she did not. new breeder. (I mentored her) Never had any other dogs in her kennel until last year, and for the past 6 mos she has tested any dog coming to her for stud service (after I told her she should be doing this as a precaution), so she has been trying to prevent it coming IN to her kennel, but did not test all her dogs .
The stud dog has had 2 other viable, live litters in the last month.
The bitch in question had a litter last time (she bred her back to back) and had 8 pups.
Could it have been an infection in-utero (sp?)
And do the pups need to be on preventative antibiotics if the bitch's blood test has not come back yet (they drew blood today) and we don't know if they are infected?
doubtful in my mind that it's brucellosis. herpes, perhaps. or just early placental detachment.
what did the vet suggest? Did he do a in house test to see? It takes about 10 minutes and there would be no worry. were the pups sent out for necropsy?
is early placental attachment something you would see happening over and over in a bitch, or is it a random thing you would only see in some of her litters, or an isolated incidence?
I had a few girls miss and had showed early signs of pregnancy until about 4-5 weeks but then nothing. I too was very concered about brucellosis but my vet said he had not seen one case in 25 years but we ran a test anyway and all was well. My first thought too on your post was herpies. I had a litter as well where every single boy was a breech pup and a all the girls normal delivery but we lost all but one of the 5 boys eventhough we got them out quickly. Sometimes thing just happen and there is no cause. I don't think though that I would have done a back to back if the girl had 8 pups in her previous litter, but that's just my opinion.
After Katrina and the Ohio floods last year, the incidence of brucellosis has risen. Many show people took in the dogs that were rescued and fostered them, not keeping them isolated from their own dogs. Brucellosis can be spread by urine, so a sniff here and there can infect an entire kennel. We stopped seeing it after years of testing, now nobody tests anymore, so many people are doing AIs these days adding to the issue; they don't see the need to test. Time to get back to basics!
Sounds like your friend has a different problem other than brucellosis. Sometimes, whelping just doesn't work like it should and you lose puppies.
Also, someone mentioned a 10 minute brucellosis test. Is that referring to the card test? If it is...I thought it was off the market years ago. If it is on the market I would love to know where to get it.
Tell her to have her bitch tested for brucellosis -- easy! When it comes back negative, her vet can take a second guess. I can't imagine a vet saying ... oh well, "it's probably brucellosis". You would think he would want to test right away!
I have to agree, Brucellosis would not be on the top of the list for cause of the stillborns. In 20 yrs as a Vet Tech, we had 1 dog from out of the country (different breed) come up positive, was quarantined, and the confirmation test was negative. False alarm. But, in order to keep the prevalence low, testing prior to breeding is alway recommended.
Best of luck to you
Lisa M
Just an addition to previous post, Brucellosis is a BioHazard class 3 organism, highly contagious and on the list as a potential bioterrorist weapon. If the dog does have(doubtful) Brucellosis, it must be reported to the CDC. Very serious.
