Following a trip to the vet at 10pm yesterday I wonder if any of you more experienced breeders have come across anything like Mo has been displaying.

Today she is on day 54/52 (2 matings). Last Saturday she developed weepy eyes which were also a bit bloodshot, which didn't improve over the weekend so off to the vets we go on Tuesday where they suspected she may have a  touch of conjunctivitis, so she was prescribed Fucithalmic ointment to be applied twice a day which I have been doing. It wasn't really having much effect and her eyes were still red and weepy.

Yesterday evening she started flinching whenever you went to stroke her head and sometimes even when you were nowhere near her head. When she also started yelping and panting heavily I thought I needed to get her to the vet ASAP.

The vet checked her breathing, heart, temperature, blood pressure, ears, mouth, eyes (including a pressure test) and scanned to check pups were OK. Everything was normal. She advised to just keep an eye on her and take her back at any time if at all worried, but couldn't really explain the symptoms.

She is huge, despite carrying only 7 pups (I know numbers aren't set in gold but she was scanned by a very accurate sheep scanner who thinks she took from 2nd mating). Her pre-pregnancy weight was 28.5kg and on Tuesday she was 34.3kg. She's still eating and drinking normally and hasn't had any sickness or diarrhoea.

I think she's likely to have the pups early rather than late, but has anyone experienced anything like this or have any ideas? She isn't panting as much today or flinching as much, but it just seems really odd.

The only thing that occurs to me is that Fucithalmic seldom works. In fact I have discarded dozens of tubes as it's never done any good yet it is still my vet surgery's first choice, and when I queried it with one vet she said "Well yes, it is a bit crap really!" So my first step would be to ask for something else for the eyes. Pain in the eyes really can make you miserable so maybe it is as simple as that? Anything with Chloramphenicol or Gentamicin in tends to be my first choice.

Fucithalmic does work and it has saved many of my dogs eyes , but you need to put it in every couple of hours. Not twice a day as regular vets will tell you.

> The only thing that occurs to me is that Fucithalmic seldom works.

With her being in whelp the vet said the Fucithalmic would be the safest, most others contains steroids?

Could she be suffering hay fever ?? Hope she goes well and waits fro day 56 from second mating x

Posted the same query on FB and have had a number of replies. It appears to be quite common, especially in my breed, so am no longer as worried as I was (although breeding is always a worry isn't it).

With her being in whelp the vet said the Fucithalmic would be the safest, most others contains steroids?

I don't know but would have thought that in the eyes only, and with just a few days to go before whelping, not a lot of harm could be done (puppies will be fully formed etc) -worth asking the vet?