Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook.pdf - Mr. Walnuts

468 •DOG OWNER’S HOME VETERINARY HANDBOOK
Puppies growing in the uterine horns at 35 days of gestation.
By palpating the abdomen, a veterinarian can tell by the 28th day after the
last breeding whether a bitch is pregnant. The embryos can be felt as evenly
spaced swellings about the size of walnuts in the average-size dog.
Abdominal palpation requires experience and a gentle hand. This should
only be done by your veterinarian or an experienced breeder. There are other
structures in the abdomen that may feel lumpy. Excessive poking and prodding
can damage the delicate fetal-placental units and cause a miscarriage. If
you would like to learn how to palpate for puppies, ask your veterinarian to
demonstrate the procedure to you. After day 35, the fetuses are floating in
capsules of fluid and can no longer be detected by palpation.
A blood test looking for relaxin levels can be done around 28 to 30 days of
gestation. Relaxin is a hormone that increases during pregnancy. Another
blood test in experimental development is for acute phase proteins. These are
proteins that react to inflammation. In the case of canine pregnancies, the
rise in these proteins is stimulated by the attachment of the embryos to the
lining of the uterus (the endometrium).
Abdominal X-rays will show fetal bone structure at about day 45. X-rays
are used as an alternative to ultrasonography, to distinguish among pregnancy,
false pregnancy, and pyometra, and to estimate the size of the litter. X-rays
should be avoided in early pregnancy, because the radiation could adversely
affect the developing embryos before 45 days.
In late pregnancy, the abdomen becomes enlarged and pendulous. The
movements of the puppies can be seen and felt during the last two weeks.