Hi guys.

My dog was bred last May and is currently at day 61 from her last breeding, 65 from her first breeding. She was bred 3 times during days 10, 12, and 14 of her heat. We did vaginal smears to determine optimum times of mating.

When we palpated at almost 5 weeks (yup a bit late), vet felt nothing. She didn't go through any morning sickness either.

As the weeks went by, no changes occurred. She didn't increase in size, no appetite increase. Actually by week 5 her appetite went down a bit.
From week 7 on, the vet and I assumed she wasn't expecting. No changes, no nipple growth, no increase in appetite, no belly  size etc.

But then 5 days ago, she had a string of mucus. And then the next day she started to have milk. I did catch her clawing the floor intensely twice. She's been licking her vulva excessively as well. Could she be expecting even if she never showed any signs? If so, yup I'm ready since I've bought all supplies from bedding to an aspirator, thermometer, bottles, even a stethoscope since the day I bred her.

I'm assuming she has puppies in her ribs? Or a small litter? Shouldn't her puppies have dropped by now?

We're going to the vet if by day 68 she still hasn't gone to labor to see if she is empty as that's his "limit."

There is another thread running re dropping and it doesn't happen with every bitch, depends on the size of litter, how many litters she has had making her muscles more lax etc.

She may be having a full blown phantom or has a very small litter, the problem with small/single pup litters is there is not enough hormones given off from the pups to trigger labour, this is called primary inertia and a c/section is needed to save the pups and dam.

The palpation at 5 weeks is too late, the pups would be surrounded by water making it hard to feel pups, a scan would have been a better choice as at that gestation the pups would have been easily seen or there was definitely nothing there. You could take her for a scan/xray now or just wait and see.

> We're going to the vet if by day 68

 
I would never in a million years leave any bitch until day68.  Is this a breed prone to uterine inertia?  Would you recognise it?

Years ago I had a vet tell me that my bitch wasn't pregnant (not my vet any more|)

She whelped a few days later.  And I have seen pups move down just hours before whelping, so possible YES!

> I would never in a million years leave any bitch until day68.  Is this a breed prone to uterine inertia?  Would you recognise it?

Hi

With regards to day 68, he just wants to make sure that there is nothing there since day 68 is on the higher limit of being "acceptable" in terms of gestation.

A vet comes by all the time to check up on her and to see if she's doing okay and eating and perky. But she gets stressed in the clinic, thinking that a she'll get a needle and howls and hides. She an be a handful when in the clinic wherein one time she went to the waiting area and hid behind the legs of the other patients.

With uterine inertia, I am certain it's not her problem right now since she's still being all happy and perky and eats normally.
I'd rush her to the vet of course if she's not eating and lethargic and enters labor but won't dilate nor contract.

Primary inertia isn't something you can spot, they simply don't go into labour, the bitch may be happy and eating as nothing is happening to upset her.

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/board/topic/137551.html#fp  A thread which resulted in a c/section and 2 healthy pups.

The placentas are only meant to last a certain number of days after that they start deteriorating and the pups die,they maybe moving around one minute and dead the next[ I experienced this last year and she went into labour 2 days early and had one fresh still birth and 2 partly decomposed pups who had died some time before, she had slept next to me the night before and I could feel puppy movements, I wouldn't wish this on anyone, I hadn't done anything wrong, the labour was short only 4hrs to my other girls nearly 24 hrs from start to finish]

An Xray will show the bones very clearly if she is due as well as showing how many pups and their head size compared with the dams pelvis.

I truly hope that things work out for your bitch and her pups.