[Raven Rayne]

Hi,
I have a 2 year old Great Dane that is/ would be 39 days pregnant today. Here's the scenario...
She went to the Breeders house for a total of 6 days to have a hot date with her stud. They were allowed to be together and tie 4 times in that time frame. She came home and right off the bat we noticed she was 80% more calm than she left and just wanted to snuggle. About two weeks into it I noticed some vaginal discharge.. I take her to a vet in my town who after a swab of the discharge tells me my dogs dying and needs a $3000 surgery NOW. I bring her home in tears and tell my husband what the vet said and he wanted a second opinion. ( as she would play, eat, potty and go for walks like nothing was. REALLY wrong with her) we take her to a different vet the next morning and they did a swab and an ultrasound. Great news!! She's not dying, she's pregnant! However she does have a vaginal infection so two weeks of antibiotics was what we went home with. During the ultrasound the vet admitted that she's not "skilled" at looking for pups but says 2-6 by guessing. The next week we take her back for a recheck. They do the swab and another ultrasound. This US was done at day 30 and the vet said that our Dane was extremely tense and was flexing her tummy like a body builder and they didn't find any pups. In a one week period from the first visit to the second one she gained 1.7 pounds.
Back to now. I have a picture of her taken on day 30 of her tummy and one from day 38 and there is a HUGE difference. She's got a pretty good sized pot belly, her nipples are giant, she's eating anything that can't escape her mouth, she's almost annoyingly cuddly, and she has developed mammary tissue. I will add my flickr link for anyone to view the pictures.
My question is after all of that, is could she have "hidden" the puppies from the ultrasound at day 30? (days are assuming she got pregnant from the first tie)
image | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
image | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[natenqen]

Okay, before I say anything else. Did you talk to the breeder you are breeder joint custody with? They should be able to help you with what is going on.

Secondly, be warned you will be getting some pretty hard opinions as a lot of us look down upon bybers.

So, that being said, if infact you 'arn't' a byber, talk to the person you are breeding with. They should know and be able to help you.

 

[Raven Rayne]

I am not and will not be a byb.. This will be the one and only time I attempt to breed a dog.. I know what most of what I should know and a little extra because my mother in law has bred Maltese for 23 years.
I paid quite a bit more money than I planned on to have a dozen different tests and X-rays done on my Great Dane. She's our baby and didn't buy her to breed her. We bought her for a companion dog and even signed papers stating that we would not breed her. However the breeder we bought her from contacted us asking if we would be willing to breed with her new male since our female was the best out of her litter. We agreed and I've done a ton of research. I have talked with the Breeder and she's just as lost as I am with the conflicting US, her weight gain and her other symptoms of pregnancy. I was just simply posting her to see if anyone could give me some additional insight and maybe someone else has gone though something like this with their dog.

 

[LuvMyFluff]

In the past, when I did have a breeding GRD, if she got tied more than once by the male.....she was pregnant! Also, there is a pregnancy test for dogs................
I've never known a female to stand for a male unless she was receptive
BTW, your GD sounds like she is preggers! I would be concerned on the meds that were given to her though so early in a pregnancy, I would check with the vet about the chance of birth defects?

 

[TiggerBounce]

I think your best bet is to find a vet that is more experienced with doing US on pregnant bitches, or wait until day 50 or so to do an X-ray. At 39 days, pregnancy should be obvious with an US, but if she's only got one or two pups, using US to confirm pregnancy is more difficult.

It sounds promising since you know she's tied several times and she's now getting some mammary swelling and losing her "girlish figure". Also, some clear vaginal discharge IS normal around week 4-5.

 

[Raven Rayne]

We asked the vet about the use of antibiotic during pregnancy before we started giving it to her. The Vet said that it was completely safe and wouldn't harm the puppies.
If it would not have been safe for the puppies we would have just had her spayed at that point because she is way more important to us than the pups. Not that we won't love the pups if she really is pregnant. But if given the choice between her health or her babies I would choose her every time.
She's been off the meds for 3 days now and seems to be much better. I guess as normal as she can be with all the changes going on in her body right now.

 

[natenqen]

Oh okay. I'm glad to hear that (it's not a byber situtation not that you are having problems. (Don't get me wrong. the way you posted your post sounded like a byer to me because it was vag. Had you told us that the breeder asked you to breed her is a different story.) Sorry about that.

 

[juliemule]

Ultra sounds do sometimes miss, and every breeding I've done the vet has been off by at least two puppies via ultra sound. Be sure the dog poops before and withhold morning feed will get better results.
Or wait for the xray, and again be sure she is "empty" beforehand.

Typically you won't notice much change early on.

 

[crock]

Ditto, plus it's much harder to count pups via ultrasound. Usually they are just used for preg confirmation. X-ray will be much more accurate for count. If you don't feel like waiting for the minimum xray date, you could always bring her back in to the vet for their opinion. They could gently palpate and see if they can feel pups.

 

[Raven Rayne]

She tenses up to bad from what they have told us. I just took her in to get a new weight on her and she has gained 7.2 lbs in just 2 1/2 weeks. I asked if their scale was broke and they promised me that it wasn't.

 

[TMsam]

Xray early on are not reliable.
She sounds pregnant to me. I be a bit concerned that she came home with an infection though as any decent breeder knows how to take precautions against infections when mating & i would never tie someone else's bitch 4 times. We do 2 or 3 at max as every serve runs risk of infection.

 

[Raven Rayne]

For a Great Dane is 45 days good for X-rays or wait till day 50?

 

[crock]

I would wait until day 50 after the last tie.

49 days is minimum... but if there was a fetus/two who was fertilized later than the others/is younger, then you run the risk of going too early/and getting some development complications.