Nothing Like Having to Wait a Little Longer!

On the way to the vet!

Hi Everyone,

Work was a little slow yesterday and so I ended up bringing Rogue in for her x-rays a day earlier than planned.  With Rogue being 53 days out from breeding, little puppy skeletons should have definitely begun to show and a day should not have made much difference.  However, we were extremely disappointed when we looked at the x-rays and discovered we could not see any little puppies showing up.  The vet and I began discussing the possibility that Rogue was having a false pregnancy.  Just to be 100% certain, we did a pregnancy test, fully expecting it to come back negative.  When I arrived into work today, I got the surprising results back - Rogue's relaxin pregnancy test was positive!

So what does this mean, since the relaxin test was positive, but no puppies are showing?  The vet informed me that she has never seen a false positive test, though she has seen false negatives when a bitch was only carrying 1 puppy.  Therefore, she has no doubt that Rogue IS pregnant.  Rogue most likely had not ovulated yet at the time she was bred, and so fertilization took place later.  Based on the negative x-rays, Rogue is probably about 10 days or so behind schedule, so we will have to take x-rays again next week to find out how many she is expecting.

What a rollercoaster!  I was dreading having to write all of you and let you know the disappointing news that Rogue was not expecting!  While it is still disappointing not to know how many puppies she has, at least we know that she has at least SOME buns in the oven!  Keep hanging in there for another week and I will post when I finally have an estimate of how many puppies we're expecting.

Isn't this exciting?

Hmm...  Am I or aren't I?  This is confusing!

Rogue is Getting Closer!

So the wait should soon be over!  Rogue is due on June 11th (Day 63) and she is definitely looking pregnant, although she is not as large as she was with her last pregnancy in which she whelped 6 puppies.  We will be taking her for x-rays this week to see if we can come up with an estimate of the number of puppies she is expecting.  The following information is a re-post from a previous blog entry, but should provide you with some useful information.  Once we have updates, I'll share them with all of you here on this blog.

Information updated on 6/2/11.

The options for determining pregnancy in dogs are as follows:

1. Wait for all of the obvious signs, such as weight gain & lactation. However, some dogs may go through false pregnancies where they show abdominal distension and even produce milk! This is definitely not the most reliable way to tell!
2. At ~22 days post-breeding, ultrasound can be used to detect fetal heartbeats. It may be difficult to tell exactly how many hearts are beating, but this method can still be used to help estimate litter size.
3. At ~21 to 31 days post-breeding, abdominal palpation may be used to try to feel the walnut-sized fetuses. Ideal timing is to palpate at approximately 28-30 days. This requires skill and experience and is not the best way to estimate the number of puppies present.
4. After ~21-30 days post-breeding, blood may be drawn to run an early pregnancy test for the hormone relaxin. Ideal timing to test is 28 days post-breeding.  This is a negative or positive test, and does not give us any additional information about the puppies.
5. At ~45-48 days post-breeding, puppy skeletons have begun to calcify and can begin to be picked up on x-ray.  Ideal timing is closer to 50 days.  This can be used to help estimate the number and size of puppies. As for any safety concerns, x-rays are commonly done in this later stage of pregnancy and are considered to be relatively safe. Early pregnancy is when x-rays pose the most significant risk to unborn puppies.

We typically wait to do x-rays to confirm pregnancy because this allows us to estimate the number and size of the puppies. This information helps us to make critical decisions during the labor.

Stud Male is FC Five Star Smokey out of Rapid Run Kennels in Kentucky: