We recently adopted a bitch from a man who could no longer care for her. He said nothing about her being pregnant, but one night i was petting her stomach and felt something move. So i started watching and sure enough i could see them. This was about a week and a half ago. So we have no idea when she is due. She is having a gooey dark brown discharge, and we're not sure what it is. Our vet has strange hours and isn't open until 5 tonight. Is this of any great concern? We've bred dogs before, but this hasn't happened. We were retired until now i guess lol. Thanks for any help.(:

I would get her seen by a vet... If you are seeing them move then I would say that she is in her last week roughly. I know that when my girl was expecting I could see them from day 50, she then had them on day 61. She is a large breed. Hope everything else is ok with your girl

> Our vet has strange hours and isn't open until 5 tonight.

I would be contacting a vet that does round the clock I'm afraid.  If I need a vet at 5am or 5pm, I expect to get one!

She has got to be close if you have felt movement.  Dark brown doesn't sound right to me. 

Hi,

I agree that if you can see movement of pups you are approx 2 weeks from whelping, as it has been a week and a half since you noticed she is very close. Is she showing any other signs of whelping soon, panting, digging etc?

The red/brown discharge does not sound like the mucus plug, unless it is mixed with a broken sac or old blood there is the possibility of a dead pup to consider. It is important for you to get her to a vet to rule these things out, just noticed the time you were calling your vet at 5pm. :-) Let us know what happens, hope that everything is ok and your vet can give you a better insight as to her dates etc.

our vet said that because we can see the puppies moving, she should be okay until tomorrow night. And that if there was a dead puppy, there's nothing we can do about it now, and it probably isn't an infection since those commonly happen after birth, but to continue to maintain her temperature and keep a close eye on her. i'll keep everyone updated(:

I would still insist on the vet seeing her this morning rather than a over the phone consultation.

Update:
We took bre to the vet; and he checked her out and said that it wasn't an infection. He said it could possibly be a dead puppy, but that he wanted to wait until she went into labor to see if she could get it out. He listened to the hearbeats, so we have some alive. He didn't want to do an X-ray, saying something about this close to delivery could be bad for them? But anyway, her discharge is now clear, so i'm thinking mucus plug? There's a lot of it though. Her temperature is 98.8 as of 10:00pm, but no labor symptoms yet. We're hoping for sunday<3

ive seen mucus a diry brown in it before and red blood but only before whelping started that day and all pups born alive, sounds like she dont have long to go ,good luck with pending whelping i hope it all goes well x

> He didn't want to do an X-ray, saying something about this close to delivery could be bad for them?

I would be changing my vet pronto.  I have never heard such tosh in my life.  It is perfectly safe, and done regularly if problems are suspected.  I am disgusted with your vet.  I would find a vet that knows it is safe.

No progress yet. /: Its about 1:30 am here, and she's still sleeping. Her discharge is now light brown, and mucus texture. We're waiting impatiently to get this show on the road. I'm starting to worry about maybe uterine inertia, but i don't know how common that is. It's been a little over 24 hours since temp. drop. Her temperature is still under 99, so this must be the real drop. Her stomach is VERY lumpy, and she's been hiding under our bed for the day. She had runs this morning, but her stool is back to solid. Still eating and drinking. *sigh* Hoping to have more progress when i get up at 3 to check on her. I think she may be dilated a small amount. Last night i did an internal just to see if she even started dilating, and there was no..opening? When i did one today, i could feel and opening about the size of my index finger. So hopefully she is dilating, just not anxious yet. We have no idea about her labor/whelping patterns, so i don't know what i'm really dealing with. If she hasn't made any progress by tomorrow at 12, we're going to call the emergency vet for some advice. Hopefully we won't need to, and we are hoping for a day whelp. She also refuses to lay in her box, so we're praying she doesn't decide to have her water break on our couch. Thanks all. 

I have read this topic with my jaw on the floor!
First off, stop putting your finger into your dog.  You are not a trained professional, are you?  So you have no idea what you are feeling for.  And you could be exposing both mum and pups to infection.  I have had several litters of pups over the years and have never had either myself or anyone else insert a finger into my bitch.  Holy God!  I honestly cannot believe it.
And I seriously doubt for a second that your dog has been anywhere near a vet.  Pretty certain you are googling your symptoms and getting your answers there as there are too many discrepancies between what you are writting about Your vet and what a true vet would do/say.
I feel very sorry for this poor girl who is at a very vunerable time and I really hope for her sake that all goes well.
My own girl is almost 4 weeks pregnant and all she wants is to feel secure and safe with me.  I couldn't imagine ever letting her down.

I have had several litters of pups over the years and have never had either myself or anyone else insert a finger into my bitch.  Holy God!  I honestly cannot believe it.
It's what knowledgable, experienced breeders do all the time - to test if a bitch is ready for mating and to see how whelping is progressing. :)  Having said that, I wouldn't suggest that anybody who didn't know what they were doing should do it. :(

> our vet said that because we can see the puppies moving, she should be okay until tomorrow night. And that if there was a dead puppy, there's nothing we can do about it now, and it probably isn't an infection since those commonly happen after birth, but to continue to maintain her temperature and keep a close eye on her. i'll keep everyone updated(:

One of my girls had a slight brown/green gloopy discharge, no temperature, no signs of discomfort, but when we got her to the vet it was a dead pup, first in the birth canal, my vet didn't wait he did a c-section there and then and delivered 5 out of the 6 very much alive and very healthy, sadly the first pup was only half formed and if we had waited any longer then we 'may' have lost the rest

Thank you to those who have helped. Bre delivered 3 beautiful babies this morning. My vet said that a dead puppy may cause the discharge, but they weren't sure because she wasn't in labor yet. There was no dead puppy, all three are fine. Thank you, and i will post pictures later(:

thats great news :) and no dead pups too wonderful! so glad its all over for her and you :) xx

Congratulations on a safe delivery:)
Glad all are alive and safe and well.
Well done Bre..lots of TLC now;)

That is really good news, congratulations!

> Thank you, and i will post pictures later(:

Congrats on your safe arrivals but I'm afraid you won't be able to post links to photos here as it's not allowed, sorry.