Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 4: Identifying Signs of Heat
• Part 2 of 4: Identifying Potential Pregnancy
• Part 3 of 4: Early Signs of Pregnancy
• Part 4 of 4: Confirming Pregnancy at the Veterinary Clinic
• Tips

If your bitch has mated with a male dog (provided that both animals have not been spayed or neutered), then there is a high probability of pregnancy. However, not every mating will result in pregnancy, especially if the event does not occur at the time of ovulation. So how do you know that a dog has become pregnant as a result of mating? This article will help you figure out when a bitch is in heat, when a pregnancy is potentially possible, and how to identify it.

Steps

Part 1 of 4: Identifying Signs of Heat

1. 1 Find out if your dog has been spayed. If you have owned a dog since puppyhood, then you know exactly the answer to the question of whether the dog's uterus has been removed. However, if you have adopted an adult dog from a shelter, you may not be able to confidently answer this question. A fertile (unsterilized) bitch usually goes into heat twice a year, so if you have kept your dog for a long time (more than 9 months) and has not been in heat during that time, the likelihood that it is neutered increases.
   • Although the duration of estrus may vary from individual to individual, the average is 18 days. The first estrus in bitches occurs at the age of 6-24 months.
   • Read the article below to determine the symptoms of heat onset.
2. 2 Pay attention to changes in the genital area. When your dog is in heat, you will notice clear changes in the genital area.
   • Enlarged and swollen vulva. The swelling of the external genitalia often lasts about four weeks from the time the heat begins and almost until it ends.
   • Vaginal discharge. During the first 7-10 days of estrus, your dog may leave blood stains. It will be helpful to cover the dog's bedding with a white sheet and check for signs of bleeding. If a dog is picky about its own cleanliness, it can spend a lot of time licking its vulva, so that the discharge may not always be noticeable. The discharge becomes lighter for a period of about seven days in the middle of menstruation (it is at this time that ovulation occurs and the likelihood of pregnancy becomes highest), after which the final 7-10 days of estrus begins.
3. 3 Track changes in your dog's behavior. When a dog is in heat, it undergoes significant hormonal changes that lead to changes in its behavior. How exactly the behavior changes depends on the individual character of the animal. For example, if a dog is usually calm, it may become irritable and unrestrained. If she tends to stay at home more, she may develop a sudden urge to run away from you and become wandering.
   • In addition to the above changes, the dog should feel good. If she has a lack of energy, loss of appetite, vomiting, excessive water intake, consult a veterinarian. In rare cases, uterine conditions such as pyometra (purulent inflammation of the uterus) can mimic estrus and can be life-threatening if left unchecked.

Part 2 of 4: Identifying Potential Pregnancy

1. 1 Remember when mating with a dog could have happened. Without a doubt, the participation of a male dog is required for the onset of pregnancy. Consider if your dog has mated with a male. Perhaps she ran away from you, after which she was discovered with a friend.
2. 2 Find out if the dog the dog has been in contact with has been neutered. Neutered or neutered males cannot produce sperm to fertilize a bitch. However, non-castrated males are quite capable of this. If possible, contact the owner of the dog to find out everything.
   • The only exceptions are males neutered in the last four weeks before mating. There is a potential risk of sperm still remaining in the sperm, through which ejaculation occurs during mating. This risk is small, but cannot be completely ruled out.
3. 3 Write down the mating date. It can be helpful in establishing the potential for pregnancy. If the event happened 3 months ago, then the dog cannot be pregnant. This is because the average gestational (gestational) period in dogs is about 62-65 days (but can range from 57-72 days). If at that time she became pregnant, then by the end of the third month she would already be with the puppies.
4. 4 Determine when your dog is in heat. Knowing your past heat will help your veterinarian choose the best approach to confirming pregnancy. Methods for diagnosing pregnancy can be based on hormonal changes, physiological changes, and palpation of embryos in the uterus. Which approach will give the most accurate answer depends on the timing of estrus and the number of days that have passed since mating.
   • If a bitch has mated with a male, and heat is not over yet, then it is too early to find out if she is pregnant.

