I bred my dog and believe the female is pregnant. If she is it is a small litter. The owner of the female has felt movement in her abdomen, but the blood test came back negative. Before the blood test was done the vet was unsure if she was pregnant or not. To be on the safe side we are watching her anyway since I have read that some vets and blood tests have given false negatives. Anyway yesterday,Sunday, her temp dropped to 99 but went back to 100.3 Sunday night. Early Monday morning she was panting, pacing and licking at herself and her owner noticed her lower abdomen looks a little bigger and balled up an got hard. It is monday morning now and her temp is back up to her norm of 102. She had a false pregnancy once before. This time her changes have occured more like what I have read. She got milk about 2-3 days ago and her due date is april 2 or 3. My question is are there other reasons for a temp drop, would a temp drop happen in a false pregnancy also and I have read several different things about temp and impending whelp. One site said it would drop then go back to normal then another site said it stays down. If she really is going into labor I expect it to be this evening.
Thank you

It is possible that in different breeds the temperature change may vary, however in my experience the temperature drops then returns to normal again. I take our bitches temperature a number of times during the days close to whelping - however the bitches "normal temperature" can be a bit lower in the last week. If she is pregnant whelping usually follows 24-36 hours after the temperature drop. Most bitches give birth before the 63 days average term, (however some breeds have a longer term), and it is quite common for abitch to whelp before that time. It sounds a bit to realistic to be a phantom - keep an eye on her, watch her when she goes outside, you may finf you have a new visitor very soon.

Al