mikelli Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I am grasping at straws here, but have been having trouble getting my bitches to fall pregnant. I have now missed 3 consectutive litters (different bitches and stud dogs) and looks like another miss (girl due in 4 weeks looks empty). I have been trying to work out possible reasons for this. We feed chicken frames all the time, our dogs would average about 1kg each a week. Do chickens get fed lots of hormones etc?? We were wondering if this could be having an effect on the girls. Each time the girls start out looking like they are in whelp (start making little udders and even little tummies) then as time goes on nothing happens... We have not had any swabs done, this is also going to happen, would it be best to swab them when in season or now while they are not in??? Any ideas greatly received. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellz Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Have replied in the breeder's forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavandra Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Australian chickens do not get hormones, so it is not that.........highly likely you have canine herpes virus though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puggy_puggy Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Are all of your bitches related? What exactly do you feed. ie chicken frame in the morning & beef & veggies at night? Breeders I know of that feed a BARF or Raw diet, including chicken, all seem to have big litters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikelli Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 Thanks for your responses, I have had some replies in Breeders forum also. My bitches are not related, two of them have had previous litters and we have used a different stud dog each time, so nothing relevant there. We will be getting them swabbed and taking it from there, will talk to some vets too and see if they can come up with anything. We feed dry food and chicken also cooked rice, mince and veges, so it is not a total chicken diet, each dog would have approx 1kg of chicken over a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisovar Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I have always fed a large amount of chicken, simply because it is the cheapest and most readily available meat I can source where I live without having meat freighted in. I add other meats and offal as I can get them but the basis is chicken. All my bitches have cycled normally, conceived easily and whelped good sized healthy litters. I do no progesterone testing, no ultra sounds, no AIs. Sometimes I think it can be something lacking in the diet rather than something that is included, diets may be deficient in Vit E or zinc for instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbesotted Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 (edited) have you had a full blood panel done.. including thyroid levels? ed to add: tests should be for Free T4, FreeT3, TSH ( maybe even TSH stim test) and T4 antibodies. cheers H Edited January 5, 2009 by dogbesotted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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