I have a 4+ year old "Ch" bitch that I cannot get in whelp. We have done progesterone (always), two A-I's with good semen, then a transcervical, and now most recently a surgical implant with fresh semen (which we don't know if it has worked or not yet)by a reproductive specialist. I know there are veterinarians or others on this forum that have been in this same predicament. If this doesn't work, what would you say is the reason for this non-conception? In your expert opinions, would you say she just not produce eggs, or have eggs that are not receptive? Is there anything I could try beyond this?

Have you swabbed her to see what bacteria is growing in there? Sometimes it can prevent conception and a course of anti-biotics before insemination can fix it.
Good luck.

yes we did before this implant. It was fine.

Laura can your repro vet run an LH surge test (obviously I am not a vet so bear with me if I use incorrect terminology) and have you considered the possibility that she does conceive but resorbs? Good Luck I know how frustrating it can be.

Stupid computer I pushed post accidentally. I discovered the hard way that one of my girls would conceive but reabsorb due to a progesterone drop. Problem was fixed by using Regu-Mate.

thats a thought but she has never shown one sign of having conceived. Not even nipple enlargement.

Laura, I had a bitch that had some reproduction problems and had her cultured twice, both times she showed no abnormal counts. As a last ditch effort, I put her on 500mg of Amoxicillin twice daily from day one of her season through day 30 post breeding and had a healthy litter of 10. She since has had no issues whatsoever, as long as I put her on the Amoxi.

I hope your girl has taken this time, but if not, and if that gorgeous bitch was mine, I'd put her on a round of antibiotics next time just for the heck of it and see what happens.

Laura - same thing here if it weren't for the ultrasound I would have never ever known she was pregnant. The round of antibiotics is also a good suggestion.

Thanks! I will try that. My repro vet is against that approach, but it seems to work for many on this forum. I will try anything for this girl!

I've had some that I couldn't get pg either and put them on antibiotics, amoxi 500 mg 2x a day from the start of heat till after I did the relaxin test to determine pregnancy and some for the whole pregnancy and had healthy litters from them. The other thing I do use is the stuff from Marina Zacharia's at www.naturalrearing.com, she has me put them on hormeel, ovariam comp and symplex f so it's not just the antiibiotics and we get them pg and healthy litters, i've even used her stuff without antibiotics and they had litters.
Aloha,
jackie

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Thanks! I will try that. My repro vet is against that approach, but it seems to work for many on this forum. I will try anything for this girl!

Leigh McBride a Repro Vet in Florida always looks at Thyroid Levels and if in any way the levels are not normal or too close to normal prescribes Thyrozine. It worked for me and I had 3 litters from that female who is now retired...Good Luck. Leeda

Laura, You probably have already done this but if you haven't, keep on running the progesterones past 5 to be sure she is ovulating and then to see if she maintains the level high enough to stay preg. Most of the time we just assume once it starts to go that it will keep on but not always so. The other thing is that with all the boys you have, try the old fashioned way and let her and one of your experienced boys have at it for as long as they want. It won't be the first time it was the only way to get a bitch (and a lot of mares) pregnant. Debbie

"Slaps forehead" Leeda that is true. My vet is here for dinner and we were just reading this thread and he recommended doing the T4 free cell count, not just the std T4. He also said that you need to know where she falls in the range of "normal" and if she is in the "less than 50%" range he would advise supplementing with soloxine if she was his patient.

I had the same problem, 3 times we bred our CAN/AM CH, Transcervical AI and didn't take, so we went to the old fashion way, NATURAL with one of our stus, and I have 8 wonderful pups.

Thanks for all these great suggestions. I will definitely keep all of this information at hand! I will be doing an ultrasound soon and will let you know if it was successful this time!

For what it is worth, I have heard quite a few folks talk about putting their bitches on thyroid meds, if the bitch was not conceiving. Seems to work every time with nice sized litters.
Good luck to you.

Jean Dodds has said that if thyroid levels are off, then that bitch/dog should not be bred, and if it is an important line, to go back to their sire/dam. I can't remember the theory behind this, but are we perpetuating problems if we medicate for thyroid and breed?

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Replying to:

For what it is worth, I have heard quite a few folks talk about putting their bitches on thyroid meds, if the bitch was not conceiving. Seems to work every time with nice sized litters.
Good luck to you.

Who is Jean Dodds? Is she a vet?

Dr Jean Dodds is a vet here is the link to her resume http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/DODDS-RESUME.HTM

I was also told that the thyroid controls progesterone production...Medication is given to stimulate the hormone production and is given to females with levels that are within the normal level grid....A female with very low or a thyroid problem would be another story??????

I also use Dr. McBride, and recently when I went in to do progesterone on my bitch she also suggested it. I have for several years declined, and I am the first to say NOT to breed if Thyroid is bad. However, her reasoning put testing and putting a bitch on soloxine to optimize fertility, health, and to "keep" a bitch bred so they do not absorb.

I had my girls thyroid test run through MSU. It came back normal. If you read a test from MSU it will state that normal range for T4 is {15-67}. If your girl is a 20, then she would be in normal range.
As explained to me by Dr. McBride, "why would you want to be happy with a low range of normal?"
The idea is to build on the T3's because they are the building blocks of the T4's.

Although I did a very poor job explaining this
It made absolutely perfect sense to me. Just because a repro vet puts a bitch on soloxine, doesn't mean they have a thyroid issue.

So I guess you have found that Amoxi is safe for a pregnant bitch... I always thought I could only use clavamox

Dr. Jean Dodds is one of the top heomopathic vets in the country. At our vet clinic we do send samples to her and she is very good.

according to Dr Hutch, the safe antibiotics for pregnant bitches are Amoxicilin, Clavamox, Celhalexin and Baytril. This is from notes taken from his seminar.

I just did a round of Baytril for 6 weeks on a bitch with mycroplasma. She is fine now. But in all my research on drugs to give during pregnancy as a precaution during pregnancy Baytril was not one of them.

Nothing remotely wise to say, but I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for your lady!

If it works, others will swear by it!

Good luck!

I had a bitch that miss getting pregnant 3 cycles in a row. Next time we put her on cefilexin for 10 days and it worked. the vet advised doing the same thing next cycle and it worked. I then skipped a heat cycle. The next time I forgot the cefilexin and she only had 2 pups and missed again. I retired her.

I used thyroid medication on my very first bitch 25 years ago in order to get her bred. She is behind all of what I have today and none have ever had a thyroid problem. Dr. Dodds is super but I'm sure glad I didn't know her suggestion back then.

*Jean Dodds has said that if thyroid levels are off, then that bitch/dog should not be bred, and if it is an important line, to go back to their sire/dam. I can't remember the theory behind this, but are we perpetuating problems if we medicate for thyroid and breed?*

remember this post?
Guess what? By ultrasound today we saw 8 or 9 puppies! The surgical implant worked!!! I am thrilled to say the least. Thanks everyone for the information and I will surely keep this information on hand when I do my next breeding. Thanks y'all! I will be having a "box of chocolates" under my Christmas tree.
Now, to pick out names~~~ ha!!!!

Yippee! What great news Laura!

Woohooo!!! Fingers crossed for a healthy, happy litter!!

Awesome news! Congratulations!

Great news!! Congratulations!

"So I guess you have found that Amoxi is safe for a pregnant bitch... I always thought I could only use clavamox"

Clavamox is a combination of Amoxicillin and Clavulanic Acid (same as the Augmention that humans are prescribed)so yes, it is safe.

Laura, congrats on the upcoming litter. The suggestions given here will be helpful to a lot of people I'll bet even though you don't need them now .