If a dog is scanned a few days early say day 26, would the vet see anything to be able to confirm pregnancy?  Is it only after day 28, that they could confirm?
The dog I am referring to is only a small breed, so would a scan be more relaible that say a large breed?

Hi it can make a big difference because even tho you know the date she was mated it can still take upto a good few days to fertilize the eggs ,in large or small breeds .i allawys wait afew days into 5weeks before we scan .

xx

Hi I had my bitch scanned on day 28, it was very clear and showed six pups, it was so clear that I wonder that if I had had it done 3 or 4 days earlier if there would have been any difference.

Jan

i should have said i wait this long as thers less chance of mum reabsurbing pups too :) xx

i was told 4 pups and she had 4 pups :)

Up to what date can they reabsorb the pups?
Jan

My vet was quite sure that if she is not at least 28 days, then he will see nothing.  I  would of thought that even if we are a few days out, they may see somthing.  It's just that knowing others experience of scans not being reliable, i wanted to see what experiences anyone else had over timings?  The vet concerned has offered a free rescan next week, I am still hopeful!
x

The timing relates to when the 'horns' move from the centre of the abdomen to line up along the sides, effectively when they have run out of room...hope that makes sense!?

up to 35 days jan , thats why i will not scan before then , they say it can happen due to the stress of going to vets or there could just be somthing wrong with the whelp!! .

xx

it does newfiedreams :) x

I scanned my girl last summer when she was just 3 weeks and clearly saw pups.

Hi sharon was that at a vets ?

I suppose it would also depend on equipment used and the experience of the scanner?!?

No, I have my own scanner so probably took longer to look properly

I had a positive scan at day 25, but most say day 28 to 30 is best.  Palpation is best done before day 28 as after that there is too much fluid around the foetal units for accurate detection.  Best done at 23 to 25 days.

Hi Crofty, I have spoken to people who have had scans done at day 28 + and the vet has seen nothing or only one, the bitch then went on to whelp, sometimes only a small litter.  keep your fingers crossed.

Jan

Hi all, can anyone email me a contact number for Archie from Polmont in Falkirk, I'd like to take my bitch for a scan soon and have read that he's the best, thanx 

Hi - I've just used Maria Day ( 63 days) in Wisbech - my bitch was on day 25 and we clearly saw 5 pups -though think there may well be more - I like to get a bitch scanned just to confirm the  pregnancy !

Yvonne

Trevor,
Did she shave her belly to get a clear view, as the vet that we saw did not shave our girl. Not sure if it makes a difference?

Thanks

we had our girl scanned at day 22 and it confirmed she was pregnant, however she did carry 10 so it was more likely that we would see something, im almost sure it was day 22 or my oh says it was day 24 so something like that

yes she did shave her abdomen - the pictures were clear and we even got a photo !

yvonne

We had one scanned at 22 days once. She had 6 pups. The vet who is not the person that usually scans for me did it because my girl needed some stitches and she wanted to check because of anaesthetic.

I have heard that scanning too early can cause a bitch to reabsorb pups. I have only had one of my bitches scanned and that was by a sheep scanner bloke who came to my house and did it. He was very accurate and the scan was only done because I suspected my bitch was carrying only one puppy. As it turned out that was the result of the scan and the whelping which resulted in a c-section as the puppy was huge.

There's no reason to think that scanning is any more hazardous for canine embroyos than human embryos, on whom it's used at a much earlier stage of their development.

What the advent of scanning has done is prove what breeders always used to suspect happened - that absorption was a fact.

I don't avoid scanning....... I only have males........ and a spayed bitch. Haven't had a litter here since 1993 :-) Obviously I am always interested to learn of other people experiences. One of my dogs mated a bitch she was scanned earlier than I would have thought possible and the owners told she was definately in whelp, after that they noticed that she was changing shape and getting thinner, a second scan revealed only two puppies were as the earlier scan had revealed 7 puppies. Subsequently the bitch did not produce any puppies at all.

According to the ancient breeding books I have, in the past that would have been called a 'phantom pregnancy' - one where the bitch was mated, appeared to be in whelp then it all subsided and no puppies resulted (as with the bitch you mention). If the bitch hadn't been mated and was never in whelp it was called a 'false pregnancy'. Nowadays the two terms seem to be interchangeable.

If my girl is having a phantom pregnancy, would this still mean she would be off her food?
We are having a second scan on Friday, as we think the first may have been done before 28 days.  She is showing all the right signs of being in whelp, including being off her food for the last week.  We have really struggeled to get her to eat anything.  Could the lack of appetite also be due to a phantom pregnancy?

shes at the stage of what we call morning sickness and like us some dogs suffer more than other ....BUT if she is having a phantom she could still be like this :( as her body still thinks shes in whelp so you still wouldnt know untill scans picked up any pups ,what day is she at now? xx

From first tie day 34, second tie day 32.  It will be so dissapointing if she has missed, as we did everything as we should.  I will have all my fingers and toes crossed friday!

Hi crofty im crossing everything for you too :) good luck as ive said i dont scan till 35 days and weve always seen pups ,im sure you will too!! xx

Years ago I had a bitch scanned just after the 28 days and she was able to see that the bitch was re-absorbing and that there only appeared to be one puppy which she didn't hold out much hope for. She subsequently didn't produce any puppies. It certainly wasn't because of the scan but the scan was very helpful in letting me know not to take any bookings for puppies and was able to tell people who had booked puppies in advance and put them onto other litters.