Someone on one of my facebook forums has asked for advice as her 9 month dog has tied with her 4 year old bitch, neither health tested. She has been to the vet and they have advised waiting for 4 weeks to see if the bitch is pregnant because apparently the morning after infection is painful and dangerous. Are they thinking of the old injection, or are they talking a load of drivel??

Load of drivel.  I had a bitch mismated and refused to wait a week let alone 4.  Bitch was injected 2 days after mating, and again 2 days later.  Alizin was used and I would recommend to anyone.  Painful and dangerous???? I think not!  I asked the vet giving the injection what she had experienced and she had never had a bitch that the injection didn't work on.  My bitch sailed through it all, and was then spayed at the appropriate time.  Old wives tale perhaps?

Have to say that if a vet has told them this then the vet needs a bit of updating.  I am horrified that a vet has insisted on waiting.

That's what I thought! :-)

Just a good excuse for an 'Oops' litter.

> the morning after infection is painful

A little prick of an injection (no pun intended!) has got to be much less painful than giving birth to up to 12 puppies (breed dependent) or even 3 puppies of the larger headed breeds. Not to mention the sting to the wallet if it all goes tits up....

> if it all goes tits up....

Is that a technical expression?      

The manufacturer's datasheet for Alizin advises waiting until the end of the season before administration, and yes, some bitches do find the injections painful - more so than a mere vaccination - so I can see the point of waiting to get the bitch scanned and pregnancy confirmed before using it. However personally I'd prefer that implantation of foetuses didn't occur at all (my gut instinct tells me that it must be less traumatic for the uterus) so I don't think I'd want to wait that long.

Yes I was also told that it could sting a bit and it is quite a large amount given -but rather that than unwanted pups that could kill the bitch at worst. And some of my dogs scream when vaccinated. Yet my bitch with a mammary tumour had a needle aspiration done with me just holding her, not a peep out of her and she wagged her tail afterwards -so much is simply down to the individual dog. I have even got one who screams every time I comb his ears even without any knots! Two others jump on my lap and BEG to have their ears groomed. Some are wimps, some are not, so you could easily apply it to anything. Certainly not a good enough reason NOT to use Alizin -just another excuse.

That's what I thought, thanks. Will pass the info on, can't force her to do the sensible thing, just hope!

I certainly wouldn't be waiting! I think the only reason vets recommend waiting is becuase they expect if the bitch has been mated already it could happen again during her season. But although Alizin is effective even up to day 45, it must be truly horrible to watch a bitch go into labour and deliver live puppies :-( :-( :-(

Tell your contact to get it done asap and then guard her bitch as if her life depends on it, because some poor innocent lives do.

I fully agree Jay15, for all the reasons you give. I also bet that once somebody has had a bitch scanned and seen puppies on the scan (okay they are only round blobs, but even so) most people would feel unable to then go ahead with the injection. Better to do it no matter what. I had a bitch about a year ago who got accidentally mated -long story. I knew I never wanted to breed from her and she was going to be spayed 3 months after her season, but even though I did not know for sure if she had got pregnant, and even though I could have requested her to be spayed after a few weeks and any pups be removed at the same time, it was a LOT easier on both the btich AND me to simply inject her at the end of the season and then have her spayed 3 months later, so this is what we did. Safer for her all around.

Alas, thanks to a bunch of idiots in the group who encouraged her to go head with this 'wonderful love match, so much better than forced matings' she has decided to go ahead due to her dogs having such wonderful temperaments. I got slated for saying I felt she was risking her bitch and the health of future puppies, and she is now considering leaving the group because some other people agreed with me that an unplanned litter with untested parents wasn't a good idea. Oh well, at least I tried!

Typical. "Forced matings" -that statement alone shows how they know nothing about breeding, doesn't it. Force a bitch to mate and she won't be ready so no pups.

Someone I was speaking to said there vet refuses to give the anerlizin injection. Claiming the vet said they had had problems with bitches hemeraging because of it. Wether or not that was true I don't know

I'd be wondering at what stage the Alizin was administered for the bitch to hemorrhage--I'm guessing if that's true it would be a late treatment

Alizin Injection - Clinical particulars