Hi everyone after some advice my bitch was mated on 4 november and she is showing all the signs of being pregnant took her to the vets today for a scan and they said theres no puppies even the vet said she thought she was before the scan could they be wrong?any advice would be appreciated thanks .

Hiya Kevinsdog, look at my post Scans im just going through the exact thing your vet told you "no babys". It might help. jenny. x

Scans can be wrong but false pregnancy can look real enough. If in doubt you could have a relaxin blood test from approx 25days, it will be positive if in whelp as the hormone is only produce in pregnancy

K

thanx for that iam arranging an app in morning 4 her.

How did you get on ??

K

hi k my vets wouldnt see her they said there only opening for emergencies as aand when cases but she is 54days today and has turned very nasty towards my other dog but i have a question for you my original vet scaned her when she had her first litter and took us in the roomwhile he did it and took about 20 mins or so the vet were with now wouldnt let us see them scanning and only had her 5 mins max how long does it take to do a scan?thanx kevin.

I have never had scans that last longer than 10 minutes absolute tops and than includes the shaving and gelling up. A re scan with the dog already 'prepared' no longer than five mins in my case. I suppose it does depend on the skill of the operator but someone who knows that they are looking at, has done it for me in five minutes flat.
I have always been in with mine when scanned.

Also I suppose it takes longer if there are pups, attempting to count them etc but if there are none, that doesn't take long to establish at all.

Hi

I have a short coated breed and so no major prep needed for scans, always been with the dog and scans have never taken longer than 10mins. Most vets will not attempt to count as its not an exact science - generally will tell you pregnant or not, sometimes they will confirm multiple pregnancy. Non vet scanners will often give you an estimate of numbers BUT they are just an estimate. A friend was told 2 pups and the bitch had 9 after she had passed on loads of enquires elsewhere !!

Would try to get a blood test or repeat scan if possible, you may have to ring round a few other vets, the relxain blood test are available as in house test kits but not all vets will stock them.

K

thanx for all the info she is now 59 days and since yesterday she has been nesting not eating or drinking very much so i think im now going to just let her go and see what happens and if it is a false pregnancy is there anything i can buy to get rid of the milk thanks in advance for all your advice.

Reduce food intake and increase exercise will help to dispel milk.

thanx westcoast should i be doing that now or wait until after her due date.

If you think that she might be pregnant, then it wouldn't be a good idea to reduce her milk now........
And don't forget that her due date isn't written in stone.  63 days is only a guide and pups can be delivered up to a week late.

yeah i will leave her till about 70 days and thanx again

If this does prove to be a false pregnancy and she is showing lots of maternal behaviour with milk the vet could prescribe Galostop which is a homone to re set her body clock. Reduced food and increase excersise will also help but wouldn't do anything until your sure is is not in whelp. 

K

it is very important to be sure there is no actual pregnancy if thinking of using anything to dry up the milk.

A bitch in my breed was pronounced not in whelp so went  back to her novice owners (it was a breeding terms arrangement).

She had milk so their vet prescribed Galastop, they had told him that she had been mated, but he was sure she wasn't in whelp.

What happened was the bitch went on to whelp, needed a C section, and the Vet doing the C section couldn't understand how the pregnancy could have been missed.

The poor bitch had no milk, and it turns out that she could have lost the litter because of the medication (they did loose one), they hand reared for over a week when the milk finally came in, luckily Mum had been looking after the pups from birth.