Took my bitch to  my vet to  be scanned.  The vet very politely told me she was having puppies (which I thought she was) but then said there's more than 1. What a let down i thought that they would be more specific than this.  What a waste of money.  more than 1 could there be 2 or 10 who knows!!!!!!!

I actually go to a local lady who is very specific and reasonably accurate although not necessarily spot on. My bitch was scanned last week for 9.
However I do not use my vet because he always said he would not try to be specific and only says more than three or less than three.
Its frustrating. At least if you know its likely to be a large litter you can plan better

Playing devils advocate. The reason Vets will not tell you how many is because they could be sued .  You know what people are like, if the Vet said 6 then they would be angry if they only get 5.  My Vet gave me a fairly accurate number but only because he knows that I wouldn't pin him down if he wasn't absolutely correct.  Also, if the Vet tells you 6 and 4 are born then you are panicking waiting for the other two to arrive.  By the way, I am not a Vet or in the Veterinary profession, can just see where they are coming from on this one.

I was going to say similarly to Alison. Unfortunately, there are people who will take, as absolute gospel, any absolutely definite statements that a vet is reckless enough to provide and if the number of pups doesn't match up then I can see a deal of grief arising! So I can see exactly where the reluctance comes from although I can also see how its frustrating if it is your bitch expecting an indefinite number of  puppies.

But people managed fine before scanners :D :D

Daisy

the reason why vets dont specify has already been identified in the above posts, they dont want the client to turn around and blame them, also at the birth they may be waiting for more pups as mentioned.

thats why they dont tell humans what sex there baby is when they go for there scans either, apparently you have to pay somethign like 50 quid to find out and sign a clause to say you wont sue if they are wrong.

Tha must be new -or vary between hospitals. In 1991 I was told they would not tell me the sex of my baby at the hospital as some women of ethnic minorities would have an abortion if told it was a girl. In 1994 I was told I was having a girl and in 1999 I was told I was having a boy.

Quite refreshingly recently, the three friends who all had babies within a week or so had asked not to know the sex of their babies :) One was a first-time mum, one was having her third and one her fourth. Personally I wouldn't have wanted to know (no scans in 1983 and 1985) and think that it's one of life's great surprises :D

Daisy

I didn't know with my first but was glad to know with the others for practical reasons if nothing else. It meant the second could use all the pink baby clothes I already had from the first. :D And the third had to have new blue ones! :D (Pink is my favourite colour and I'd live in a pink house and have pink animals if only I could, so it went without saying that my first two babies had EVERYTHING pink until they got old enough to have an opinion!)

Also BEFORE I had a son I was 100% convinced I never, ever wanted a boy. The first two being girls I kept hoping for a third girl, but knew the odds were slim. Finding out early on he was a boy gave me plenty of time to get used to and LIKE the idea, whereas if I had found out at birth I'm ashamed to say I'd have been disappointed to start with. Now I knew what to expect and was fine with that as I'd had time to get over the stupid ideas that I only wanted girls.

The only reason you got a scan at all in 1981 and 1983 when my lads were born was if you were deemed "big for dates".  There was no suggestion that the scan would identify the baby's gender and, to be honest, I didn't want to know. Although I do remember being vastly relieved after the scan that showed I was only expecting one second child and not the twins that my GP was so confident were in there!

What is the need to know how many..  I don't get why people want to know how many. Not being rude but just wondered. I think it is counting your chickens before they hatch.. just me though.

I am all for people scanning to find out if there are pups for planning reasons and also if the bitch is small to ensure there are more than 2 so that she is likely to whelp them OK.  Why would you need a second scan if the vet has told you she is in whelp??

Is this a breed you show??  Think of the breed average plus or minus 1

I agree. It's best to think of scanning as being purely to confirm pregnancy at that time. Resorption is likely to alter the numbers of whelps born so to go by the numbers seen on a scan might only confuse the situation.

Opps that was an older post I seemed to have brought to life again. I she her puppies are born now anyway. :-)

comments still stand.

my girl was scanned and I was told she had 4poss.5 pups(not scanned at vets) she had 2 pups and the vet gave a c.section thinking there was a problem, needless to say no more scans for us