I have a bitch (large breed) who was mated 38 days ago she is giving me all the signs that she is pregnant like sleeping alot, nipples growing etc. I took her to the vet when she was 28 days and they could see a fluid filled sac but told me to come back in a week to double check, they didnt give me a definite answer. I took her back today and had another ultrasound done and theres nothing showing, is there a chance she may be pregnant and the ultrasound just cant pick it up?

hi, we had the same a few weeks ago with our giant breed but the vet was right and there was no puppies we were gutted but are just waiting for july  when she is due again!! we had all the signs too,
good luck

Same here I'm affraid to say, first scan at 28 days, showed something but not very clear, second scan showed nothing. My girl still have all the signs and we treated her as if she may be carrying one puppy, which should  have been due on the 11/3 but the vet was right.

We've had the same

Just had a bitch scanned and found nothing at 28 days, this week she looks like she's swallowed a beachball...she's pregnant all right :-)

Oh Lucky you, I do hope everything goes well for you, I'm so jealous. karen X :)

Just had my girl scanned on day 33 and found 6 pups, im so excited.

Ah good luck with your babies everyone x

> Just had a bitch scanned and found nothing at 28 days, this week she looks like she's swallowed a beachball...she's pregnant all right :-)

LOL LOL LOL

"Just had a bitch scanned and found nothing at 28 days, this week she looks like she's swallowed a beachball...she's pregnant all right"

This is why I do not waste my money on scans. The only time I would consider one is if I was concerned there was maybe a singleton in there... other than that I wait and see and usually know from around 5 weeks anyway.

This is why I do not waste my money on scans

Well I was pleased we had our girl scanned last year as we knew to expect a large litter! :-)

> This is why I do not waste my money on scans

I had a very good reasons why I had this bitch scanned and it is very unusual to do so. I usually dont need to be told and I have little faith in most vet scanners - due to past experience.

It was numbers I was after, trying out a new scanner and I had one of the potential owners over from the Netherlands to see her.

"Well I was pleased we had our girl scanned last year as we knew to expect a large litter!" 

The problem with scans is that a certain number of pups can be seen on say day 30, after which time the bitch can reabsorb some of them ... so when the bitch does not whelp as many pups as seen on the scan the breeder can be left worrying unnecessarily that there are retained pups. Plus some vets are simply not good at scanning anyway.
I have always found that weighing my bitch at the time of mating and then during the course of the pregnancy can be a pretty good indicator of whether or not the litter is likely to be small or large.

> The only time I would consider one is if I was concerned there was maybe a singleton in there... other than that I wait and see and usually know from around 5 weeks anyway.

The bitch can reabsorb some of them ... so when the bitch does not whelp as many pups as seen on the scan the breeder can be left worrying unnecessarily that there are retained pups.

I agree

The problem with scans is that a certain number of pups can be seen on say day 30, after which time the bitch can reabsorb some of them ... so when the bitch does not whelp as many pups as seen on the scan the breeder can be left worrying unnecessarily that there are retained pups. Plus some vets are simply not good at scanning anyway.


We had her scanned around day 35, we were told 12, she had 11, we weren't expecting to be told the exact number, point I was making was that we knew to expect more than say 6 or 8.
Plus it wasn't a Vet we used but a very experienced scanner. :-)