Hi,
I am a little confused, I read many threads on here about absorbtion of the puppies.
But! I have been told by a long time(25yrs) breeder that there is no such thing!
They explained that some bitches are not pregnant in the begining! or they miscarry.
or some fail to develop, I was told that No Bitch can absorbe the Bones, skeleton of the puppy.
I am confusedCould anyone please explain.
Regards
Denesel

Absorption was suspected for very many years but until the advent of ultrasound scanning there was no way of proving it. Now there is, and it is a definite medical fact; when seven (for example) heartbeats are seen on an ultrasound, but only four puppies are born, and there was no miscarriage then absorption is the only alternative explanation.

I'm not really sure either way but it occurs to me that partial miscarriage might occur without the owner being aware as the bitch may clear away the evidence.

Isabel that is what I was told.

Hi Denese,

as JG has stated, the use of ultra sound on canines has in recent years proven that absorbtion is very real.  

Interestingly, I watched a documentary around a year ago on this phenomena in humans and, from somewhat clouded recollection now, it was stated that most human pregnancies begin as twins but that the second embryo is "absorbed" and that there is a belief (for want of a better word) that multiple fertilisation in humans is far more common place than statistics show simply because in the majority of cases only one embryo survives.

Unfortunately can't for the life of me remember much more on this but perhaps another CDer watched the same show!

regards, Teri 

I'm sure with puppies (as with humans) early on in the development, tissue where bones will be, isn't actually bone at first but more of a gristle type material that then graually becomes calcified (like the ends of a baby's fingers ;) ). If this is the case then there may not be any bones to be absorbed until later in the pregnancy :)

there was a programme on the other night about twin to twin transfusion syndrome, and that is a point that they came accorss as well, it is either 1 in 8 or 1 in 3 of us are twins at fertilisation and no one knows as they are absorbed.

Absorbtion definately happens in humans too, I know because it happened to me and my daughters twin.We could see what was happening on the scan even though I had no pysical signs that anything was going wrong.The doctor at the time said that up to 25% of pregnancies in humans are twins but due to absorbtion, not all are born.It is quite rare to catch the process happening.Quite scarey for me too as I thought I might do the same with the other twin especially as there was nothing to show things were happening. Needless to say,I now have a beautiful, healthy 17 year old young lady. Gail :) :) :)

Hi,
This is all very intresting, how far in the pregnancy can a litter be absorbed is this know?
Have the bitches that have absorbed been house dogs or kennel dogs?
If this has happened to anyone has there been anythink that may have happened or upset the bitch.
Even the scan. Does it only happen to maiden bitches?
Regards      
Denese

It can happen to any bitch, whether house dog or kennel dog; first or subsequent litter, or even after a repeat mating.

One of the, rather sad, comments I remember about the "Moors Murders" body searches in the ensuing years was the fact that childrens bodies leave no trace in a relatively short time because their bones are so soft that they completely disolve so I can easily imagone reabsortion of a foetus could occur at any gestation.  However I still doubt how the disappearance of foetuses between scan and birth can be attributed to this rather than an unobserved miscarriage.  A scan showing a "fading" foetus would be better evidence I would say.  Unless someone went to the trouble of a real scientific trial in large number I doubt we will ever know.

When I was breeding cats, in one of the litters was what I can only describe as a partly mummified kitten, it was half the size of the live kittens (or maybe smaller) and covered in hair, perfectly formed but very soft, it looked like a tiny mummified kitten.  My mentor said she's seen this before and it was a partly readsorbed kitten.  Wasn't nasty or anything, just felt a little sad that this one hadn't made it for whatever reason :(  the rest of the litter were fine and robustly healthy.