Why Do Dogs Eat Their Puppies?

Like other mothers, bitches are often seen carefully after the birth of their pups. They are noticed to fulfill all the requirements of their pup. Almost every mother dog shows maternal behavior towards their pups from the very beginning. But have you ever seen any mother dog eating its own pup?

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You may have not seen this, but it actually happens. Several people have noticed the mother bitch eating their puppy instead of exhibiting maternal behavior. After looking at such an incident, the first question that arises in our mind is why? How can any mother do such a thing? Why do mother bitch eat their own pup? Kennel Nose?

Well, the answer is nature’s way of working. Though these incidents are very rare but can be seen. Mostly mother bitches love and care for their pups, but when it comes to nature’s way of working, a bitch may do this because of their natural instinct.

Before concluding the mother bitch to brutal, first know the reason behind this cannibalism behavior.

Why do mother dogs eat their pups?

Several reasons can lead to this sequel. Some of these are:

1] Unhealthy pup is the most common reason for the mother to exhibit such behavior. Nature gives the power to the mother that makes her know the health condition of their pup. When any of their pups is unhealthy, she needs to take a tough decision. Either she can invest more time in nursing the unhealthy pup and ignoring other pups, or relieve the pup from its pain. Since the mother needs to take care of other pups, she chooses the second option and kills the infected and unhealthy pup.

2] Also, the unhealthy and infected pup increases the chance of infection in other pups. So to prevent her other pups, she prefers to kill the infected pup.

3] Sometimes, while eating the placenta, the mother bitch eats the pup accidentally.

4] Pregnancy is a very stressful condition. So sometimes, the mother bitch take the bad decision out of their stress.

5] Hormonal imbalance also leads to such circumstances.

The bottom line

So these are some reasons that can make a mother bitch eat their pups.