its her first pregnancy and she has just 10days to go but looks as though shes going to pop! her belly is very lively and clearly seen now, shes looking quite depressed about it all... quite off her food and being fussy, shes sleeping most of the day and looks very uncomfortable when trying to lie down. her tummy feels very hard and when you stand above her shes rather pear shaped. will she make it another 10-11days? any day on or after wednesday next week is in the safe zone but of course id like her to be nearer day 63

If her belly is lively then don't panic ;-) Ok, easier said than done, I know. :-) The pups are obviously still moving around so not ready to be born yet. She may not go the full term but as you said, a few more days and she will be ok anyway.

Mine had eight good size pups on day 58 so don't worry, and she was still lively until day 57.  Just the watching and waiting now, good luck :)

i know its so exciting, glad they were all healthy. we only seen 3 on scan but could be a couple hiding as the scan was done on day 33

Exciting?   I got to this point and looked at my poor girls waddling around huffing and puffing and thinking why have I done this to you.   Depending on the breed (I'm learning!!) hopefully she'll hang on a little longer really.

Again the scan isn't reliable.   It only confirms a pregancy at the time of the scan, and not even the number accurately.    Waste of time and money, and unnecessary stress to the bitch.  As long as there's no need to know.   If it was accidental, fine.  If not, then plan for a litter and wait.   X-ray is far more reliable and safe if done towards the end of the pregnancy, again if needed.    A shot after she's finished should cover any retained puppies/birthing matter.

Again the scan isn't reliable.   It only confirms a pregancy at the time of the scan, and not even the number accurately.    Waste of time and money, and unnecessary stress to the bitch

MamaBas you do seem to have a real downer on people scanning for pregnancy. (No offence intended) How can it be a waste of time and money when it tells you if the bitch is carrying pups or not. In my large hairy breed pups are easy to hide and if I had not scanned my Merlot when she carried a singleton no one would have know she was pregnant at all. We know that numbers are not reliable, but it made sure the vet and I knew to keep a careful eye on her as the date of whelping arrived so we did not miss anything. If your bitches are good enough temperament to use as broods then a scan is nothing to them and if there is concern over infection a scanner will come to your home. personally I trust my vets to have a clean surgery and not to fleece me. I think it far more invasive to x-ray requiring a GA at a time when the bitch is compromised at the end of a pregnancy and would do so only in an emergency, having said that, if it was getting to an emergency I would be looking at sectioning to get pups out anyway so no x-rays needed.
Is there a reason why you dislike scanning so much? It would be interesting to hear your experiences.
Aileen

>will she make it another 10-11days? any day on or after wednesday next week is in the safe zone but of course id like her to be nearer day 63

Why?         What "safe" zone?  If she whelped today the pups would be totally viable.  The lungs will be fully developed.

  I truly don't understand why day 63 is so important.

> I truly don't understand why day 63 is so important.

Because in 'the average' breed that is 'the average' length of a normal pregnancy, just as 40 weeks is the length of 'the average' human pregnancy.

the scan was done at home, so there was no stress for my bitch at all. i would not put her under any stress

Is there a reason why you dislike scanning so much? It would be interesting to hear your experiences.

No 'experiences' because I never had my bitches scanned, for the reasons I've already written here.   I just hate unnecessary expense which for me, this is.    And my bitches would NOT have been bred from if they had poor temperaments.  Fact.

It's not that I don't like scanning, I just don't accept the need for this procedure UNLESS to confirm or otherwise a pregnancy because of a mis-mating - so decisions to do a gravid spay, if needed, can be made.   I've had small litters (2, one of one and one of 2 puppies) and in those cases it wasn't totally apparent my bitches were pregnant or not.  Further, they 'sat' so by day 64, they were into the vet a shot to get things moving if my vet considered she wasn't empty.   X-ray would have been done to confirm 'empty'.   Earlier scanning could have confirmed this, but again, it's not accurate, and only gives this information at the time of the scan - no guarantee the bitch will still have puppies by the end of her pregnancy.   The x-rays I had done were done without a g/a btw.   Sods Law, the singleton puppy did involve a C.Section but at least she was female!!

Again I just think all this scanning these days, is because many newer breeders think it's the 'right thing to do'.   And vets/private scanners are more than happy to take the fee for this.   Perhaps I just come from the old generation who did quite well without all this?  LOL.

No 'experiences' because I never had my bitches scanned

I got locked/timed out of editing this ... just to add I have no experiences because my PREGNANT bitches were never scanned.   I've used scanning otherwise and have no problem with that.

It just makes me smile when I hear/read of people with bitches they have mated, automatically trotting off to their vets to get them scanned when fact is if there was a good planned mating, to me it makes more sense to plan /assume there will be puppies, and WAIT.

What makes sense to you doesn't necessarily make sense to other people though :) I like to scan. I am fully aware that bitches can reabsorb, though I've never experienced this (so far anyway!) I want to be able to plan the next couple of months. I won't enter shows if I'm expecting a bitch to have pups, and other plans will be affected too. I like to let prospective puppy people know if there is a definite "no" so they can make plans too. So lots of things to consider. And it's hardly a vast expense ...


What makes sense to you doesn't necessarily make sense to other people though :-)

Clearly!!! lol.   I don't want to drag this out because obviously I have my opinion about this, which differs with others out there....... but when we plan a litter, we don't do any shows.   We assume with a good mating that we have a litter 'work in progress'.   As for bookings, I take names and phone numbers and when we have a litter, with puppies available, will contact them.   Most of my enquiries appreciate it if I say I have a litter expected, but not yet on the ground.   Some hang on, going the distance with me, and visiting so we get to know them well ahead of time, some don't.   Again scans are not a guarantee, just there's a pregnancy, or not, at the time of the scan.   So any plans made from a yes scan, may still come to nothing.

