105. Green vaginal discharge, no puppy seen. What to do?

"My Labrador Retriever passed green discharge all over the kitchen floor. What to do?" the teenaged girl asked me. The female dog had no active contractions and half a day had passed with no puppy seen.

I said, "Wait, the puppy should be out within 30 minutes of the rupture of the water bag."

She did not know what I was talking about. All she knew was that there was green discharge all over the floor.

Telephone diagnosis is best avoided. Normally all Retrievers can give birth naturally. However, in this case, a green discharge meant that the placenta had separated and the puppy had not passed out. There might be some problem.

In such situations, if I advised waiting for an hour or more and if all the puppies die, I get the blame. I had encountered such a situation before from an unknown caller.

The person complained to the veterinary authority about me as one puppy or more had died. He had a Caesarean done at another vet surgery.

"Did you ask about the green vaginal discharge?" the authority called me by phone telling me there was a complaint about my phone advices.

So the best advice is to get the dog down to the surgery for observation or necessary Caesarean. Do not assume that every Retriever would give birth naturally. In this case, the girl was told to contact the parents. I got the dog transport woman to go to the house after talking to the mother.

When the transport woman reached the house, one puppy was born. Another came out within 30 minutes. The father asked me why I sent the dog transport woman to the house? The dam was suckling the 2 puppies!

I advised "wait and see" and asked the dog transport woman to leave. It was a very stressful situation for the teenaged girl as this was her first time. I should expect the Retriever to give birth naturally as almost all do so.

However, in life, there are always exceptions to the rule and the vet should not be too complacent.