QuestionQUESTION: I've asked a question about my yorkie before. She's the one who was held down to mate with another yorkie by my breeder. Anyways, it's now been 3 and a half weeks since she last mated. She has an appointment to get her ultrasound done on thursday the 17th to see if she did get pregnant. My question is I was wondering if you can help me out about palpating for puppies, step by step instructions or a how to process maybe? what should I be looking for? where should I place my hand? etc. I guess I'm just a little anxious and another thing is I plan on getting her xrays done in a few weeks. I just want to see if there's a way to tell by myself by way of palpating. The reason I wanted to get her ultrasound done is to see if she did get pregnant, and I'm very anxious to find out. If there's a way I can feel for the puppies maybe I can skip the ultrasound (which saves me $240) and just go for the xrays in a few weeks. I could certainly use that money to save for anything else that might go wrong with her pregnancy, like c-section or emergency vet care. Thank you in advance!
ANSWER: Rye,
I would not waste my money getting the ultrasound or x-rays. You will know soon enough if she is pregnant or not. The gestation period for a yorkie is 9 weeks. Think of it in terms of a human's 9 months. If she is pregnant then she would be about three and a half months along by human standards. I am surprised that the vet did not tell you that he could feel the dogs abdomen to see if there are any puppies in there. There are signs you can look for like the pee pee still being swollen. When she was in heat the pee pee was swollen right? Well, after three weeks it should be back down to normal size if she is not pregnant. If it is still just as swollen as it was when she was in heat (or larger) then she is probably pregnant. Also, depending on how many puppies she is carrying you should be able to tell her tummy is getting bigger in a week or two. Her nipples will start to change and if you keep an eye on them you will see subtle changes. About two weeks before she delivers they will get swollen and start to produce milk. The surest way to tell at this early stage is by the swollen pee pee. Be patient for a couple more weeks and you will know for sure. Knowing for sure sooner will not help her or you to prepare for the birth. If you send me your email address I can send you a word document that details the breeding to birth process. Good Luck and if you need any further assistance let me know.
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QUESTION: Thank you for your help. You said to see if her private area is swollen almost the same way when she was in heat or maybe even larger. I did check to see, the thing is that area of her I didn't really check before she went in heat . All I know is I knew she was due to go in heat so I just checked for blood. the only time I do check it is to see if the groomers trimmed down there. Basically what I'm saying is that I know her swelling went done but I don't know if it went down back to its normal size. I do know that my male dog is still sniffing her like she's still in heat. I don't know if that's normal, and I can't really say if she pee's a lot more because she goes to her crate when we leave for work. She is in there about 5 hours of the day, but I do know when she does pee its like a drop at a time. Her nipples are a tiny bit bigger than the normal but still seem way smaller than when she went thru her false pregnancy on her 1st and 2nd heat cycle. It just seems like she seems more pregnant when she was never bred than now that she did mate. Another concern of mine is that when we bred her I thought it was way too early in her cycle, it was the 4th the 6th the 8th and the 10th day from the day she started bleeding. The breeder held her down so I don't even know if she would stand for the male because the whole 4 times she was bred she was being held by the breeder. I was concerned cause it didn't seem right, but since she's the breeder I went by what she thought was best. she did tell me the reason she did that is because the male was half her size she's 5.8 lbs and the male is 2.7 lbs. So I just believed her. Anyways I know this is wayyy too long I just want to get it all out there and thanks again for all your help I totally appreciate it. My email is flipnrye@yahoo.com. Thanks again
AnswerRye,
If the swelling went down then I would say she is not pregnant. But if you could be mistaken then you should wait a couple of weeks and you will be able to tell. I don't like the sound of the breeder holding her down. That is not necessary even if the male is smaller. What you need to do is get a towel and fold it several times and then the male stands on it to bring him up to her height. Also, the breeder should have told you it would do no good to breed her until her 7th day. The usual time period where they can get pregnant is between day 7 and day 13 of their heat cycle. I am sending you the word document so you should read it very carefully because it should answer all of your questions.
