I'm just after some advice. My breed mentor has been called away unexpectedly for work and won't be back for 3 days. My whelping mentor deals with small breeds herself but has experience in scanning and is a midwife of sorts so I can all her out if needs be.

My bitch is on day 63 from date of 1st mating and was mated 3 times over 5 days and confirmed in whelp. She was not progesterone tested on advice from stud. I had her scanned in the end as I felt she was going through a phantom and scanner felt she took after the 1st mating, within 3 days or so going by dates and pictures. There are only 4-5 whelps.

I have been taking her temperature from day 57 at 7am, 1pm and 7pm. On day 60 her temp dropped from 37.1 to 36.7 at 1pm. It stayed there until 7am the next day. By 1pm it started to climb from 36.8 to 37.1. By 7pm it was back down to 36.7. Which is where it was at 7am this morning. Apart from refusal of breakfast yesterday and digging a hole in a newly planted flower bed today there have been no other signs. We went out for a walk at 8, got back at 9 and she is still shallow breathing 40mins later. There are no ripples in her belly, her 'dew drop' is clean, no mucus of any colour and smell. I checked her teats yesterday and there was a miniscule amount of colostrum and today, 2nd to last ones are letting out a small spray.

My scanner goes heavily by the temp drop but i know lots of you don't. She keeps mentioning primary inertia. Should I be worried?

An in-house progesterone kit test would show you if her progesterone levels had dropped to below ovulation levels below 5ng, which would mean the bitch is ready to whelp.

Personally on symptoms I'd not be rushing into other intervention.

I'm assuming this is not a toy breed that whelps early or one that often has Inertia?

I have had bitches whelp up to 4 days late, but that one I knew she had been mated too early, and on palpation at 28 days she was found not to be that far on  (small litter the result).

My breed more often than not whelps a day or two early (have had 5 days early) as they tend to be mated/stand late in the cycle.

Shes quite a large specimen of her breed. The clue would be in my log in name. I'm not overly worried myself but the midwife is making me fret. I have planned, planned and planned this litter and taken all things carefully into consideration. The book of the bitch says they whelp bang on date but as she was mated over 5 days it could be anytime soon. I explained this to the vet who said, 'as you didn't progestrone test her she could be anything from 58 to 66 days'. How he got 66 days is beyond me as I explained twice she could only be 63 days max but he repeated this twice.

Sadly this is the only vet with his own out of hours service and doesn't use vetsnow. On a plus my breed are easy, self whelpers usually and he has only assisted with 2 whelpings in my breed on average per yer. If any complications occur during surgery hours, she will be seeing our usual vet.

I'm no expert but my girl gave birth 4 days ago (day 59) exactly as per Debbie Jensons Temperature Chart (google it - no good at links)

My girl did the drop a couple of times and then she did the drop followed by the raise of a full degree (36.7 to 37.8) and then she dropped immediately back to 36.7 and stayed there - whelped exactly 24 hours later. This obviously worked in my case.

I know that not everyone agrees with temp method but going by the chart, your girl did not have a hugh rise in temp before dropping back down again. Maybe she has a little way to go.

30 years ago, I took in a GSD very young rescue (estimated to be 7 or 8 months) in a shocking state, malnourished and full of ticks. Got up one morning and from looking very slim had developed a right tum. Obvioulsy pregnant but no idea when pups would be due other than vet saying 'she is well on and passed the point of termination'.

Anyway (ended up having only 8 days to go as it happened) I had to pop out one afternoon and as I was leaving, noticed that she had started to dig a hole. I came back less than an hour later and she had delivered 3 puppies - another 9 followed over the next 3 hours. She showed no signs of labour other than the digging. She ate both her breakfast and lunch. The pups popped out with great ease and she wolfed her supper. Unfortunately, being only a baby she would not have anything to do with them after the first few days - an exhausing time.

Sorry, getting very anacdotale and nostalgic. I'm sure your girl will be fine.

