Hi,
My bitch (medium size breed) will be 7 weeks since her last mating this Thursday. She had been keeping us guessing and hadn't really been showing external signs, except maybe a slight bit bigger just below her ribs and  being sick a few times during week 4.
So we took her to be ultra sound scanned today and the vet said he didn't see anything. She is a very fit and healthy working lab and was wondering what the chances would be of her carrying them high in her ribs? And how accurate exactly are U.S Scans?
Many Thanks,
Amy

I have a much smaller breed, but I had a bitch carrying a pup high up under the ribs.  She didn't look very big - until the pup moved down ready to move into position.  My girl was on her back next to me and I was stroking her tummy.  So I felt the move, and it was like a huge wave.  She whelped the following morning.

Thanks for the reply!
Did you have her scanned at all?
I can definitely notice a change in my girl, she's got very clingy recently. Think I may just be holding on hope!
She's 45 days since last mating.

In 40 odd years with dogs I have never routinely scanned.  Any scan has been in an emergency when I wanted to know if we had a problem.

It isn't unusual for a maiden bitch not to show at 45 days, although some breeds show earlier than others.  Clingy definitely sounds right.  If she's frightened she will be looking to you for comfort and reassurance.

It's be very strange to not see pups on a scan as late as this -possible I suppose if she is having a very small litter, but your breed isn't known for litters of just one or two. What do her teats look like? By now they should be much bigger than usual and look very obvious.

Some vets are known to be that good at trying to find puppies by u/s. There are a lot of home.scanners and this is all they do and will come tp your home and do it. If you are still unsure then I would get a home scan asap. Even high up they should be detected at this stage.

Hi, thanks for your replies!
She was from a litter of 11 and her tears are slightly larger than usual.
She's only 2.5yrs old and this would have been her first litter so I will just try again next year. I think maybe next year I will try with a dog who has sired more litters. The stud dog we used had only sired one litter before so he was a bit inexperienced at the job!
The vet did say she was in tip top condition inside and out so at least she's healthy :)
Thanks again for all your replies, I really appreciate it!
Amy

My guess would be that she has missed, the breed usually has decent size litters and by 7 weeks even a maiden should look in whelp, enlarged teats and a bit of sickness are not unknown in phantoms, even so I would get prepared just in case, there are so many stories of surprise puppies born to "non-pregnant" bitches