Hi
My gundog bitch is on day 40 of her pregnancy (her first litter). She had an ultrasound at day 29 when the vet saw 4 puppies.
She's putting on lots of weight around her ribs and her teats are getting bigger and darker.
How can I tell exactly how many puppies there are so I know when she's delivered them all?

Some vets say to do another scan, others say X-ray and another said to just wait and see. I'm keen to know numbers so I can ensure all the puppies are out when they arrive.

My bitch was one of 12 puppies and the sure of this litter has previously sired 10 puppies in his first/last litter.

I was quite surprised when the vet only saw 4 puppies in the scan as I'd been told labs tend to have 6-8 and more in a first litter?

Thanks

In most [if not all] species of mammal, litter size is determined by the dam; mainly according to how many eggs she releases, and to a lesser extent, how much space she has inside her uterine horns for all the fertilised eggs to develop normally. I'm fairly sure that litter size is inherited down the dam's side - in my experience, those that have come from large litters often throw large litters themselves... though of course there are exceptions. That has certainly been my experience when breeding other animals (I don't breed dogs).

Males don't have much to do with litter size as they release millions of sperm (unless there is a fertility issue in the male, when you might get fewer eggs fertilised than expected).

From what I have gathered from hanging around on here, scans are sometimes quite inaccurate so the chances are there's probably more than 4 in there.

Hope this helps, I'm sure someone who does breed will be around soon to confirm or correct the above!

Vets are only confirming the bitch is in whelp not numbers as some can die and be absorbed and therefore won't commit themselves for fear the owner come back at them.

The clearest way to count and see how many are breech is to have an Xray done in the last 7-10 days, too early and the bones are not calcified enough, you can then count skulls and spines and any up near the ribs can also be seen.

The dam looks very deflated as the labour goes on and the remaining pups more active as there is more room to move so you can see if there are any more to come, only dead ones wouldn't be moving but could still be felt as an abnormal lump.

Number of puppies is also to do with where in her cycle she was mated.  If she was mated at the most fertile time, you could expect the maximum number of eggs to be around and fertilised.  If you just caught her at the end of the fertile time, there might be rather fewer around. 

Then there are things like stress levels, reabsorption...

my girl has just had 5 pups 1week ago shes a toy breed and was scanned seeing 3 i knew she was having more she was massive and it was her 1st litter ,iv also had a girl scanned at vets to be told 6 she had 13 pups also a girl to be having 6 maybe 7 she had 3 as she readsord them so needing to know id go with xray at he end.

I've been told one, maybe two pups only for ten to be born. However, no way would I subject a heavily pregnant bitch to an x-ray.

Fit and Fertile loan out or sell puppy heart beat detectors so you can check for heartbeats and make sure they're all born :)

>those that have come from large litters often throw large litters themselves

My Flora was a singleton, she only ever had the one litter and had 8 pups....lol.

>Fit and Fertile loan out or sell puppy heart beat detectors so you can check for heartbeats and make sure they're all born

That assumes that all whelps are alive ...

This is what I thought, I don't want to take her for an X-ray unless I absolutely have to. She's very chilled and hasn't ever been stressed about any situation. She was wagging her tail and doing the full body wiggle whilst having her scan!

Hopefully everything will go according to plan with the birth and no pups get stuck!

Thanks for all the advice/help :-)

sorry i wasnt saying take her ,only saying what is the only way to know how many pups there was at the end and where thay are lay :) i would ONLY have this done if my girl was introuble x

I tend not to use vets to scan, would rather go to someone who does it more regularly as they tend to be more accurate with numbers ime. My vet will only confirm pregnancy as they have been wrong when giving numbers before.

Well here is someone that would readily go for X-ray again, no problem.

My bitch was having super strong contractions, and getting nowhere.  Toy breed, and I knew that something should have happened by now.  I raced out to the hospital (always at night isn't it.)  :-)  I asked for an X-ray to see what was going on.

She was never going to deliver, poor girl.  Two pups were jammed side by side in the same horn.  And there was one pup in the other.  My bitch was fine during the X-ray, and no ill effects, and I would definitely do it again.  You know immediately how many and where the pups are.  I went for an immediate section, and all turned out well.  :-)