My bitch is 62 days today, we thought she was going to whelp on Friday as we had a rather unsettled night with her Thursday.

My mentor said shes not known this breed to get to 63 days they usually deliver 3/4 days early.... We took her to the vets on Saturday for a check over as we were a little concerned she had all the signs of getting ready to start then nothing and all went quiet,  he's not concerned but expected her to whelp within 24/48 hours... he said the vets wouldn't intervene until she hit day 70 then they would section her but as it stood as of saturday she was in good health and no concerns.

We had another restless night last night up and down lots but again this morning all is calm, she's eaten breakfast e.t.c

Now here's my little dilemma, when we had her scanned at just before 5 weeks the scanner saw puppies but said they were 'early' puppies around 25/26 days at most, which if going by that would make her 56 days today and not the 62 going by the mating...

A little unsure how to play this now do I take it that she is 62 days and go by the mating and take her for another check over at the vets Wednesday if she hasn't delivered by tomorrow? or do I just wait it out as she possibly isn't due until a week today :/

She's not in any distress, there's no discharge or anything like that, maybe a little uncomfortable as one would expect at this stage and apart from a couple of restless nights that's about all that's been happening. We have attempted to take her temperature on several occasions but she squirms sooo much or legs it when we appear with the thermometer it's made it somewhat difficult to get a good reading, her temp at the vets saturday was 38c which he said was lower than 'normal'

Just a little unsure what to do with regards to the dates.. Can the gestation of the puppies be accurate on a scan?

my scanner was right with the dates of my last litter she was 4 weeks when i took her and she had 3 matings.
if the scanner is good i would go by that
as long as she is not losing anything that doesnt look right, sounds like shes getting ready
my girls temp was always around 37,7 then dropped to 36.2/4 13 hours before pups were due
good luck with your litter

My mentor said shes not known this breed to get to 63 days they usually deliver 3/4 days early.... We took her to the vets on Saturday for a check over as we were a little concerned she had all the signs of getting ready to start then nothing and all went quiet,  he's not concerned but expected her to whelp within 24/48 hours... he said the vets wouldn't intervene until she hit day 70 then they would section her but as it stood as of saturday she was in good health and no concerns.

Can't help with the dates, but the above totally shocked me and if I was you I'd change vets pronto as yours clearly hasn't got the first clue about breeding! :( To wait until 70 day for a breed that normally goes 59 or 60 days -well you'd be guaranteed no live pups then and would be lucky to have a live bitch......

Am not sure how good or accurate the scanner is we only really wanted to confirm the pregnancy, think she's been doing it a while, it's just such a big difference from being due tomorrow to being due a week today, and knowing when is the right time to 'step in' because she's 'late'

I have her an appointment Wednesday at the vets anyway it would have been a check over for mum, or a check over for both mom and pups had she whelped by then, but don't want to take her down there (she gets VERY over excited at the vets) if she technically is only 58 days going by what the scanner said.

It's her first litter, and she was mated once on September 4th with a 25 min tie, then 2 slip matings on September 5th, the lady we went to for mating said that she had completely closed up after the first mating with the tie so were assuming that's the mating that she took from.

I've read of people with toy breeds leaving their bitch to go beyond their due date and the puppies not surviving, which is why I'm a bit worried and also confused as to which date we should be going from

Goldmali, I was quite Suprised that they wouldn't intervene until day 70 but he said no dog pregnancy is the same and they couldn't just assume she would deliver early just because others in the breed have :/

As it was a Saturday he was a locum vet, so am guessing he needs to brush up on his breeding knowledge.

> I've read of people with toy breeds leaving their bitch to go beyond their due date and the puppies not surviving,

Is this a toy breed?  If so, please, please don't wait past day 63.  Mine go 56 days, and I would be in a dither past day 60.  If it's not a toy breed, fine.

Waiting until day 70 with a toy, I would expect dead puppies and dead bitch.

Shes a toy breed, but you see my problem is this whole dating thing with the scan.. Is she actually 63 days tomorrow (from mating) or going by the scan is she only 57 days?  I can't see her having them before tomorrow she's too relaxed, not interested in her welping box, eating ok, slower than normal but still eating, the puppies are active, her milk is in she has the first milk there already has had for a couple of days.

I don't want to unnecessarily put her through a c-section for the sake of the dating being wrong! but at the same time I don't want any harm to come to the puppies or my bitch :/

Going from the scan I would be preparing for the birth from Wednesday onwards the 58th day, then up to 63 days which would be next Monday

Going on the mating I've been prepared and watching like a hawk since last Thursday with tomorrow being day 63!

Just not sure what to do for the best

She could have a progesterone test as the levels will indicate if she should whelp/have a C section (the levels drop to a certain point when whelping should start), but you'd need a quick turn around time for the lab results.

It's called Reverse Progesterone testing http://frenchbulldogclub.org/about-frenchies/breeding-a-frenchie/reverse-progesterone-testing

A progesterone level of < 2.5 ng/ml (ng/ml = nanograms of progesterone per milliliter of blood) will have the bitch in active labor. If the bitch is not in labor, but the progesterone level is 3.0 ng/ml or less, one can safely do a c-section if the date is near the anticipated due date.

