Can anyone tell me if they have had this happen and what the reason if any had been? I have a bitch at 44 days gestation and she started aborting puppies this morning. Did all the cultures, testing available but wont know anything until mid next week. Curious if anyone else has had this happen. The bitch has previously had a healthy litter with a normal pregnancy.

I'm so sorry about this....thankfully I have not had any experience but I had a friend go through this a number of years ago. If you could get a hold of the book Canine and Feline Theriogenolgy, it does a great job of going through abortion causes...but to briefly go through some bacterial things to rule out:

Brucellosis
Neospora
Salmonella
E. Coli

All seemed to cause mid-term abortions. Herpes virus can also cause mid-late term abortions...

Hope that helps...Update us and let us know what you find...My thoughts are with you...

Sue Puff

It could be a drop in progesterone. Some bitches will drop levels, and if gets down to 2, they will abort.

Then the next litter could be normal all the way through.
I check at day 40, 45, 50 and 55 to be sure levels are staying up. If they are up close to 20 at day 40, I don't check again until day 50, but if the levels are around 6, I will check at day 45, 50, etc. If they go below 5, you need to supplement with natural progestrone in oil and keep an eye on it.

Could also be thyroid related. This happened with my girl.

I hope your vet would have some answers and conduct testing of a few types.

Sluggish thyroid could be a cause. Also low progesterone, bacterial or viral infections. I would want a full blood panel drawn and either have her seen by or speak to a repro specialist.

It's a little odd that she would be having a drop in progesterone her 2nd litter. Some girls have this happen regularly and need progesterone to maintain any pregnancy. I know of breeders that don't continue breeding a bitch with that problem. They're fearful of the same happening to her female offspring.

Did her dam have any problems carrying any of her litter, ever resorp or abort a litter.

Where you at any recent shows around the time she was in heat, bred or after? How about the animal hospital?

If blood work shows an infection that can be transmitted, you should probably do bloodwork on all of your dogs.

I am sorry you & your girl are going thru this. It must be so difficult.

When you say aborting, do you mean puppies were expelled vaginally---or were they reabsorbed?
I had a mid-late term reabsorbtion caused by kennel cough years ago. We saw beating hearts on ultrasound, so I'm thinking with my poor memory we were maybe about 35 days gestation, then the deep coughing started and---no more puppies, ultrasound just showed fluid being reabsorbed, around 40-45 days.
I'm sorry this happened to you, and good that you are doing the testing. I agree that a blood panel is also in order, to get a full picture of what is going on with your bitch.
Would you please let us know what the diagnosis is, so we might all learn from this? Again, so sorry for your tragedy, and hope your bitch recovers fully and has another litter or two under her belt---and I'm guessing she does.

Thanks for all your thoughts/experiences. She was at 44 days and yes she aborted fetuses very small but nevertheless fetuses she didnt re-absorb. We had a full culture and mycroplasma sent out as well as a progesterone and Brucellosis test. Wont have any results until mid week as the cultures need to grow. Thanks again for the information.

For your loss. Hoping you get some answers.

Curious if you tested for Brucella (Brucelosis) prior to breeding? And if so how far in advance of the breeding?

I ask because I was once told by a vet that the test is good for 6 months.

Curious if this test should always be done just prior to a breeding or is the 6 month mark ok.

Prayers your girl recovers quickly.

I did have this happen. I am so sorry. You really feel awful when it happens. We tryed for a week or so to save even part of them. Just did not work. Love your girl and just know that the next time went perfect, no problems at all. I worried but all went fine. Did breed right back the next time.

Had your bitch previously had a healthy litter? or was this her first.?

I unfortunately have had to deal with this also. My girl was on day 44 when she passed a bloody sac. I could tell by feeling it that there was a puppy in it but it was the size of a rabbit when they are born. I immediately took her to the vet and we had her on antibiotics and had her on crate rest. She lost another puppy about 2 days later (day 46). This puppy was much bigger and was starting to get hair. We took her in the following morning (since she lost the pup around 5 pm). We did an xray (found there were 2 pups left) and an ultrasound. We found a good heartbeat on one but couldn't get a good angle on the other one. About 2 days later (day 49) she lost another pup. We were hoping there was still one left and did an xray and ultrasound the next morning. Unfortunately there were no puppies left :( We gave her a shot of hormones to clean her out. The entire time she was miscarrying she was spotty bleeding. She continued to spotty bleed for about a week after we gave her the hormone shot. The conclusion the vet came to is the first puppy that came out that was underdeveloped created an unfavorable environment in her uterus causing the miscarriage. I bred her on her next heat cycle and she whelped a litter of 8 healthy happy pups that are now 4+ months old. I am sorry for your loss. I agree doing blood work, testing for thyroid, etc and monitoring progesterone levels are all good ideas. Did you get the blood results back? If so any helpful information??