Im expecting my first long awaited litter and hope to keep a puppy to show.My mum used to show and occasionally breed the same breed so although my first litter i have gained a lot of knowledge from her.However my girl was scanned on day 30 and showed very clearly 6 puppies but i was told possibly more.now on day 46 she is not that much bigger,she has thickened out at the waist a bit but even my mum wonders where on earth she is hiding them and i am now very worried she has absorbed some of them.Has anyone had a litter of 6 and not looked that big? she is not a large dog,small/medium and usually quite a slim build.Any help would be great.

I've had pups hidden high up under the ribcage, and they only moved into line an hour before birth.  If that's where they're hiding, you won't be able to see them. 

Please don't worry about reabsorption.  If this has happened, you can't change it.  But your worry will easily be felt by your bitch.

Remember that most of the growing happens towards the end of pregnancy.

I agree. The only time I had a problem was when she had actually got bigger then at about 6.5 weeks was smaller to the eye.
Some do not seem to get that much bigger and when one of mine was carrying 15 - I would never have guessed she could have been hiding that number although she was a little bigger than her previous more normal prgnancy.
It is always so hard to tell and scans are actually often shown as less than the actual number.
Try not to worry ( she says ) I hate this period as I am sure everyone does and it is unlikely to change if you have more litters as you all want everything to go well.
Good luck and wish the next few weeks away.

I wouldn't worry about her size this early on, you don't want her carrying excess weight for longer than necessary or have huge pups she can't whelp.

As has already been said most growth goes on in the last 10-14 days and change of shape as the pups drop down and move nearer the exit in the last couple of days.

If you want to be sure of numbers take her for an Xray in the last week, you can then count skulls/spines which should be calcified enough by then to show up.

I wouldn't want to take a pregnant bitch to the vet unnecessarily for fear of what they might catch, too risky imo (and potentially stressful for the bitch as most dogs don't like going to the vet).

I have a bitch who for the first litter was scanned as having one or two, at 7 weeks I guessed maybe four pups as she wasn't big at all but I didn't believe she'd have just one (slim build breed with no coat to hide anything) and she had ten.

> I wouldn't want to take a pregnant bitch to the vet unnecessarily for fear of what they might catch,

To be fair, I believe this has to dependant on individual circumstances.  I realise that a lot is also dependant on the experience of the bitch owner. I would consider myself as experienced.

I had a bitch that had been in last stage labour for 1 hour.  In my breed that sets off warning bells. Always out of hours isn't it!  I raced off to the veterinary hospital and insisted on a scan.  This is a breed that has 1-3 pups.  She had 2 pups jammed in the same uterine horn, side by side.    They looked like conjoined twins.  Even the feet and heads were exactly in the same place.  She would have ended up dying if I had not made the call.

So marisa, I totally understand where you're coming from regarding risk and stress, but I wouldn't want it to put off a novice from seeking veterinary help.  As loads of people come to CD and read posts, they often don't contribute, and I always keep this in mind.

Lots of us take our bitches to the vets to be scanned to confirm pregnancy, that isn't really a must do.

When I have taken a pregnant bitch to the vet I am extra cautious, she is carried from the car [ I know not possible with every breed]sits on my lap and then I insist everything she touches or touches her is cleaned in front of me, I haven't found them to be upset, they are enjoying the added attention and change of scenery.

If it was a routine visit then you could arrange to go early before the full surgery starts when the floors are freshly mopped etc.

Interestingly I went to vets (out of hours of course!) after bitch had 3 pups and then no movement and without even looking at her vet (new to me!) said 'did you have her scanned' I said 'no' which he seemed to think was bizarre... then said 'how do you know she's got more?' so looked at him in disbelief and said if I couldn't see clearly she was still carrying pups feeling them moving was a bit of a giveaway! so he actually looked at her and said, oh yes she has still got more.... later in the morning it was a different vet I saw when I said I didn't know if there were any more and she had a feel and couldn't tell either.... took an ultra sound to find two or three (turned out to be two) more one on her way and one still well up under the ribs....

for me spending around £70 wasn't going to make much odds other than to know for sure if she was pregnant at the time... I felt I could wait and it was easy to tell she was pregnant, they were kicking really well... it's not obligatory :-)

I had a bitch that gave birth to one pup at home (not my current breed) and I knew that she had more to come.  This was out of hours.  I went to the veterinary hospital and asked for oxytocin.  After one jab I delivered 2 pups in front of the vet.  We had to wait long enough before giving a second jab, which produced 2 more pups.  After 20 minutes I said, but she still has one to come.  He examined my bitch and said no, she's finished.  I felt her again and said there is still one pup there.  He checked her again and said no that's her spleen. 

