is it? They say it stopped breathing, but only for a minute. Couldn't they have revived it? And why did the dog take the puppy out to the yard to eat it (it crunched the bones and all!)?
Answers:
It depends on what your idea of the "right thing" is. Your friend's dog ate the puppy because it was dead, she knew it was dead, and it was the best way a dog knows of to dispose of a carcass. If she eats it, it isn't laying around attracting predators to the area where her other puppies are, and she gets more protein her diet, which helps her make more milk for her suviving pups and helps to ensure their survival. This is also why hamsters eat dead babies. If the puppy died, there was a reason it died. Likely it had a congenital heart defect or some other problem and may have even suffered if they had revived it. And the question of if they could have is moot at this point. They didn't, maybe they didn't have the skills to, maybe they didn't want to interfere, but it doesn't matter. They didn't. I think it was just the dog living by the instincts nature provided her with to dispose of the dead puppy in this way, but would I have let a female dog of mine do the same? I don't know.
Somethimes a mother dog will do this. It is one of the wild dog instincts. I still think they should have stopped her from doing this. It is kind of gross.
eww. thanks for that image.
That's nasty. A lot of animals do it though. But if it stopped breathing, I still wouldn't have let it get eaten.
Hello %26 Welcome to the wonderful world of nature, this is what animals often do when they know something is wrong with the pup or their offspring..seems gross %26 bad to us humans..but this is how Nature is, sometimes it can be cruel..your friend actually did right..your looking at from a Human aspect is all..this is Nature's...Take Care :)
I would struggle with that one myself. I probably would have tried to save it.
Is it her first litter? First time moms can be kinda unpredictable.... but dogs usually know best, it probably wouldn't have made it. My dog had a litter and didn't eat the puppy, but she did push it out and away from her...I took it and cared for it and she never thrived and i lost the pup at 16 weeks. My vet said my dog probably knew something was wrong with it and thats why she tried to get rid of it.
It is just the way of dogs, and your friend was probaby right in not stopping it.
The BYBrs are alive and well...
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hi, my female is 5 years old and this is her 4th litter. In this litter she ate 3..1 a day. she has only 5 left. I don't understand why she never did this before. Any ideas?
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