I'm not going to be persuaded away from my opinion about scanning any more than others are - sorry.

>I like to let prospective puppy people know if there is a definite "no" so they can make plans too

I'm another who won't scan as a routine.    How many times have people written on here that they have had a scan showing nothing, but then others reply that they had 6-8 pups after an 'empty' scan?   And of course, the opposite too ;-)

Personally, I prefer to wait, then use a stethoscope to detect heartbeats.    It can be done daily and the heartbeats can be counted, if you know what to look for.    Then you have an idea of what to expect.       

LOL Its virtually impossible to hear heartbeats with my hairy beasts. (Even their bellies are hairy....) I have never yet had a scan wrong with confirming pregnancy. A lot of it is down to the scanner and the person interpreting it, and getting the day right as well. I never scan before the 4 week point. With my girls there is no sign of pregnancy until at least 6 - 7 weeks really. Often at 8 weeks with a smaller litter (<6) it is still hard to tell. They are a deep breed with loads of room so easy to tuck away pups ;-)  So far I have been more than satisfied. 
I do not however have any problem with others having a different opinion. Each to his own. I just wondered if there were particular reasons why. I work closely with my trusted vet and she is just as interested as I am in confirming a pregnancy. We sit in a darkened room pouring over the scanner chatting away and making bets on numbers !!! No stress to my girls at all, they are happy to have the extra attention...and accompanying cuddles.
Aileen

Aileen - just one more comment (and then I promise I'll leave this one alone!)   I'd be lying if I said money didn't come into all this, however small it might be (and I can afford it!!) but I just hate subscribing to my vet's new car when for me, this isn't needed.   And you are right, by about 7 weeks, I'd see the puppies moving around - pregnancy confirmed!!   If a scan said no, I have a feeling I'd still sit it out until after the event before I believed it!!!

>The x-rays I had done were done without a g/a btw.

Same for me.  I've only had an x-ray to check if there is a malpresentation if I think that a bitch is taking too long.  Never had a GA and there were no problems.

I've never scanned, I just assume that if I've had a bitch mated, then she must be pregnant.  As for being able to tell, I have a breed that has small litters.  1-3 being normal.  One of my bitches had what felt like a big pup, but I've never had a bitch that was unable to give birth naturally when carrying a singleton.  I worked hard for many years on a self whelping line.  This bitch with one pup which seemed to be moving about just fine, jumped up next to me on the sofa, and her belly went up and down like waves on the ocean.  One pup moving down from under the ribcage.  This happened the night before she gave birth.  Two pups arrived and it showed me that they can always surprise us!  :-)

No 'experiences' because I never had my bitches scanned, for the reasons I've already written here.   I just hate unnecessary expense which for me, this is.

Then why put people off doing something you have NO personal experience of? Makes no sense at all. What is an unnecessary expense or not is surely up to the individual to decide. You yourself have mentioned taking a newly bitch to the vet for an injection to clear her out, to me that would be a totally unnecessary expense and on top of that a higher risk of infection than taking a pregnant bitch for a scan. Different opinions, but at least I HAVE done both -taken a newly whelped bitch to the vet as well as not doing it, so I have personal experience of both sides.

Different opinions

Where's the 'roll eyes' button ... LOL    I'm just trying to point out that, FOR ME, all this scanning to confirm or not, a pregnancy, may just be lining the pockets of the vet/scanners.   Take it or leave it?

Scanning for confirmation to pregnancy means that the owner can go ahead and enter shows that they might otherwise miss the closing date for, or book a holiday or anything else in their life without worrying about being tied to the hosue for weeks. Also if you find out that the bitch is empty you can take all the usual anti-phantom measures which is better for the bitch's health. If my bitch's pregnancy hadn't been confirmed I would be concerned that she was unwell, because her behaviour has changed so much.

Jeangenie - I wasn't going to go here any more BUT just to say when we did litters, our slate was cleared so no shows and no holidays ..... after all it's only 2 months gestation.   And I just know that even if I'd been told no puppies, I'd still have that nagging doubt that would keep me hanging on past the due date.   I've had misses, without any phantoms .... I have had phantoms with no matings however.    Again if I'd had a couple of good matings I'd assume there was a pregnancy, so any behavioural change would be down to a pregnancy?    Or am I being too simplistic (probably, given the reaction to all this!).

our slate was cleared so no shows and no holidays ..... after all it's only 2 months gestation.

Two months could equal 8 shows, and more if you are assuming there will be pups after a pregnancy -and in some breeds when you only have a very limited number of tickets each year, certain months are far more important than others. For me for instance May and August are the most important months of the year. So it would be very annoying to not enter the shows as you were assuming there would be pups and then there wasn't -and just as annoying to enter on on the offchance there won't be any, and lose the money when the bitch turns out to be pregnant. I know several people in my breed who have got caught out thinking they had a pregnant bitch and then she wasn't.

>Again if I'd had a couple of good matings I'd assume there was a pregnancy, so any behavioural change would be down to a pregnancy?

I'd rather not assume anything in case of possibly missing the start of a pyo.

I suppose all this missing shows, would depend on how big an outfit anybody had.   With us, we shelved showing in favour of mating our bitch/having puppies for the next generation.   Showing wasn't the be-all and end-all with us.   Further, IF certain months happened to be more important for shows, then we'd not mate.   But we can go round and round with this can't we!    Which is pointless when I'm not going to be persuaded away from my opinion on all this, just as others clearly won't be swayed from their opinions either. 

Just to hark back to one point made earlier - re taking a bitch to have a shot after mating.... agreed there'd be the risk of infection, but whereas scanning isn't necessary to me (note!), making sure my bitches were empty was.   So a trip worth doing.