I have a question about progesterone. I bred a bitch and the breeding did not take, I checked her progesterone 7 weeks post breeding and it was 1.6 I know it drops but don't know if this is too low or not. Her previous cycle, I was too late for a breeding as her progesterone was 21.9 on day 9. I do know that she did not conceive this time as I did an ultrasound at 4 weeks. Wish I would have checked her progesterone at that time. Thanks to anybody with any insight on progesterone levels

I just had a female with the same problem. I took her in for three progesterines and they were three days apart and they were at .2 then took her in 3 days later and the progesterine was a 21.5, so she didn't get bred. She has had other litters and no problem, all of a sudden this happened and don't know why?

Here is my understanding of the progesterone levels.

The progesterone levels in all bitches (whether they are pregnant or not) rises to something over 15 after ovulation and then for about 61 days stays above 2.0 - usually above 5. 2.0 is the magic number to maintain a pregnancy, remembering, a pregnant, or a non-pregnant bitch, have the same progesterone levels.

So after the rise associated with ovulation, it slowly drops down to around 2-5.

On day 61 or so, whether the bitch is pregnant or not, the progesterone drops to below 2 and then stays there through the rest of the cycle (this part is anestrus)until she goes into heat again (which is estrus)

Hope that helps with understanding your girl - if it were about 7 weeks after ovulation (day 49 or so) it should have been above 2 - progesterone failure is rare in dogs but does happen so maybe this is something you need to check out.

Bonnie

Thanks Bonnie. The progesterone test was drawn about 55 days from the beginning of her heat cycle. I will probably wait till her next cycle and monitor her levels more closely.

Thanks for your response. It seem that the harder we try, the harder this gets. I will put in a call to Clone and see what the vet their suggests that I do.

The progesterone level in non-pregnant bitches in anestrus is usually well below 1.0 , somewhere around the .1 - .3 range.

That is what I need to know, thanks so much

Progesterone levels on bitches stay elevated even if they are not pregnant. After the initial spike and drop, the progesterone level needs to stay at above 8.0 (which is what my repro vet says but others say higher) in order to maintain pregnancy. If it falls below that, you have a possiblity of a reabsorb. My vet monitors progesterone levels on bitches that have a history of reabsorbing.

During the last two weeks of pregnancy it starts to decline slowly and at day 61 should be at around 2.0. If you are going to do a c-section that would be the time to do it as their body is getting ready to have go into labor and have puppies.

The first thing I would check is to make sure your vet is handling the blood sample correctly. (No SST tubes, plain red top only and removing the serum from the blood within 1 hour and refrigerating the serum). Another thing to remember is that even tho a bitch climbs to 20 or higher quickly, it doesn't matter what THAT number is--it matters what happened before that number. In other words, when she first reach 2.0 ior above and then when she reached 5.0. Some bitches climb very fast after ovulation and even though your bitch was 21 she could have been only 1 day past ovulation. I have bred bitches with progesterones of 24 on their first testing and had large litters.