Hi - I wonder if anyone has experienced what my girl has just been through.
She was 4 weeks pregnant. She started with a brown discharge which turned to blood but by morning was panting and losing more blood. She appears to have gone through a labour as the panting was periodic and a blood loss followed. There was a break between each when she got quite sleepy. Eventually this stopped. Her vulva was extended outwards and the vet said her cervix had opened. She's now on antibiotics but still a day later has a blood loss although not as much as the first day.

I thought this was the normal follow up to an absorbed pregnancy - i.e. the bitch absorbed her litter for what ever reason and then the uterus expelled the remaining contents but people I've spoken to haven't experienced this and say after absorption there was no labour like symptoms or blood loss.

Has anyone any experience of this. The vet isn't much help but obviously my girl is going to be checked regularly until she's back to normal.

With absorption there is no labour, but a bitch can abort a litter, and if an infection develops end up with a closed or Open Pyometra, which I suspect yours may have gone onto become.  Sadly this is something that happened to my friend last year and the bitch had to be spayed.

Not completely the same as your girl, but I did experience something similar with my Emma about 4 years ago... she was in whelp, confirmed, then one morning looked as slim as she did before... was scanned, showed no live pups, but did show mumification.. she hadn't absorbed all the pups, two had calcified, and although we put her on a trial drug from the US.. (still wasnt licensed for UK back then), to disolve the 'debris'... she did go through labour,  scanning also showed beginings of an open pyo...

So you had a scan which showed the beginning of pyro.......maybe I should mention a scan to the vet.
Difficult to get much out of the vet who seems to wnaqt to just demonstrate her knowledge of vast lists of possibilities!
Thanks for your reply - very useful

I had a scan done originally to confirm pregnancy... it would be around 10 days after that I noticed something was not right... although Emma seemed fine.. I took her back to the vet who suggested another scan...

What we saw originally were 3 blobs with heartbeats... with the second scan.. it showed 2 black mumifications... and a shadow... vet suggested shadow was possible infection, took swabs and later that day confirmed it was pyo....

Thanks have done a bit of reading on pyro,,,,,,,hopefully the swab will reveal if there is an infection. The discharge is more bloody than anything else. I do think she has aborted though.
Have you heard of a bitch being alergic to one of the pregnancy homones........our girlhad an allergy last week and she came up in lumps all over. We couldn't pinpoin what had brought it on....but we are now thinking that this was what mad her body reject her feotuses....any thoughts?

I forgot to add her poo is blackish...it was on the first day and was today. Is there any significance here?

A scan is generally the quickest way to pick up a pyo as the pus gathers and can be seen on the X-ray..

If your girl has been cleaning up after herself, then it will pass through into her poo, just the same as when a bitch eats the placenta.

My girl aborted a litter a few years ago too, but no signs of blood, just a black discharge and then she delivered 5 mummified pups :(  went through the motions of labour, panting, sleeping etc.

Kay and Sharon did you mate them again after. If so how long did you wait?

Well. a bit controversial.. it was debated about a bit... Emma's was an open pyo and treated successfully, possibly because it was caught to quickly... I spoke to my vet, and a few other breeders, and on here.. not really sure what to do about mating her again... In the end.. I did.. but waited a full year, 2 clear healthy seasons before mating. ... Emma gave me 3 lovely pups... BUT... the girl I kept... Ellie.. I lost her to massive cancerous tumours at 14months... we didnt know they were there.. diagnosed boxing day and died that night... In hindsight.. I wish I hadnt mated her again...If were to happen again.. I would definately not put my girl through that..

Emma will be 9 in March and rules the roost with a rod of iron :)

Thanks Kay - what a sad story - I will put a lot of thought into it. It's been suggested that I put my girl on antibiotics the week before I mate her again........ plenty of time to think about it and weigh it all up. A lot will depend on the outcome of the swab and if there is any way of finding out any other reason why she aborted...and of course whether shegets back to being fighting fit. Despite what she's been through this last couple of days she's quite ok -not really poorly.

Yes, of course I should have realised the reason for the dark poo.
Sharon did you find out the reason why your girl aborted her litter?

No we never did find out why she aborted, but we mated her again (clear season between) and she went on to have a healthy litter of 8 pups.

Thank you all very much for your comments. You have helped me understand what happened. Best Wishes.