When is the earliest you can count puppies with x-ray?

bones are calcified by day 49 but I do not think
you can always get a good count at that time. If you are doing an xray for a head count I would wait until day 58/59 for the best chance at accuracy- and even then two puppies could be lying on top of one another and you could miss one. Good luck

I just had one done at day 55 with a very clear view, but I have had one done at day 49 and my girl loooked liked she swallowed 2 watermelons and was clearly pregnant but nothing showed up, waited a few days and suprise, there those little buggers were!!!

55 days here too. The count was right on.

On the other list, someone mentioned and several others agreed that the count is rarely right anyways...thoughts?

How often have your counts been right on?

Last litter vet counted 9 for sure, said he thought there might be one more... so that was good to know so not to assume she was done, and sure enough there was 10.
But other than that, he has been right on with his count. I've only been doing the pre-whelping xrays the last few years though, which for me doesn't amount to a whole lot of litters, but for me I've found it beneficial information to have going into the whelping.

I've heard most people say that too. My vet was actually right on at a count of 6.

I know there's alot of people that won't do the xrays,
but I like to know ahead of time. My vet has always been pretty close to right on. My last litter he said probably 11. Sure enough, that's what she had.

Donna

The key to counting puppies is to insure there is a spine for every head you find. If there is not a spine that follows there is typically no pup. Our counts have been very accurate; especially since Kim's E-Clinic uses digital imaging. Kim just did an x-ray this evening and they counted 10. We'll know in a few days whether they are right or not!

I also do them day 56-58. Most of the time they are accurate. Sometimes with a larger litter there will be one hiding.

Michael, that's what my vet does too... counts heads & spines. I always ask to take the xrays home with me, thinking in case we end up at the ER I can show them the count... I know sometimes the ER would want to take their own xray anyway, but at least I can show them the count when we walk in.

What the Silvas said is right on. Count skulls, but make sure there is a spine coming from the skull. Bubbles in the intestine might be the same shape as a skull! Sometimes, depending on the angle, the various bones in the puppies don't look like what they really are. The count is as good as the counter, but with a smallish litter it should be dead on. With more puppies it gets harder. Don't be alarmed if you see large variations in size - that's just an artifact of how the x-ray works.

I usually take a sharpie and mark a number or a ? on each skull right on the x-ray as I'm counting.

Michael is right about matching skulls & spines. But sometimes, unknown to everyone (including the vet), he/she can accidently press the button twice and get a double exposure. One would see two spines going to one head and sometimes it might be intrepreted as there being another head superimposed on other. I've seen this happen when there was only one puppy but the x-ray showed two.