Can My Dog Whelp Normally After Hurting Her Back?

"Our mini poodle was hit by a car some time back but she pulled through and walked on her front legs for a month or so. We did not have money to take her to a vet, but she's back to jumping and living pretty normally. Then, our chihuahua got her pregnant. Will she be able to deliver her pups or what do we need to do?"—Chris

Can an Injured Dog Have Puppies?

It is difficult for me to say for sure if she is going to have her puppies normally since she was not examined at the time, but it sounds like she was limping/not using her back legs because of muscle pain and damage secondary to the accident—not nerve damage.

If it was nerve damage, the nerves were not severed. Pets with severed nerves often never walk again. The fact that she is now jumping up and walking okay is a great sign.

A Broken Pelvis Can Cause Problems

Unfortunately, if the trauma was bad enough to cause severe lameness, her pelvis was most likely fractured when she was hit by a car. About 25% of all fractures seen in practice are pelvic fractures. (1)

• X-Rays: If you really want to know if she is going to have a problem whelping, the only way to tell is to take her to your local vet for an exam and x-rays of the hips. If the bones in the hips were crushed in the car accident, she may no longer have a normal birth canal, and the puppies are not going to pass normally.
• Digital Exam: If you cannot afford to have the hips x-rayed, your veterinarian can get a rough idea of the damage to the hips with a digital exam. They can do this during the physical exam. If she was constipated after the accident, that may have been a sign of a pelvic fracture, but that is also seen when dogs are not able to walk normally.

Home Therapy

If you cannot take her in for an examination and x-rays, the bare minimum you should do for her is to take her for a long walk several times a day. She will have a much easier time giving birth if she is in good physical shape.

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Whelping Box

If her pelvic canal is okay and she is going to have puppies, you should build a whelping box (see the video below). Please start this now so it will be ready for her by the time she is ready to give birth.

A whelping box will provide her a safe place to have her puppies and her puppies a place to rest without being disturbed, and the sides can be built shallow enough so that she can jump out and get away from the puppies if she needs to.

Spay Now If Necessary

If your poodle had a crushing injury to her pelvis, then only surgery is going to open it up. (2) If you cannot do this, she should be spayed now to prevent her from dying when giving birth.

References

• (1) Harasen G. Pelvic fractures. Can Vet J. 2007 Apr;48(4):427-8. PMID: 17494373; PMCID: PMC1831511. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1831511/
• (2) Bockstahler B, Levine D, Millis D. Essential Facts of Physiotherapy in Dogs and Cats: Rehabilitation and Pain Management. Babenhausen, Beate Egner (BE) Vet Verlag. 2004:196–200

This article is not meant to substitute for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prescription, or formal and individualized advice from your veterinarian. Animals exhibiting signs and symptoms of distress should be seen by a veterinarian immediately.

© 2023 Mark dos Anjos, DVM