Thanks guys. I took her for another scan in the end and puppies are beginning line up. There is some watery discharge that is light pink in colour and slight contractions but mostly lots of sleeping. She seems to planning on having them on the sofa but we have now moved into the whelping room where is is sleeping on the floor whilst holding my right hand between her pass. Will keep you posted.

Thank you for the reassurance boo and congratulations on your litter :)

Well, after an endless night with an even slower labour we have 1 pup. She wad born at 11.30pm followed by a dark green/black glob which I can only assume was a decomposed pup. Mum wants nothing to do with the singleton so we are forcing her to allow the pup to suckle. She seems to be more inclined to behave  but still has moments of wanting to go play ball. She is still panting but I'm putting this down to be a little stressed. At 7 weeks there were 3 different spines spotted.

This litter was so anticipated, with a waiting list in double figures. To say I'm gutted would be an understatement.

So sorry for your news.. are you 100% sure there are no retained pups? I was always led to believe that after skeletal formation pups would abort rather than absorb, but you mention 3 spines were seen?

I do hope all ends well for you.

To be honest, I'd have her to my vet to confirm that she's empty, or not.   You have nothing to lose and if she is proved to be empty now, at least you can both settle down to rearing your singleton puppy.   And I'd take pup along too to be checked for any abnormalities you may have missed.   This is usually best practice in the absence of an experienced mentor.

She is still panting but I'm putting this down to be a little stressed.

Bitches often pant for a couple of days after giving birth, but I would agree with the others that have said you need to ensure there are no more dead pups inside her if 3 spines were seen not all that long ago. Especially if the bitch isn't interested in the one live pup as that to me makes it sound like something isn't right. I had a bitch give birth to two dead pups once, one black and decomposing, the other recently dead -and the poor thing was desperate to look after them even though there was no chance. The second time she was mated she had 2 dead pups and a live one and she took to the live one instantly. (And then she was spayed!) I once had a cat give birth to a couple of live kittens then after several DAYS she got ill and it turned out she had dead kittens still inside her. She had to have a section to remove them and had to be spayed due to pyometra at the same time, so do be careful.

Sad outcome and I hope your bitch and pup will be okay.

I called my vet this morning and was told that if she is settled, to leave her but keep an eye on any mucus or strange smells. Will call again tomorrow to make an appointment. I was suprised to say the least. We knew it was a small litter but didn't expect a singleton. The scan was at 7 weeks so maybe scanner was picking up same pup over and over? She weighed 550g so quite big but mum passed her easily enough. When she's in with pup everythings fine. Its if she comes out for a wee then She just wants to go and play or sit on the sofa if I pop to the loo. There also isn't any discharge that I have seen since she delivered.

Why is it always so difficult? Yet byb bred her collie to her mum's gsd and has 15 pups. Sods bloody law!

I'm sorry, but if this was my bitch, I'd want an examination/palpation to be done at the very least.   And preferably x-ray  (scans are not as accurate).  Strange to find a vet who turns away INCOME LOL but it's good that you are making an appointment.

Well we went last night as I called to make the appointment but was asked to take her as surgery was finally empty. The vet felt her abdomen throughly and did an internal. Everything has been given the all clear so everyone has finally relaxed. My mentor will be back this evening and come to see everything's ok. Vet said to keep an eye on milk. Too much may lead to mastitis or single pup might mean she dries up too quickly but pup checked over too and she's fine.

The reason for being given the initial advice was due to an emergency going in first thing that may have compromised pup and mum's health. Vet was very thorough and happy to see us after surgery hours and not send us to out of hours.

Just to be clear, this has not happened.

I am watching mum like a hawk and everything is much more settled today. Mum is cleaning pup well but also cleaning the umbilical stump. What happens if she licks it off before its ready to fall off? Mentor should be mid flight now so can't wait for him to be back to bend his ear about lots of general questions.