The scenerio: My female is two and a half years old and has her CD and is pointed in the show ring. She has her OFA hips and elbows and is CERF eyes clear. She has her OFA cardiac. All is normal.

She has just begun her heat, but I want to breed her on her next heat appromimately six months from now. I have a nice Champion stud dog picked out who has all his OFA/CERF clearances.

My questions: In the next six months what do I do health wise before she is bred? Do I take her to the veterinarian for a prebreeding check up? Should I have a reproductive veterinarian examine her? Of course we will do progesterone testing.

If she is wormed before she is bred and how soon before to be safe? Can she stay on her Heartgaurd worm preventative? Can she stay on the Frontline Plus (we live in very bad Lyme disease country).

Please tell me if I forgetting anything in the prebreeding health area?

This will be my first litter.

Sounds like you have a nice bitch, who most certainly came from a good breeder, who sold you this girl either on a co-ownership or a full registration because he/she thought you were in this sport for the right reasons. Please, go back to the breeder of your girl or to a trusted mentor that you've met face to face for advice, as well as to bounce off pedigree ideas if you haven't already.

Best of luck to you!

Your Vet should be able to answer all your pre-breeding questions and concerns and their advice you should trust first. You will be working with your Vet with the pregnancy and possibly delivery, its best to start building that relationship now.

I agree with working with the breeder and your vet to answer your questions.

I will however say (as not many vets recommend this)to do full blood work prior to breeding. Do this prior to your first progesterone.

I was getting ready for a breeding/stud owner had already shipped. The blood draw indicated liver enzyme elevation - further tests indicated liver disease/hep (vet and I were shocked - young dog - no outward signs and past blood work was fine). Obviously I cancelled the breeding.

Had I not done the blood work and found the problem the pregnancy would most likely have killed my girl. She is now retired from my breeding program.

This was not the first time I did full work up prior to breeding and I will continue from here on out.
You just never know :-(

First of all, congratulations on getting a nice girl, on putting some CH points on her, on putting a title on the back end, and for doing the health clearances that you have already done. It's also nice to hear that you have a boy picked out that compliments her and has his health clearances as well. Good for you!

When I am getting ready to breed my girls, I make sure that their vaccinations won't expire during the timeframe from breeding to sending pups home. If possible, I take care of vaccinations ahead of time so that her immunities are high while she is growing/feeding puppies. I also don't take her off property once she is in season. Symptoms for most communicable diseases (such as kennel cough) would show up from the time she goes into season until I breed her so that I could react accordingly. So far, I have been lucky and haven't had any trouble with that. Yet...

Also, I keep their weight down. I keep up with their exercise routine and don't let them put on any extra weight until I have confirmed she is pregnant with an ultrasound, 30 days post breeding. That's when I begin to slowly increase her daily food intake.

I also run a fecal and blood work when I go in for progesterone to rule out worms and/or infection, thyroid, liver, etc. problems. I do spend a little money pro-actively, but so far we have been fortunate and had healthly, good size, litters. The "largest" litter was 9 pups (all 15.5 - 17 oz) and the "smallest" litter was 6 pups (17.5 to 22 oz). I'd much prefer the litter that has the smaller (15.5 - 17 oz) pups though. Those 22 oz boys were hard for her to push out!

I keep my girls on their regular Frontline Plus routine. The packaging says it is safe for pregnant/nursing bitches and I have never had a problem. I can't tell you about Heartguard as I don't use it. We haven't lost a pup. Yet.

One last thing...with a maiden bitch it's a good idea to have your vet check for strictures.

I am certainly no expert, but this is my experience thus far.

Good luck with your girl!

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Replying to:

The scenerio: My female is two and a half years old and has her CD and is pointed in the show ring. She has her OFA hips and elbows and is CERF eyes clear. She has her OFA cardiac. All is normal.

She has just begun her heat, but I want to breed her on her next heat appromimately six months from now. I have a nice Champion stud dog picked out who has all his OFA/CERF clearances.

My questions: In the next six months what do I do health wise before she is bred? Do I take her to the veterinarian for a prebreeding check up? Should I have a reproductive veterinarian examine her? Of course we will do progesterone testing.

If she is wormed before she is bred and how soon before to be safe? Can she stay on her Heartgaurd worm preventative? Can she stay on the Frontline Plus (we live in very bad Lyme disease country).

Please tell me if I forgetting anything in the prebreeding health area?

This will be my first litter.

Thanks to the respondants for their answers. You all brought up a few things I hadn't thought of which was the reason for the post. Better to ask seemingly dumb questions now rather than to be sorry later.

Yes, I do have a mentor.

Again thanks for the responses.

Make sure you also have a negative Brucellosis, even if you do an AI, Brucellosis can cause spontaneous abortions.

Good Luck!

Yes! I forgot about Brucellosis. Do that at the same time as progesterone, fecal, etc.

Thank you :-) for bring that up!

Denise

It's tireing to hear "ask your mentor" every time someone wants additional input. Two heads are better than one! Lighten up already.

I do bloodwork but not full bloodwork. I think that can be overdone by some that are considered neurotic.

If your bitch was sick in the past then perhaps you need to check certain things. Then again, an unhealthy bitch with bloodwork or not should not be bred.

The average bitch should be fine if she has had bloodwork done in the past and is healthy. Do the necessary testing, Optigen if needed, Brucellosis if the stud-dog owner requests it and anything else your vet recommends.