Hi , I was just wondering if you could give me any advice on a mum who is expecting a single pup. I had my girl scanned at 28 days and the vet thought he saw 2 pups and, as he said ones and two's can be tricky he offered to rescan a couple of weeks later so we knew what we were dealing with and could be prepared. We went back for the rescan and a different vet now says they can only see one pup. I  have been advised not to over feed mum, and not to change her over to puppy food as I usually would, to watch for any dark green discharge or fresh bleeding and to be aware that her labour may not start naturally with only one pup. Is there anything else I should be paying particular attention to, any different from a bigger litter ? Many thanks for any help or advise you may have.

The main problem is primary inertia when labour doesn't start as there is not enough hormone triggered by the pups to get things going, you then need to decide what date they should have whelped based on number of matings and ovulation day.

To check for maturity and that there is only one pup then an Xray will show bone calcification, numbers and possible position when done 5-7days before due date, if the bones of skull and spine are clearly defined then they are cooked, if hazy still then they have a bit to go.

I've had a litter of 1 in the past, and mum needed an injection to get her going. Pup was then born naturally and lived with me until she was almost 14 years old.

I also have a bitch here that was an only pup. Her breeder came down in the morning to find mum and pup quite happily sleeping in mums bed. She didn't need any help. ;-)

I would think about an x-ray, just to be certain of numbers. Vets can get numbers wrong on scans, and do quite often, so there may be more than one.