Please help, my pregnant bitch is due to deliver today or tomorrow. She had a massive tummy on Wednesday and i thought i could fell the puppies moving but this morning it has completely vanished. She seems to have a saggy tummy and boobies with loose skin but her tummy has vanished. Her rib cage was absolutely massive 2 days ago but its seems back to normal. She hasn't been out of my sight so i cant see she could have delivered them and hid them and there is absolutely no evidence of this happening, no discharge or bleeding of any kind, her vulva looks normal. I have phoned the vet and they have squeezed her in tomorrow morning but i am going out of my mind. How can her belly disappear overnight when she is due either today or tomorrow. Any advice or experience would be greatly appreciated.

Was she scanned with heartbeats seen?

she was scanned at day 30 and 3 heartbeats were found but they said it could be more as scanning isn't  always accurate. I am sure i could make out the outline of puppies and feel them moving on Wednesday. I am so confused, the morning can not come fast enough.

The one thing that stands out to me is that you say you thought you could feel the puppies move. Near the due date it's usually very easy to feel strong movements, and for bigger litters you can even see them if you watch the bitch when asleep. Is there any chance that you could have been mistaken and it wasn't puppy movements you felt? Also, could it be a case of the puppies having dropped down in preparation for birth? This will make a difference to how the bitch looks, although it will normally make the stomach look bigger. Is 3 puppies average for your breed?

Thank you for your reply, i suppose i could of been mistaken in feeling the movements but i thought i would make out the outline of the puppies as well. The 3 puppies is a small litter for her breed, she is a large breed weighing 26kg and 6+ is more the norm. Her mum was admittedly slightly larger than her but she had 7-9 puppies in her litters. I guess i will have to wait till the morning to see the vet. Its just a dramatic change in just 36 hours and this close to whelping. I've got to just try to stay calm until the vet can see her in the morning.

It's definitely harder to feel pups in a small litter as they have more space to hide in. Fingers crossed, do let us know how you get on tomorrow.

There's not really much a vet can do... I mean - if the pups have died or been resorbed, they can't bring them back to life. 

Whereas scanning her if she is pregnant is going to be at least slightly stressful.  Hard as it may seem, why not just wait till due date and see what comes out??

There's not really much a vet can do... I mean - if the pups have died or been resorbed, they can't bring them back to life. 

But a scan will tell if there are pups, dead or alive. Dead pups need to come out, as does live ones, so it's safer to know. I had a cat give birth once and had no idea that there were two dead kittens still inside her, until 6 days later when she got seriously ill with pyometra and needed an emergency spay. After that I played safe and had a vet check and/or scan if I wasn't 100 % sure there were no more to come.

>Hard as it may seem, why not just wait till due date and see what comes out??

Because if whelps have died inside they won't secrete enough hormone to start labour, and will (horrible to say) begin to decay inside the bitch and cause infection. A quick scan will be invaluable.

I’d think there would be other signs, like the bitch being unwell or a discharge if pups had died inside...

I’d think there would be other signs, like the bitch being unwell or a discharge if pups had died inside...

Yes, once the dead pups have started to decay. That's when the infection risk is massive so far better to find out sooner. It can take up to a week for the bitch to get ill if the pups only died recently.

My first bitch of my second breed whelped 2 perfectly formed but dead pups, alongside one totally black, badly decayed pup. It was the dead one that caused the other two to die. We tried again and this time did multiple scans during the pregnancy. She still whelped two dead pups (despite a scan showing them alive very recently, they cannot have been dead for more than a day) but also one very much alive pup. The bitch was then spayed, obviously. Her one pup has recently turned 10 years old and she herself is doing well aged 13.

Well the vet said he couldn’t find any puppies at all they must have been reabsorbed. He said the rest of the symptoms should pass by themselves but to go back if I was at all worried about her

> He said the rest of the symptoms should pass by themselves but to go back if I was at all worried about her

So sad, but did he not give her a shot to clear out anything that was retained - did he not X-ray to confirm she was empty?

IF these puppies died before birth, and only recently (reabsorbing if it's going to happen, usually happens at around 5 weeks at which point they are not as they'd be if they died days before the whelping date?  

I don't think I't want to have to wait (until she becomes really ill) - IF she was pregnant at all?

He had a really good look and couldn’t find anything. He said I must have been mistaken when I felt movement. He said she could have reabsorbed anytime after she was scanned at 30days but we won’t be having puppies. I’m a little bit upset if the truth be known.

I’m trying to find the heart to dismantle the Whelping box and pack away all the supplies. I had absolutely everything ready for her.

I'm really really sorry to hear this. 

This probably encapsulates why scanning to determine pregnancy is IMO a waste of time and money and can just lead to false hopes.  She was scanned with pups on day 30, but anything can happen after that - being scanned as pregnant doesn't mean a dog will deliver pups.

The puppies' bones would not have calcified at day 30, so if they died soon after that they would just have been resorbed by her body, with no signs to show for it (discharge etc).  It's only if she lost them very late in pregnancy, after calcification, that you would see discharge and signs or she would whelp dead puppies.

It is likely that her body still 'thought' it was pregnant though - which is why her belly looked big - but it became a false pregnancy... that, or you were feeding her as if she were pregnant and she's put on a lot of weight!

> or you were feeding her as if she were pregnant and she's put on a lot of weight!

Now THIS is probably what happened

Although it doesn't explain how she can suddenly have just lost all that weight - that would suggest a false pregnancy to me

He said she could have reabsorbed anytime after she was scanned at 30days but we won’t be having puppies. I’m a little bit upset if the truth be known.

It is sad and disappointing, but take heart - at least your bitch is fine. I had decided to have one final litter from my toy breed after all and she whelped yesterday morning. One single pup who was deformed and did not live. For 24 hrs poor Trixie has whined and searched for her pup and I feel so sorry for her.

Many years ago I had a dead singleton puppy from one of my CKCS. She was crying and scratching at the wall, and was so distressed that the vet put her on Valium for approx. three days. It worked well.

My girl is absolutely fine so I’m thankful for that. Hopefully your bitch feels more like her self soon.