Ask for an Xray[not scan] if the pups heads and spines are well defined she is due, if they are still under developed then she can wait a few days, I personally would be getting her to the vets tonight.

From one mating to have such a difference in maturity of pups via scan isn't right, if there had been several matings over 4 or 5 days then that is possible but your stud owner said she had gone over by the other visits and no proper mating took place.

Does she look overly big, if she is carrying more pups or larger pups than expected then she could have primary inertia where the uterus is too stretched to contract efficiently to expel the pups, C/Section will be needed.

I hope things go well

She is quite small, we are expecting 2 possibly 3 puppies at most

Since my last post she has (just to prove me wrong I'm sure) taken up residency in her welping box and has had a dig around in there, can't see or feel any contractions just yet so I will leave her for This evening and keep a close eye on her throughout the night, if she hasn't delivered by 9am tomorrow (her due date from mating) then I will take her to the vets again or if I feel something isn't right before then i will take her down, have put my vets on standby and changed the appointment from Wednesday morning to tomorrow morning instead.

Fingers crossed this is it this time.

Keep us posted on any progress.

hope all goes well x

Thankyou, will keep you posted

Can see it will end in a trip to the vets tomorrow morning tho :/

Progesterone test as listed by Brainless if progesterones are low she should be in labour and elective section required. Lots of papers for vets to double check online

Any progress overnight?

So sorry for the late reply, it has been a hell of a day!

She progressed well overnight loosing what we thought was her mucus plug at about 9.30pm was a little concerned at the amount but having not experienced this was reassured and told all was ok unless it was green or blood tinged, which it wasn't...

After that we had an ok sort of night a little restless but nothing to scream or worry about.. 9.00am just after everyone had left for work/school, house was all quiet so took her upstairs to the whelping room and sat with a book, by 9.30 I felt the first contraction... Couldn't physically 'see it' happen but def felt it.. Wasn't too worried thought they would intensify as labour progressed, had informed the vet of the events through the night and they were on standby but didn't think I needed to visit... My mentor came about 10.15am checked My bitch over and we sat chatting inbetween 'mild' contractions.

12pm came down for some lunch, my bitch seemed to want downstairs so came down let her out for toilet, watched her like a hawk then when she was back in, did some lunch and she was happily sat watching us, coming to us as contractions hit for some reassurance then tootling off after it was done (however she was in sight at all times)
She was calm, reluctant to go back upstairs so sat with her on the sofa, about 15 mins later we felt a large bulge 'behind' the vulva, thought it was a water bag but no it was a puppy, I went off to grab all the equipment from the whelping room and she delivered a rather large puppy at 1.50pm The puppy had no membranes surrounding it and she needed a lot of assistance to deliver, she didn't really seem to 'push' and once pupoy was out no placenta followed... Gave it an hour still no placenta, no 2nd puppy and NO contractions.. Rang vet was advised to take her down for a check over.

Got to the vets he checked her all out gave her an oxytocin injection and suggested an X-ray to determin the position of the 2nd puppy (we were expecting 2 possibly 3 pups going from scan) if pup was lying in an awkward position she would need a section...

He called us into a room... Fearing the worst and thinking she'd need a section he showed us the X-ray there were NO more puppies, nothing at all showed up on the X-ray he gave her a second oxytocin injection and she pretty much expelled the afterbirth immediatley after the 2nd dose, he gave her antibiotic injection as a precaution and sent us home :)

She's relaxed and happy all be it a little bit tired.. One little ruby girl puppy weighing 8.2oz (233g) was the result of her litter, she's since been out and toileted and eaten some food and had a drink and is now enjoying cuddles with her baby..

She's a little over excited with the cleaning and keeps trying to nip the chord so having to keep an eye on her but so far all seems well, she did us proud and did so very well to manage one large puppy on her own.

I do have to say however if it wasn't for my mentor (with 25 years breeding experience) things would have been very very different today, there is no way I would have known how to help get that puppy out and I would have most certainly been at the vets before hand.

Overall the goal of breeding my bitch was achieved we wanted a nicely marked/show quality bitch which although early days seems to be what we have.

I feel sad for my girl tho only having the one puppy and somewhat confused as to how 2 different scanners at 2 weeks apart (5 and just under 7 weeks) both saw 2 puppies with heartbeats, we had felt movement on both sides of her body through out the last week and a half aswell so how it came to be a singleton birth is a mystery.

I think we were very lucky today and am thankful for the chunky healthy puppy we have from the litter.... Would I do it again... Highly unlikely!

Thankyou all for your advice yesterday certainly kept me more alert to what could happen... I was awake ALL night monitoring her!  And sorry for the long post lol

I'm glad that you got back with an update - I hate it when we never hear the outcome!

I am so very pleased for you that your girl is ok, and don't be disappointed about one pup!  One live mum and one live pup is a result!

:-)   Congratulations.

Thankyou, I couldn't be happier just wasn't sure how it will affect mum only having the one, she's very eager to clean it and nibble at its chord so need to keep an eye on that otherwise she's doing just great :)

Congratulations, pleased it ended well for you and your girl....

Congrats on the new arrival,pleased you had a happy outcome.

Don't worry about the constant cleaning, the breeder of one of my bitches said it was very hard to get dry pics of any of her dams 3 litters of 2 each time because she never let up licking them.