Hi
How long after the temperature drop would you wait for labour to start ? My girl is day 60 but is very large and her temperature has been at 98 for more than 24 hours now. She is sleeping most of the time and pants when she is awake but no digging or nesting or signs of contractions.
She is five and a half years old (so an older mum in my breed) and this is her second litter. He first litter two years ago was delivered by C-section and produced eight huge puppies.
My concern is that her uterus may be stretched so much that contractions will not start or that scarring from her previous section could be causing inertia.
My girls normally always deliver within 12-24 hours of their temperature dropping and I have read that if temperature stays down for more than 24 hours without labour starting to consult the vet. However my vet says if she is fine and not in obvious distress just to wait as taking her to the surgery could halt the labour process.
I am just worried that I leave things too long and also that going into the weekend will mean if she needs emergency surgery, it will be out of hours with less staff available to assist.

The longest one of mine has gone is 36 hours but like u now I would be getting edgy!!!

I always go with my gut instinct and this has always proven correct. If you think she needs to see the vet take her. U know her well would she become distressed if in discomfort or would she not show signs.

I always think better a trip to the vet and it wasn't needed than you regret it later.

I think if my gut feeling wasn't telling me that I need to take some action and everything was going to proceed normally, I wouldn't be posting on this forum !
She is a very stoical girl that never ever shows any signs of distress and takes everything in her stride so I think a trip to the vet this PM is in order.

why was it she had the c section last time? I would definitely take her for peace of mind. I wouldn't wait till this evening I would call now and say that you want her seen within the next hour. :-)

I agree  waiting for this evening is adding more hours.

Sorry when I said this PM, I meant this afternoon not the evening. Will let you know what happens when I get back.

good luck

My concern would be if the temperature now rose to around normal or above.  That's the time that they need to be unzipped. :)

How did it go with the vets?

Sorry forgot to come back and update the thread as it is now very busy here ! Visited the vet on Friday afternoon and after an examination was told she wasn't dilated and to come back on Monday if nothing had happened by then. Vet also did an ultrasound but couldn't see the heartbeats as my girl was panting too much. Temperature back up to 101.5.
Anyway at about 2am a water bag burst but she still had no contractions. Out of hours trip to the vet where she was given oxytocin and calcium and was told to come back again at 7.30am if things hadn't moved on.
Still nothing happening by 7.30am so back to vet and eight healthy puppies delivered by c-section.
Overall a happy ending for mum and pups but disappointing that vets are so reluctant to listen to the gut feeling of a breeder that things are not quite right.

i think a change of vet is needed! oxytocin should NEVER be giving before at least 1 pup born :( you are lucky to have not lost your pups and mum for that matter ...you have 8 wonderful pups and mums ok :) so glad to hear all is great now ,well done! xx

>oxytocin should NEVER be giving before at least 1 pup born

What matters is whether the cervix is fully dilated, whether or not a pup has been born.

ive always red on here NEVER give intill at least 1 pup born and op said her girl wasnt dilated when they went to the vets?.

>ive always red on here NEVER give intill at least 1 pup born

Only because, to a layman, that's proof that she's fully dilated.

ok thanks. x

Congrats on your litter jaybyjasper!

Agree with Jeangenie.  I once had a vet that wanted to give oxytocin BEFORE a bitch was fully dilated.  This can cause rupture to the uterus.  I refused.  :-(

Even if a pup has not been born, oxytocin is fine if fully dilated.  I think the reason that people are told it is after a pup is born, is because the average person would not know if a bitch had reached that stage.

I have to say though, I never go back home after oxytocin.  I prefer to be near an operating theatre!  I have had oxytocin work, and they have let me have a room to deliver my pups in. 

But I have also had a bitch that, after two injections, didn't start labour.  I asked for an ultra sound, saw a heartbeat, and asked them to go in right away.  My girl had been hanging around long enough.  Although, I have to admit that I never let a bitch have 2 sections.  If they need one, they are spayed afterwards, as I don't want the risk again.

Thanks for all the input.
Just to clarify before we end this thread, vet in the afternoon said she wasn't dilated. By the time of second visit at 4.00 am ish, she was fully dilated so am happy that Oxytocin was safe at that point.
However, I too was unhappy about not being allowed to stay at the vet's at that point as I have a 60 minute round trip to get there and back (in the dark so not easy to take any emergency action if a puppy appeared).
We were home for around 90 minutes before having to head back at 7.30am for the c-section which the vet wanted to do before consulting commenced so that it didnt disrupt her day !
Three trips to the vet did nothing to help my girl's stress levels (or mine) but I assume they wanted to give her every opportunity to deliver on her own which I knew wasn't going to happen at visit one !

thanks jean ,ive read so many conflicking things ,now i know what to do if i ever need it
:-)

> but I assume they wanted to give her every opportunity to deliver on her own which I knew wasn't going to happen at visit one !

Sigh!!!  Why do they not listen to us????