no signs of pain, no excess bleeding. Easy.
With dogs, if it’s not that easy, then it’s a dystocia. Any of the following constitute a dystocia in a bitch (bold items are the most common):
- No signs of labor within 24 hours of a drop in temperature and/or progesterone dropping to baseline
- Going beyond 64 days gestation (counting from ovulation, not breeding)
- Visible abdominal contractions for longer than 15 minutes without a puppy being born
- Resting for longer than 2 hours between puppy births with no visible contractions
- Obvious signs of pain (crying out)
- Discharge from the vulva is smelly, dark, or has more than just a little amount of blood
If any of the above happen, getting expedited help from a veterinarian can save puppy lives. Minutes matter and stillbirths will increase the longer it takes to get help. For anyone planning on natural whelping, we recommend identifying an emergency clinic that you trust, one that is competent enough to recognize a dystocia and acknowledge the critical need for speedy treatment, and one that won’t require a spay at the time of c-section. Call them a few days ahead of time to confirm that they have surgeons available just in case you end up needing them. A recent study found that if it takes longer than 75 minutes from the time a problem is suspected to removing the fetuses with c-section then it is more likely than not that there will be at least one stillborn puppy.
How likely is it that a bitch will have a dystocia? A recent survey of nearly 2500 litters at two different service dog facilities which primarily had Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, and German Shepherd Dogs, found a dystocia rate of nearly 24%. Keep in mind that these are breeds we don’t typically equate with having problems whelping. Small litters (<5 puppies) had a 37% chance of dystocia and large litters (>11 puppies) had a 27% chance. These litter size risks would change with smaller or larger breeds (i.e., for small breeds, 5 puppies is a large litter!). Dystocia risk also increased with the age of the dam. This study also corroborated the concern about time not being on your side. The longer the interval between puppies, the more likely that subsequent puppies will be stillborn. Two hours of no progress between puppies held a 28% chance of stillborn puppies and seemed to be a breakpoint between prematurely assuming a problem and waiting too long to act.
These are all relatively high percentages and so it is understandable why some breeders have decided to schedule planned c-sections rather than risk a dystocia. We support our clients who have weighed the risks and made that decision. We also support our clients who have made the decision to allow natural whelping. In these cases, we emphasize the importance of recognizing signs of dystocia and making the decision to seek veterinary intervention sooner rather than later.