I had my bitch scanned at 5 weeks and the man said no pups.  Is there a chance that he could have got it wrong?

Depends on what breed you have.  If they are deep chested puppies can be tucked up in the rib cage.  Maybe get a second scan done by someone else or do the tried and tested wait and see method

Emma

Yes, they do get it wrong sometimes, I had the same problem with my bitch. At 29 days vet said no pups, and want to spay her in a weeks time due to possible uterus infection, he also put her on antibiotics,I was not convinced and  got second opinion by different vet who confirmed she was pregnant.  Was told to come back 1 week later and he would re-scan free of charge, just so he could show me  heartbeats etc.  Went back (37 days) and he proceeded to tell me that there were no pups now (99% certain), and that she probably re-absorbed them.  Now he was supposed to be vet with alot of experience in scanning and an interest in that field.

I was not convinced as she was still showing all the signs and found a vet about 20minutes away who was highly recommended. Within 5 seconds he confirmed that she was pregnant and he seemed to take his time scanning.  He did say that sometimes it can be missed if the dog has eaten before the scan, bulging intestines can hide the puppy.  He also said its easier to scan with a full bladder, although only 1 puppy could be seen on the scan, he said there more could be line up behind, hidden behind the first and this is why he would never give head counts. 

If there are plenty of signs of pregnancy and you really want to know, I would get second opinion by a vet who has plenty of experience with scanning dogs.  You find that some practices are good at scanning horses but when it comes to dogs they can't distinguish between intestine and uterus.  

 

   

i had my bitch scanned at 4 weeks and there were 3 puppies visible, then at 5 weeks when we saw 5 puppies, at 7 weeks it was just a jumble of moving puppies, we were shocked she had 7!!! 
Normally your bitch should have enlarged teats by now

Hello,

The scan man is coming again on Wednesday.  I am sure she is.  We had 3 good matings with her and as she 'missed' last time I took to to vets and they did a full thyroid panel, (NORMAL) and her liver, kidney function and Cholesterol - all normal.  She has had full breed specific health test done too.  She is 3 and this will be her 1st litter. 

It will a be a great surprise if she as as when scanned she was 'empty'.  Ive used the same chap for years and he has been so accurate with all litters ive bred in the past. The  bookings I had have all said they would wait for a puppy so it would be nice for them too.

She has had a really successful show career and it would be so sad if she couldnt have puppies.

Yes she has enlarged teats.  Shes defo having something.

good luck with your scan, is your scan mans name Keith by any chance?

Does anyone know of some one who scans in Bristol ? My friend has mated her husky , we use the same vet but they charge £60 plus con fee on top. Have tried a couple of other vets but are not willing to scan because she is a client of an other vet.

My Vet scans, I am in Bristol, but he is better at Palpation ,and I accept his diagnosis with this rather than get him to scan.  He has never been wrong yet.

Hey, no its not Keith.... 

Slightly off topic but rixbriar £60 for a scan thats scandalous ive only ever paid £15 at my vets and theyve always confirmed pregnancy  but didnt guarantee numbers the reason given was compensation!!!???? by breeders having puppies booked and not enough puppies!

£50 is what my vet charges at Bradley Stoke, Bristol.

Vets around here charge about £20 but have heard of one practice charging £60.  I wonder at that price, do they give you a refund if they get it wong!!!

NO, they don't!!  They scanned one of my girls 3 years ago and told me no pups, I wasn't convinced so they told me to bring her back in 7 days time, again they said no pups, she went on to have 7!

No apology, no refund

I just recently took my girl to zetland road in bristol to have her scanned, they had to register her but shes also still registered with my normal vet, the scan was £45 and i even got pics.

Im off to the vets to scan my bitch on Thursday. It costs me £50 and that includes a consultation fee too.

I usually get a piccy to take away, but only if theyve remembered to top up the paper roll!

Do you think that you have the right to ask for a refund or to complain when they wrong? I'm not talking about head counts, just whether thhey ar preg or not.  If vets are prepared to say that thay are 99.9% certain and charge a hefty fee, then they should be prepared to put their money where their mouth is, and refund when misdiagnosed.  I think these days its just about how much money they can get out of you, which puts them in the same league as accountants and solicitors!!     

My vet always covers his back and says very clearly before the scan that its not 100% accurate and that theres no guarantee that if developing pups can be seen that he can tell the amount. Or that they wont be reabsorbed for any reason during the latter half of the pregnancy.

Anyone taking their bitch for a scan should automatically bare this in mind anyway.

With regard to the cases of pups being confirmed/unconfirmed/reconfirmed etc, Ive never had this happen to me and I would personally use a vet who has high recommendations on their ability to use a scanner.

I agree with what you are saying pugnut, however this is my first experience of scanning and the fantastic vet we would have used, has recently moved to the other end of the country.  My mentor and stud dog's vet is also a far distance away as well.  I think it takes a bit of research to find a good vet in your own area that you can trust, as far as I'm concerned good vets are hard to come by.  My breeder has took years to find a vet who she can trust, after incompetent vets had made major mistakes and she subsequently lost dogs because of this.

I can completely understand that there is no guarantee and that they cannot give accurate numbers, but I would rather they be straight up and say that there is a possibilty that they could be wrong instead of giving absolute guarantees that the dog is not pregnant.  Accuracy of scanning to detect pregnancy based on research is about 95%, based on my research I would put that at about 50% !!LOL.  xx     

My vet was £30.00, My friend had her bitch scanned in july 08 and they charged her £45.00 Think it depends who you pay.. I heard someone say Vets4Pets do it at a very low fee.

