[AnnaMoo]

Hello, I have a German Shepherd that I bred 8 weeks ago. I’ve been assuming she wasn’t pregnant, as she didn’t show signs and was negative on a smear test But now she’s producing milk and lactating.
Her stomach isn’t englarged at all, but she started shedding hair underneath her belly around her nipples two weeks ago, but since her belly wasn’t large at all I assumed phantom pregnancy.
it’s stumped me a bit, and surprised me when I noticed she was lactating. I took her to the vet at 25 days for a smear test but it came back as negative, then I learned that there’s a chance it’s negative and should be done 30+ days in.
What could this mean? Is she pregnant or is this a coincidence?
I’ll be calling the vet tomorrow for a ultrasound and hopefully can get in soon.
I’ve done everything to prep for pups early on so that’s all taken care of luckily.
I’d still like to get more opinions though, and if she is pregnant, how many pups and when could her possible due date be? A day or 7?

* before you ask, yes both dogs are health tested and have good-excellent scores for hips and elbows and amazing temperament suitable for breeding *

 

[selzer]

Interesting. I never heard of a smear test for dogs. The reason is that their uterine horns undergo the same changes whether or not they are bred. The progesterone blasts the uterine horns the same, so confirming pregnancy in that way, seems odd, or questionable. Usually we wait for x-rays, usually 49 to 56 days along. An ultra sound can be done a little earlier and that will show beating hearts. The x-rays will show spines and skulls and that is how we count how many are likely there -- it's not exact.

Now, because the progesterone strikes whether the bitch has been bred or not, it is very possible that a bitch who has missed will gain weight, lactate, nest etc., just like if she is pregnant. Whelping is 63 days from ovulation, NOT from the day of mating. Sperm can last up to seven days, and usually the egg takes a day or two after ovulation to be ready for fertilization. I think that if you add 5 days to the 63 days after mating, you can be relatively certain that if no puppies present by then, there will be no puppies. Which isn't very helpful. Unless you know the day of ovulation, you can't be sure. You can do the temperature drop thing. But you still don't know if there is anything in there. If you bred her 8 weeks ago, you should be able to do an x-ray now for peace of mind. Usually they will have gained some weight by now. So if she hasn't, and she is pregnant, you may have a singleton in the making, and if that's the case, then you may have complications. Singletons can be over-large and getting them out can be tricky. I'd do an x-ray.