veterinary, pregnancy diagnosis in canine

1. Canine pregnancy diagnosis

2. why we go for pregnancy diagnosis in dogs ?
 Valuable to clients
 Allows appropriate changes in schedule of
working of show dogs
 Valuable to veterinarians if owner wants early
termination of pregnancy in case of mismating.
 Allows better management of bitch during
pregnancy
 Rules out pseudo pregnancy at early stage

3. Methods of PD in bitches
Reliable methods of PD
 Abdominal palpation
 Radiography
 Ultra sonography
 Relaxin assay
 Acute phase proteins
Non reliable methods of PD
 Evaluation of the teats
 Weight gain & abdominal enlargement
 Hormone assays (P4,E2,PRL,FSH,C-Peptides )
 Metabolic changes (creatnine and IgG)

4. Abdominal palpation(AP)
 Tradional method of PD in bitches
AP is accurate between 24- to 35-day post- breeding
 At about 30-35 days the accuracy is high 87%
 AP in the flank and also in the lower abdomen
 Gestational sacs are palpated as tense conceptual
swellings (6 to 30 mm in diameter) within the uterine
cornua
 These swellings double in size every week until
days 35 to 38.

5. A photo showing the
distinct gestational sacs.
A photo showing how the gestational sacs
become confluent, and therefore
difficult to distinguish.

6. Disadvantages of AP
 Difficult without experience to determine the exact
number of fetuses.
 Fetal viability cannot be verified with palpation.
 Position of fetuses is difficult to determine.
 Difficult to palpate, especially in obese or tense dogs
 Bitches often tense their abdominal wall and respire too
fast making abdominal palpation often too difficult to
perform
 Fetal NO. cannot be verified.

7. Non-traditional method
Utrasonography
 Safe and accurate modality for pregnancy diagnosis
 3 types of diagnostic ultrasound for canine pregnancy
diagnosis. A-mode, Doppler and B-mode
 B-mode, or real time ultrasound is mostly used for PD
 It allows assessment of; pregnancy status
Fetal number and viability
 Trans abdominal USG in done in dogs
 Frequency of transducer is set between 3.5 – 5 MHz
(most of the dogs)
 Toy breeds , 7.5 MHz transducer is used
 For early PD , 7.5 – 10 MHz transducer is used.

8. ULTRASONOGRAPHY
 24 – 25 Days 94 – 95 %
accurate
 28 Days 99% accurate
 Best time 25 – 30 days after
mating
 Amniotic vesicle - 18 – 21
days
 fetal heart beat 24 days
 fetal bones 42 – 45 days

9. Advantages
 Safe and accurate method for pregnancy diagnosis.
 Method of early pregnancy diagnosis in bitches.
 Method of choice for assessment of liveability of foetuses
Dis advantages
 High cost of machine
 Not the method of choice for assessment of litter size
 Fetal position is difficult to determine
 Trained person is required to perform USG

10. Radiography
 Radiography is done after 45 days of mating
 100% accurate in last 15 days of pregnancy
 Mineralization of bones starts 44 day onwards
 Lateral sides are mineralized earlier than ventro dorsal
projections
 Radiography in lateral recumbency is preferred than
dorsal or dorso ventral
 voltage should be 50 Kvp
 current should be 0.5 – 1 mA

11. Signs of fetal death
 Spalding sign, (which is the overlapping of the cranial
bones)
 Collapse of Skelton
 Gas shadows in the fetal heart, stomach, around the
fetus
 Tightly flexed spine (seen in fetuses died for long time)
Jackson, 2004

12. Advantages
 Good in evaluating fetal numbers in the bitches.
 Fetus can be differentiated easily from abdominal
contents due to mineralization of bones after 45 days.
 Position of the fetuses can be easily determined.
 Number of fetuses can be easily counted.
 Whelping date can be predicted
Disadvantages
 Poor in evaluating fetal viability.
 High cost of machine
 Hazards of exposure to X Rays to growing fetuses &
operator

13. Hormonal assay
Relaxin
 Pregnancy-specific hormone in dogs
 Secreted by placenta only
 Differential hormone between pregnancy &
pseudo pregnancy
 Peak conc. Between 20–30 days of gestation
 Relaxin assay cannot be used to estimate litter size

14. RELXIN ASSAY KIT

15.  Progesterone Assay
 Not used for routine diagnosis
 conc. remains elevated during diestrus in both
pregnant and non pregnant bitch
 Prolactin
 Drastic increase in conc. During 30 – 45 days of
gestation
 FSH
 Declines blow 150ng/ml after 17 days of
pregnancy
 ESTROGEN
In urine increases 21 days post mating

16.  Acute phase proteins
 Increase after day 20 of gestation
 Released during pregnancy & inflammatory diseases
 Include haptoglobin, ceruloplasmin, alpha-globulin,
C-reactive protein and fibrinogen.
 Serum fibrinogen as a pregnancy confirmatory test is;
 98% accurate, with a value >280 mg/dL
 Nearly 100% accurate with a value of>300 mg/ dL

17. Metabolic changes
Decreased serum creatinine and IgG in pregnant
dogs 21-day post-breeding
 Serum creatinine decreased 25–33%,
and serum IgG decreased 40–45%
 Decrease in antithrombin III activity
 Normocytic normochromic anaemia that begins on
Days 25–30 of gestation & max at term

18. General changes in pregnant bitch
 Bodyweight gain is 36% (range 20-55%)
 Change in body shape after day 56
 presence foetal movements day 55 onwards
 Nipples enlarge ment after 40 – 45 days