I must say that my vets are very good no head count, just lots they said last time and we had 8.I think i counted 6 on the scan which was very clear and i came away with afew pictures, but then at that price i like to get something.
I like to scan so that if my bitch is in whelp i can book leave from work, but my friend just wants to know with her husky but just think that it is very easy money for the vets.

Righty.... just to confuzzle me even more, she is having 'a' puppy.  But she is HUGE!!!  Much bigger than my bitch six years ago that had 1 puppy.  Oh well time will tell next week when puppy arrives.  I just hope all goes well as its her first litter.

Let me know how you get on, my girl is only showing 1 too.  But as I said, vet said they could be lined up behind that one and not be seen on the scan.

GOOD LUCK to the both of you xx

Edith had her scan this afternoon, three possible puppies! Im so excited and pleased. They had a new type of scan machine there, fantastic! So detailed and clear, unfortunately she kept panting so it was hard to get a good clear still shot. If you want a nosey follow these links...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3196/2807233284_3ffd541057.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3020/2807215028_417aaa29c1.jpg
Roll on five weeks time! :-D

AWWW bless ,good luck pugnut xx

aww, hello little puppies!!

best of luck to you and your girly with them

thanks.... I can defo feel kicks from more than one puppy.... will post as its a learning curve for me and it may help someone else in future.........

How many weeks is she now?

The pics are great, little puppies YAY :-D

Bet you are so excited

Emma

depending on when she took as she was mated 3 times... she could be due anytime from Wednesday....  im so thrilled as this is her first litter and I cant wait to see what she produces, the sire has produced some super puppies, I used him earlier this year on this bitches mum and it was her best litter by far....  fingers crossed.... I have great relationship with my Vet and he is on standby.... dont know why im panicing as I know what im doing, im alot calmer helping other people but when its mine I do worry a bit...

Pinklady when is your due?  Im so convinvced there are more than one that if I am wrong I will show my dogs naked at Crufts 2009 - LOL

Goodluck Pugnut with your litter - keep us posted x

now thats 1 not to miss k9queen !! lol lol :)

HI,

mine are due in 2 weeks and although she was mated several times, we had progesterone tested (laboratory assay) her before she was mated, which showed that she had ovulated a day or so before the first mating, so she should be close to this date. She is starting to get a bit bigger now, so Im hoping that she is carrying more than 1, just a bit worried about complications for a singleton puppy for a large breed. I was tempted to get an xray done in the last week to find out, but I would be worried about effects of that type of radiation on an unborn puppy, vets will tell you that it does no harm at that stage but it would still concern me.  I guess I will just have to watch her closely when it comes nearer the time. Let me know how you get on!!        

Im the same with Xrays, I like the idea and it would be very useful to find out the actual amount and if theres any monstrously big pups in there. But its the xray radiation... Or maybe I worry too much!

Edith, as I think I mentioned before, has a few pups in there, but she is filling out already and her nipples are very big and very pink (shes black with blue/grey skin, so its very obvious!)

When she had her season she was ready to mate on the Saturday but the stud chosen wasnt available until the Sunday. Went to him on the Sunday and it was a no-go, he just wasnt interested! Which made me panic, was she/wasnt she ready? All my dogs at home had been going crazy for her for three days previous and they had all been trying to mount, she'd also been trying it on with them too!(one castrated dog, two entire bitches)

So I thought 'sod this!' and booked her in with the back up stud for the Monday. She was mated pretty much as soon as we stepped in the kitchen! Very keen! This one knew exactly what he was doing lol.

Had a great tie with that mating and again on the Tuesday. But by then she wasnt quite as receptive, had a grumble but then let him get on with it.

So Im thinking maybe she had released eggs before the matings and therefore they were fertilised earlier than if they had yet to be released. Putting her slightly ahead on the development of the pups.

She should be due around the 29th Sept, but Im thinking we may get a few little 'early birds'.

Im still waiting..... if she took from last mating they are due on the 6th.... nips v.pink and lots of milk now....  I know its not a big litter but there is more than one or naked exhibitor here I come.... lol

Bitch had emergency C Section at 4am.  I am hoping tp collect her at lunch time.  No surviving babies :-(

Im so sorry to hear this, hugz to you, you must be heartbroken,

Thats terrible news, I really feel for you, do they have any idea what went wrong?

im sooo sorry for your you and your girl (((hugs))) x

Very sorry. xx

So sorry for you and your girl, hope she will be ok soon xx

Oh how awful.  I'm so sorry.  Any idea what went wrong?

Thanks for your kind words, I have her back at home now.  She developed toxic shock and had to stay in for an extra 5 hours.  She is curled up on the sofa at the mo.  I have to take her to my vets tomorrow for a check up and medication etc so I will discuss with him and see what he says - it just wasnt meant to be. 

Either way I am not going to attempt to breed from her again, this was her 1st and last litter. I cant put her through this again.

Poor girl, hope she recovers well. Such a shame :-(

Positive thoughts coming your way xx

Ah poor girl, and poor you, what a nightmare for you, main thing is she is ok, hugz to you.

So sorry to hear your bad news.Hope that she is ok and makes a quick recovery.
Best wishes

So sorry to hear this has happened to you.
Sending your girl lots of get well soon vibes.
xx

Very sorry to here this , I hope your girl makes a speedy recovery . xxxx

What kind of breed is your girl? xx

So so sorry to hear your dreadful news, I was watching this thread anxiously for all of you. Hope your bitch is soon ok again.

still got a few more stitches to come out but my vet has given her the all clear..... I am soooooo pleased!!!

Thank you all for your kind messages!!!

xxx