hi im new here but would like some advice please.My girl is 63 days post first mating and 61 days second mating.she was scanned a week ago and has 4 puppies that looked healthy.Is there anything i can do to help her or any advice please on how long is normal to go over.im starting to  get anxious now just want them here safe thanks for reading

There can be quite a wide variation of due dates if you don't know when the dog entered diestrus.  If you do cytology slides, you will know when the first day of diestrus is and can then calculate the due date to be within 24hrs. 

If you haven't done slides or progesterone, you just don't know.  She could have taken on the second mating, and sperm can live up to 5 days - so fertilisation may not have occurred until at the latest(ish) 5 days after the 2nd mating.  (Sperm can actually live even longer, up to a week.)

I always counted 62 from the first mating but if nothing had happened, 2 days on from that due date, involved my vet.   They are all different but my take on all this is although the apple won't fall until it's ripe the longer they just sit, the bigger they will be when they do decide to come into the world meaning a C.Section could be more likely to be needed.   Your vet will probably tell you to wait, but whether you do, is up to you.

On the other hand (Devil's Advocate) if you c-section too early, they won't be able to survive in the outside world and will die.  Just a day in a dog's pregnancy is the equivalent of a week (or something!) in human pregnancies in terms of development.

> Just a day in a dog's pregnancy is the equivalent of a week (or something!) in human pregnancies in terms of development.

I have always said as a dog is pregnant for 9 weeks, a week for a dog, is a month for a human & a cow (yes I was a farmer)

> ) if you c-section too early, they won't be able to survive in the outside world and will die.

It depends how you determine "early."  My bitches whelp on day 56 and pups are totally viable with fully developed lungs.  I know another breeder on CD who has had perfectly normal pups on day 55.  So if the OP reckons this possibly could be day 63 I don't see the problem of a C-section.

> you c-section too early, they won't be able to survive in the outside world and will die.

Most vets wouldn't do a Section until they'd given a shot to get things moving, and they'd not do that unless the bitch had 'started' but not progressed.   As was the case with many of mine - secondary inertia.

>It depends how you determine "early."  My bitches whelp on day 56 and pups are totally viable with fully developed lungs.  I know another breeder on CD who has had perfectly normal pups on day 55. 

It's completely impossible to talk about days like this, unless you know the date diestrus started.  'Days' are nothing but general guidelines as to where a pregnancy is, UNLESS you have the timing down. 

>Most vets wouldn't do a Section until they'd given a shot to get things moving, and they'd not do that unless the bitch had 'started' but not progressed.   As was the case with many of mine - secondary inertia.

Well yes, it doesn't matter how they are delivered - c-section or labour after a shot - if they are too early, they are too early and won't be able to breathe.

> Well yes, it doesn't matter how they are delivered - c-section or labour after a shot - if they are too early, they are too early and won't be able to breathe.

BUT my vets wouldn't have done either unless the gestation period had passed, plus at least 2 days.   In my cases, none was given a shot before around day 64+, from the first mating.   So there'd have been no chance of the litter coming before the puppies were viable.   And with any doubt, x-ray could be done to see what was going on.   If memory serves me right, mine clearly were always in the early stages of labour before I involved my vet(s).

OP   Talk to your vet - be warned, sometimes a car trip can get things moving so take a friend to watch your bitch, and your whelping gear + a box with a warm pad in it.   Just in case.   And I'd not take her unless you absolutely must - and even then I'd probably want her examined in my car, not stress her (or risk infection) by taking her into the waiting area/consult. room.

That sounds pretty sensible.  I wish all vets were that knowledgeable.

Call me thick but I have never blood tested nor have I ever had a mating not result in pups, so this makes no sense at all to me. I had big chunky pups born day 55 from mating. How could that possibly be any more than 55 days? Less I get but not more. They certainly were not premature in any way, good sizes for their breed which is a toy.

In that case it probably couldn't be more than day 55, but in cases with multiple matings and not knowing when ovulation was - and when the pups have not yet been born and you are trying to decide when they are viable, it is very different.

Hi guys I'm in need of some reassurance I think my bitch is 64 days but that's going on the first mating on the 20 th  the 2nd was 23  of jan  she was bred on her 13 th day of her season . The puppies are very active very strong she is great in herself eating drinking has nested a couple of times but no panting or anything.  I will be giving the vet a call tomorrow but I feal I'm messing up with her due date . She was scanned and I was told there were 3 puppies . Can any one help she is with me 24/7 and I won't leave her out of my site with worrie

As said, because mine would go to secondary inertia more often than not, I didn't leave mine more than 2 days over, from the first mating - and I didn't do more than one mating, 2 days apart, which generally made knowing the due date easier.

If she's calm with no nasty discharge, I'd imagine you can leave her for another 24 hours without involving your vet, who'd probably just say wait, in any case.  Whether you do, is up to you though!   Just before whelping, our puppies tended to 'go quiet' which the first time I saw that, had me very worried but I think this is when they start to line up to be born!!

Good luck - the waiting can be the worst.

Personally, I would go by the latest it could be - but I do cytology to determine diestrus and that gives me a whelping window within 24hrs, regardless of when the matings were.

If she took 5 days after your 2nd mating, what day would you be on now?

So the mating on 20th Jan would be due date of 24 March
With the mating on 23 Jan would be due date of 27 March

In answer to 1234's question 5 days later would give a due date of 1 April