My breeder has recommended that my bitch has a course of antibiotics during weeks 3 to 5 of her pregnancy.  Her last mating resulted in no pups, could have been a phantom due to mis-mating or absorbtion we do not know.  In case an infection was the case my breeder has advised the above action.  My vet does not agree and does not want to give her any antibiotics.  Has any one any advice, I will change my vet if necessary.  Thanks.

i have heard of people putting a bitch on antibiotics,a week proir to mating,and then a week before whelping,but never in the middle of pregnancy.

If your bitch has reabsorbed before you may like to consider the new vaccine called Eurican Herpes 205, it is believed that Canine Herpes Virus (CHV) is responsible for infertility, small litter size, low puppy birthweight and fading puppy syndrome.
I tried for almost 3yrs having my bitch mated only to reabsorb at 6wks, we had her swabbed and put her on the relevant antibiotics but she still reabsorbed and then my vet suggested this vaccine. You give two vaccines 1st 7-10 days after mating,  2nd 1-2 wks before expected date of whelping.
We certainly had 7 live pups when we used it.

Eurican is the trademark for Merial, it was the Eurican first puppy vacc that caused an adverse reaction in my pups so I would never touch anything by them. When their vet came to see me about it she was asking me if my dogs had trouble whelping, even asking did any of my friends have probs, no I said. She then went on to tell me all about this vaccine they had just developed. That showed a total lack of sensitivity & to me just what there true interest are, especially when one of their vacc`s had just had a devastating effect on a litter of pups & that was what they had come to see me about!
Besides that tho, I wouldn`t vacc an in whelp bitch with anything at all.

Christine, Spain.

I wouldn't put a bitch on ab's at 3-5 weeks into gestation.  :(

Even if she resorbed last time, she could still have a healthy pragnancy & whelping this time. The most important thing is, if she was mated at the right time.  :) Good luck

I wouldnt give antibiotics during pregnancy unless essential.
we tried using synulox on the advise of my previous vet and found it made no difference to litter size,puppy size ect.. if anything i missed two bitches while using antibiotics prior to mating,and havnt used them since, ive never heard of giving antibiotics mid pregnancy, its normally for three days prior mating and three days post. :)