reabsorbtion of puppies ?

[scrumpywithrosie]

Does any one have any experience in this ?

Our labrador bitch was scanned after mating (about 35 days after) and was definatly pregnant.

At 50ish days a follow up scan could not detect clear puppies and it is likely they have been reabsorbed. He thought he could see a heartbet but was not sure so she may have 1 or 2 that were high up and could not be clearly seen with the scan.

We are very upset as we were so looking forward to it.

The vet was not hopeful for any puppies being born.

Now I dont know if we should be prepared if she has 1 or 2 (due in about a week) or not. He felt her abdomen and could not feel anything.

I have read up on reabsorbtion and I dont think she has an infection and the vet did not mention this but we have had building work going on so wonder if this traumatised her and caused it.

Does anyone have any experience of this ?

off to walk dogs as i agree with dooin again and dont want to look stalkerish

But the reality is that most people will still want their own DC. Including posters in the Doghouse.

And whilst yes, I would advocate people fostering and adopting, I think it is counter productive to respond aggressively to anyone who would rather not.

Certainly, if a new Mum posted that she was worried about her babay not latching, I do not think an appropriate answer would be 'FFS, you should have got all the advice about this beforehand. That poor baby. Why didn't you adopt then these breastfeeding problems would exist?'

Not appropriate because a. it's none of my business. b. it's a bit pointless after the poster has made her choice and c. my tone would put off anyone considering fostering adoption which is the opposite of what I want to achieve.

dooin that's not what happened here.

Op asks a reasonable question about reabsorption.

Gets told she should have got advice beforehand.

OP says she did.

Gets told in no uncertain terms she is irresponsible, that there are too many dogs needing homes. Nose in the air.

And another thread derails.

Nothing in the Doghouse compares to the aggression and flamings and lecturing that goes on in any chat about formula feeding or ELCS.

Just saying.

Blimey, I've never read a thread in this Board before, and had no idea of the politics around breeding dogs. Going back to the safety of the parenting Boards quickly....

I was going to mention ff and bf as a comparison but did not dare

I am going to be really irresponsible and set up the whelping box and heat pad at the weekend so our 'poor bitch' gets used to it and feels safe in it in case any puppies do arrive in the next couple of weeks.

Scrumpy the Doghouse is full of cuddly teddy bears compared to the feeding threads and ELCS threads.Is what I meant to say.

If your bitch is still pregnant with one or two puppies, then I hope you are experienced enough to spot the symptoms of inertia if it occurs (common in small litters where there may not be sufficient hormone levels to progress labour normally) in time to prevent the loss of puppies and, more importantly, your bitch.

Oh, and I hope you have budgeted for a c-section (and then some if it's needed out-of-hours).

OP, you haven't really helped yourself tbh by getting defensive. It's obvious you're not an experienced breeder, and whilst everyone has to start somewhere, correct protocol really is to have a mentor initially, an experienced breeder who can help, answer any questions you have and hopefully be there at the whelping or at the least be on the end of the phone. Whelping is a risky business for both Mum and pups and not really something to be taken on by a novice, purely for animal welfare reasons if nothing else. Of course, you may have a mentor, but then one questions why you'd ask advice on a forum where there aren't many breeders and not one such as Champdogs, for example. (and if people think this thread includes flaming, it's softly, softly compared to CD's)

You can't really compare breeding dogs with humans having babies, because despite the fact that lots of children sadly end up in care (and I have worked with them and been one of them) in the main, people do not have children with the intention of selling them to make money.

Point taken about the profit aspect of dog breeding vs. human breeding. I don't disagree that getting a rescue dog is definitely the way to go if you want to get a dog, but some of the posts on here don't make me think "oh, I best rehome a rescue" they make me think "shit, I probably shouldn't get another dog because there are clearly too many ways to Get It Wrong." Which is possibly counter-productive.

Scrumpy, I am a vet, and personally I don't think partial or total resorption is all that rare - I think it's probably quite often missed. It happened to one of my own bitches many years ago - she was scanned by a referral radiologist who counted two puppies, and ended up having one by Caesarian - not a trace of any other puppy there, and we were able to see the uterus during the surgery, of course. There rarely seem to be any health implications for the bitch, although canine herpes virus is one possible cause, which can cause ongoing problems within a breeding kennels. It can be hard to visualise puppies on a scan in a deep-chested bitch. If you want to be sure if there is anything there, an X ray will count puppy skeletons at the stage your bitch is at now, although it can't distinguish live puppies from recently dead ones, unlike a successful ultrasound image. You might want to think about that if you want to know for sure if there is anything left or not, or of course you can just wait to see if she whelps when the time comes, as you suggest.
As was said above, if there is only a small number of pups left, whelping may not proceed normally. You would be wise to start taking her temperature twice daily from now, so that if her temperature drops you know that whelping should start within 24 hours or so afterwards. Labs are terribly hard to PD by abdominal palpation, so it is still possible she is pregnant.

Alice thank you that is exactly the sort of advice I needed. She is very deep chested.
I will ring another vet as the one that did the scan just seemed to leave us hanging with no plan as where we go from here. Just wait and see was his advice.

Don't worry about other people. Reabsorbing puppies is not uncommon and healthy pups from the same litter can still be born we have had this happen. It doesn't mean the bitch is I'll or you have done anything wrong. You seem to have all the things you need. Pm if you want I can try to give you more help and support .

Oh didn't see alice's reply good good an expert on hand hurray good luck

Scrumpy - I recommend visiting here and posting in the breeding section. There are many very experienced breeders who use the site and may be able to offer you helpful breed specific advice.