Part 3 of 4: Early Signs of Pregnancy

1. 1 Pay attention to the dog's lethargy and other behavioral changes. Many dog ​​breeders note a change in character in dogs during pregnancy: animals become drowsy, more lethargic, and begin to equip their nest. However, false pregnancy symptoms can also occur when the dog thinks it is pregnant but is not actually pregnant. Some bitches with false pregnancies sometimes even start milk production, so enlarged mammary glands are not an absolute confirmation of pregnancy.
2. 2 Note the enlarged nipples. One of the relatively reliable signs of pregnancy in a dog is an increase in its nipples. They become larger in size and often take on a pink tint.
   • A pregnant bitch does not start producing milk until almost the end of pregnancy (and sometimes it can only start after giving birth).
   • Note that you will still need to see your veterinarian to confirm that you are pregnant. A bitch's pronounced pink nipples about four weeks after mating indicate a high probability of pregnancy (but this is not a final conclusion).
3. 3 Pay attention to the increasing waist. As in the case of pregnancy in women, an increase in the dog's waist is a significant sign of pregnancy, but it should be interpreted with caution. In a healthy bitch in good physical shape, the silhouette of the body may not undergo obvious changes until 50–55 days of gestation, when the uterus significantly increases in size and fills the abdomen.
   • The dog does not need additional calories until the last third of gestation (about 40 days). It means. that if you feed her too early because of a potential pregnancy, she will gain weight, which may be fat rather than the weight of the growing embryos.
4. 4 Learn about diseases that have symptoms similar to pregnancy. If your dog is having a hard time getting pregnant, she needs help. However, there may also be a risk that the dog not is pregnant, and the observed symptoms only mimic pregnancy (for example, it can be a false pregnancy or pyometra). Keep in mind that a false pregnancy (usually caused by hormonal imbalances after estrus) is not life threatening for your dog, while pyometra is very dangerous for her. In the latter case, the uterus fills with pus, which leads to blood poisoning, organ failure and death (if left untreated).
   • Symptoms of pyometra can be similar to pregnancy due to the dog's belly enlarging and becoming lethargic. However, the animal is also prone to loss of appetite and increased thirst. If all of these symptoms are present, contact your veterinarian immediately.

Part 4 of 4: Confirming Pregnancy at the Veterinary Clinic

1. 1 Have your veterinarian palpate your abdomen for signs of pregnancy. During palpation, the veterinarian probes the bitch's abdomen to detect embryos in the uterus. The earliest period at which pregnancy can be noticed is 21 days after mating. At this early stage, the veterinarian relies more on detecting the enlarged size and thickness of the uterus than on probing the embryos themselves (which are even more like little drops of jelly).
   • The best time to palpate the abdomen is on the 28th day of pregnancy. This is due to the fact that at this point the puppies are already large enough to form a noticeable seal in the uterus, they all together form a kind of necklace of beads-seals.
   • By day 36, each puppy is already surrounded by its own fetal bladder and the veterinarian is able to feel something like a liquid-filled sausage in the dog's belly.
2. 2 Remember when palpation of the abdomen can be problematic. Keep in mind that at 28 days each embryo has a maximum size of 25 mm, which can make it difficult to distinguish embryos in the uterus from food in the stomach and intestinal contents. Moreover, if the dog is nervous and at the same time strains the muscles of the anterior abdominal wall, it will become completely impossible to grope for anything intelligible (it's like looking through a painted-over window). Likewise, a solitary puppy can be easily overlooked or confused with something else in the abdomen, such as the bladder, kidneys, and even intestinal contents.
   • Don't be discouraged if your veterinarian offers to take your dog's blood test to check for pregnancy, as palpation may not allow a definitive conclusion about pregnancy.
3. 3 Get a blood test 28 days after the mating. A blood test should detect high levels of the pregnancy hormone progesterone. To obtain a reliable test result, it should be carried out later than 28 days after mating. Testing at an earlier date can give a false positive result due to a delayed drop in hormonal levels after ovulation. However, a high progesterone level more than 28 days after mating is a confirmation of pregnancy.
4. 4 Get your dog an ultrasound to diagnose early pregnancy. Ultrasound examination is a popular method for diagnosing pregnancy, as the experienced eye of the veterinarian can notice corresponding small changes in the uterus as early as 18 days. Another advantage of this diagnostic method is the ability to establish the number of puppies in a litter, which will be very useful to know by the time of birth (puppies).
   • From the 18th day, you can see the placenta, and from the 28th day of pregnancy, the puppies' heartbeat becomes noticeable.
   • Be aware that an ultrasound scan is a non-invasive diagnostic procedure performed when the dog is fully conscious. During the examination, high-frequency sound waves are sent to the uterus, and the response received in the form of an "echo" is converted into an image on the monitor screen. An ultrasound scan is considered a safe procedure, but for the procedure, the hair on the dog's belly must be trimmed to ensure good contact of the probe of the device with the skin.
5. 5 Understand why x-rays are not recommended. In the diagnosis of pregnancy in dogs, X-rays have largely been replaced by ultrasound. This is due to the fact that the x-ray gives the result only from the moment of the final formation of the bones of the embryos, which occurs after 49 days of pregnancy, and such a diagnosis is rather late for the establishment of pregnancy.Although the dose of radiation received should not harm the puppies in the uterus, it is very likely that the dog will need to be anesthetized, as the X-ray operator should not be in the chamber with the animal while the images are being taken. And since many bitches, especially in late pregnancy, cannot lie still due to the discomfort experienced and tend to get up and go from the desired position, the only way to get an X-ray is to give anesthesia.
   • Anesthesia in pregnant bitches is best avoided because of the risk of a severe drop in the puppy's uterine blood pressure. It is for this reason that x-rays are practically not used to diagnose pregnancy in dogs.

Tips

• This article is not a substitute for the advice of an experienced veterinarian!