Rather than argue further I asked for an x-ray (I swear he was being bolshie when he went for a scan, but hey ho.)  As soon as I saw a heartbeat I asked for an immediate section.

I wish vets realised that they see very few natural births and we do sometimes know what we're doing.

Vets don't always know best and I feel sorry for anyone who is unable to stand their ground when they know things aren't right and the vet says they are.

Human Drs can be the same, I had many a run in over the phone because I knew something wasn't right but it wasn't reflected in the vital signs, more than once I have said " either come to the ward now or with the resus team" each time they have agreed that my instinct was spot on and the patient has either gone on to arrest or needed serious medical attention to turn things around, none died because medical attention was on hand not several floors away.

With both pregnancies, I have had my girls scanned by a professional (Domini from Petscan) as she is far more experienced than vets, has given numbers and been spot on both times.

Does anyone ever measure their girls when pregnant around the ribcage? My girl so far has gained just 3 inches and is nearly 7 weeks.

I measure their girth below the ribs and they gain about 1/2 inch or so a week till 7 weeks then it can go up to 2 inches after that with 3/4 pups.

Weight goes from 8lb pre pregnant to 12.5lbs at due date.

At what stage in the pregnancy do they start gaining half an inch a week?

Usually by week 2, what I found with one bitch who had 4 phantoms was the girth grew much quicker and the weight gain speeded up, when I finally got her pregnant she followed the same pattern as my other bitch.

I mated both of them after the one had 3 phantoms and took side by side pics and the one who actually was pregnant didn't look it by the time the 4th phantom came to an end at 6 weeks.

Well thats my girl reached 7 weeks yesterday.my mum just came round to visit and is now sure she has lost part of the litter.When you look at her from above she does not look pregnant at all,her sides are not at all rounded and standing up her tummy is only slightly lower than what it was before,one one side its slightly lower but my mum says she only looks about 5-6 weeks if that! She definately has live pups in there because i could feel them last night but one side definately only has perhaps one puppy but i just cant see there being 6 in there.If they were under her ribs wouldnt her ribe cage be a lot wider?

After 6 weeks if there is an average litter the body-shape can change loosing the width but getting deeper.

In the end only time will tell.

Myself I never want to know numbers as anything can happen from absorption, to still birth to losing pups in the first week or so, so you can't depend on anything.

One of my girls was scanned at 6+...
We clearly saw 6 and then had to stop due to my other dog that was in the car having escaped and running loose searching for me!
I was happy with knowing it is decent sized litter and we did not continue scanning after we got my other girl safe (and my heart rate returned to normal)... She had not been scanned all over so likelihood is there were more hence 6+

Same happened as with your girl, she suddenly stopped growing at the rate she was growing and gave birth to 4 pups so had absorbed part of the litter.
Fingers crossed for healthy rest of the pregnancy and trouble free birth of the pups, how ever many there is.

Just back from the vets,i had to take my other dod to the vet so i took my girl to get weighed and she has put on just a 1 and a half kg,she is on day 52 not sure if this is average?

Doesn't sound much but the pups do a lot of growing/filling out in those last few days, as she was at the vets I would have asked for a scan to see what was going on.

The scanner isnt at the vets i go to and has to be booked in advance.Im now pretty sure there are only 2 maby 3 puppies she has most likely absorbed the rest.She is day 53 so i will wait and see how she fills out in the next week,do most dogs fill out a lot in the last week?

Curious - how many did she have???!!

Only ever had 2 of mine scanned. The first one showed 3 and she had 6 and the other one showed 4 and she had 8.Vets are much like GPs, they know a little about a lot but are not experts on breeding etc so go with your instincts, you know your dogs better than they do.

I don't have my girls scanned . Many years ago I had a girl scanned and was told two, may be three, and Zigi went on to have seven. Liffey was scanned for four and had four. I just wait and see now. We all know that foetuses can be absorbed. Sometimes I'm left guessing until my girl is 7 + weeks gestation .

I've heard lots of this type if thing recently - dogs beig scanned with none and going on to have pups!