Pregnancy Issues - Page 1

I have a 4 years old female, i have mated it on four different heat cycles and yet she has not been able to produce, she acts as if she is pregnant, nipple swollen, lazy and almost all other signs, on a physical even the vet thinks that she is pregnant but once i take her for an ultrasound it is always negative, can someone shed some light on the reasons for her not getting pregnant, and also please also recommend the test that can be done to determine the cause, progestron levels were normal when test were carried out during the last two attempts, also please do let me know of the medicines that can be given. Thanks

has she been bred to the same stud dog each time? Or different ones? Was the stud dog proven to produce? Did he have confirmed pregnant females or young puppies on the ground at the time of breeding? If not, was his semen checked as being fertile? The female - her progesterone was normal, but did you check her progesterone level during/after the breeding, to make sure she ovulated? Many forget or neglect to do this. Females can come into normal heat but if they don't ovulate, no puppies. The progesterone levels can rise, then remain level or drop down again - if they drop down past 2 the female will lose the puppies even if she did ovulate. So if you are going to try again, next time make sure the stud dog has sired a litter recently, or has a confirmed pregnant female at the time of your breeding, or his semen is checked before you breed to him. Check progesterone on the female and also do a vaginal culture to check for infection or bacteria (that will kill sperm or cause infertility) - and keep checking progesterone levels during/after breeding to make sure A) she ovulates and B) her progesterone level doesn't drop again. (if it drops she will lose the puppies en-utero). Some females are simply not breeding-sound. Some males are apparently healthy but are not fertile. Good luck.

Could she be absorbing the puppies?

Also might be a good idea to check her thyroid levels. This can keep a bitch from becoming pregnant if they are not within normal levels. Good luck!

has she been checked for Mycoplasma/Ureaplasma? How many months are her heat seasons spaced apart?

Do a Vaginal culture......... watch for overgrowth of somethings......especially Pseudomonas. Almost impossible to irradiacate, and nobody with a stud dog will touch her if they know she has an overgrowth of this. Could also be Mycoplasma

Duke, Assuming that you and your vet have explored the "medical" possibilities. Is this dog a "high" stress dog ? medically wise there could be 100 + reasons for her not conceiving, or conceiving then sluffing the litters. The male was mentioned this too could be reason for her not producing a litter. but if all the medical things have been checked, your left with few options to narrow out. one major one though is stress, dogs who are easily stressed are still equipped with the inate ability to sluff the litter in order for self survival. Hope you find the answers you seek, how dissapointed and sad you must be. I wish you Luck.

Thanks all for all the information. I am sorry but i forgot to mention that she was breed with different dogs, all known producers and with recent litters. One other thing, she always seems very hyped up, pregnant or not. Thyroid level test has not been performed, i will try to do it this time around. She has not been checked with Mycoplasma / Ureaplasma and her heat cycles are always 4/5 months apart.