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Failed Pregnancies


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Hi all,

We have tried to breed 3 different bitches (2 have successfully whelped in the past and are 5 and 4yo, other is 2yo daughter of one out of litter of 7 pups)

– 2 different dogs (a 20 month old import and a 12 month old), but have not been able to check their semen under microscope yet. Prog tested 2 of the bitches and was apparently perfect timing. We don’t breed very often but until now have only had 1 failed pregnancy in 8 years.

I was talking to a long time breeder and they mentioned a preservative ethoxyquin. They had a similar thing happen and changed feed with success. So I started googling and a website mentioned it may be in fishmeal but not listed on ingredients. Another person said emu oil might reduce pregnancy rate. Fish meal and emu oil are in the feed I buy, which is “holistic” and states it has no artificial colours and preservatives, but should I be worried about natural preservatives especially if feed lasts 18 months?

Has anyone had any experience with this?

Thanks in advance

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Hi all,

We have tried to breed 3 different bitches (2 have successfully whelped in the past and are 5 and 4yo, other is 2yo daughter of one out of litter of 7 pups)

– 2 different dogs (a 20 month old import and a 12 month old), but have not been able to check their semen under microscope yet. Prog tested 2 of the bitches and was apparently perfect timing. We don't breed very often but until now have only had 1 failed pregnancy in 8 years.

I was talking to a long time breeder and they mentioned a preservative ethoxyquin. They had a similar thing happen and changed feed with success. So I started googling and a website mentioned it may be in fishmeal but not listed on ingredients. Another person said emu oil might reduce pregnancy rate. Fish meal and emu oil are in the feed I buy, which is "holistic" and states it has no artificial colours and preservatives, but should I be worried about natural preservatives especially if feed lasts 18 months?

Has anyone had any experience with this?

Thanks in advance

When ever this sort of thing happens we start grabbing at straws to try to work it out. I doubt what you are seeing is related to this particular chemical. In my opinion you would be better off looking at chemicals and bugs

Hearttworm meds high on the list and sometimes all it needs is a hit of anti biotics when the girls first come on heat - for both male and female and give them aloe juice until they have finished mating .The aloe gives them every amino acid and loads of vitamins and minerals and strips out any poisons or heavy metals. Diet is huge - really huge - but its not as simple as identifying one chemical.

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I seriously doubt it would be their food unless you are feeding some weird fad diet.

Mine have ate all sorts of everything from home cooked to many commercial brands of dry over many years & have always fell pregnant.

I would be looking at the stud boys & start by getting their semen tested before looking for any other cause.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I seriously doubt it would be their food unless you are feeding some weird fad diet.

Mine have ate all sorts of everything from home cooked to many commercial brands of dry over many years & have always fell pregnant.

I would be looking at the stud boys & start by getting their semen tested before looking for any other cause.

We are going through this at the moment, bitches either not getting in pup or being scanned in pup but not having the litter. I know it isn't the stud dogs because other breeders are using them and getting good sized litters. I don't feed flaxseed oil, they are on a raw diet they do get coconut oil , went away from feeding them chicken as I was concerned about drug use in the growing of the chicken, but it has made no difference at all, very disheartening when others use your stud dogs and get lovely litters but we are not getting anything, even using an outside stud dog didn't work. I would be very interested in hearing more about Aloe juice as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Could be a couple of reasons of your bitches not falling pregnant.

Thyroid levels can affect their ability to hold a litter, you might be doing the matings too early or too late (I've heard some bitches have 'ovulated' at day 3 and also day 22, you still need to wait 48 hours before the eggs are ripe, take that into consideration)

Is your bitch having progesterone issues, some bitches need to have injections to maintain their levels at week 5 or so, if it drops the litter will be absorbed or aborted. Does your bitch have any cysts on her ovaries? This can affect the fertilized eggs moving down into the uterus, if there is no clear path, the eggs will never be able to attach.

Edited to say I have no experience with these problems, but I have a friend who has been going through the same problem. One bitch has a uterus full of cysts and it was paper thin when she was desexed.

Edited by JessicaM
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  • 1 month later...

Ethoxyquin is not permitted in Australia or EU so unless your sources of farmed fish/chicken come from there or the food is US made there should be none in your Australian made food.

As for Emu oil

Emu Oil composition

Fatty acids (FAs) represent the predominating component of Emu Oil, with a lipid content of 98.8% for subcutaneous adipose tissue, and 98.0% for retroperitoneal adipose tissue. 27 Emu Oil comprises approximately 42% oleic acid (18:1 n-9), 21% linoleic acid (18:2 n-6), and 21% palmitic acid (16:0), with lower levels of other FAs, including 1% a-linolenic acid (18:3 n-3). 27,28

Emu Oil also contains variable levels of compounds including carotenoids, flavones, polyphenols, tocopherol and phospholipids in the non-triglyceride fraction, which may confer therapeutic benefits including antioxidant properties. 22,29 More recently, Beckerbauer et al 27 demonstrated that Emus fed a diet rich in unsaturated fat (soybean oil) produced oil that was more polyunsaturated com-pared with Emus fed a diet rich in saturated fat (beef tallow). These findings indicate that diet composition can significantly influence the composition of Emu Oil

27 and hence possibly impact on oil efficacy.3

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/221865310_Emu_Oil_A_novel_therapeutic_for_disorders_of_the_gastrointestinal_tract

There's a study here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21653893 done on Palmitic acid on embryos which showed it actually inhibited growth of the fetal cells. Could be something since Palmitic acid is 21% of the content of emu oil and can accumulate? Won't harm the adult but a very rich diet over time might be the reason you're finding problems? Just a stab in the dark?

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