Just found out that my 10 year old bitch is pregnant by accident to one of my guys that got loose recently in the kennels. I cant seem to get a straight answer as to the perils I am facing even from my vet. What are some thoughts on this? And you can save the antics as mistakes DO and have happened to a lot of us! I want to do the right thing here and the last thing I want to do is put my bitch in harms way!

I guess your girl's prior pregnancy history would be a reasonable guide to start with.

A long time Afghan breeder here in Western Australia (the breeder is now deceased) never bred any of her girls for the first time until they were about 8 or nine years old (I have no idea why) and to my knowledge never had any problems.

I had an oops pregnancy with a 10+ year old Maltese bitch many years ago. I not only did not know that she was pregnant, I was unaware until I found her in her bed happily nursing her singleton puppy. She was very pleased with herself and the puppy was just fine.

Good luck with the wicked old bat. I hope all goes well.

Man makes plans - God laughs.

I would think your girl, if she is in good physical shape, will not have too much of a problem whelping a litter.

(she was in good enough shape to get bred ;-)

I would make sure she is walked - kept toned and fit and you will have a wonderful litter - the best laid (no pun intended) of mice and men....

I have known of one and she did fine. Think she only had two pups. And she loved having them. Some girls are young at 10. I do love Gods plans sometimes just to show us he's there. Just keep her good and healthy.

I would take her off of any Senior food , if that is what she has been on. I would not look for a large litter, but the small litters are always the most fun !

Was it Sandylands Crystal that pulled off a lovely litter at ten years young? I too love it when God laughs. Blessings to you and your dear old gal. She may need help finishing if it is a large litter. Makes me tired just to think of giving birth at her age.

HP - every whelping comes with its share of risks. You know your bitch, her appetite for life and motherhood, her physical and mental health and her stamina. She won't be the first one to venture down that path, if you opt to let her bring this litter to term. Strangely, not one of the later-in-life litters I am aware of presented a problem at whelping. One of the most beautiful bitches I ever saw whelped her first litter at nine, followed by another one a year later - seven pups in each. Her owner had thrown in the towel but, at the last moment, just couldn't imagine his wonderful lines coming to an end, with no Lab to keep his feet warm.

I had a 10 yr old bitch that had an oops litter. Had the xray and showed just one. Planned the c-section. Everything went well and mom and daughter are still here with me. Although it was not planned, I agree that someone higher up has his/her own plans for us. Keep the old gal in good shape and get the xray done before the whelping so you can made an educated decision. Good luck!

What great stories of so many successes. Show breeders generally don't plan on breeding bitches that are past 7 but it seems that field trial breeders sometimes breed them at older ages with few problems. I think Lottie was well up in years when she had her last litter. Good luck. Hope all goes well.

I don't know when she is due, but I would run some bloodwork to see if that is okay. Just in case you need to do something quickly, you will have the test results as a baseline.

Thanks to all replies! I certainly feel a lot better and more comfortable! I will follow all recomendations and suggestions, will keep all of you posted on results