Week 3 has come and gone in the blink of an eye. We still don’t see any physical changes in Lizzie, but she did start getting VERY picky about her food on Tuesday. Of course, she’s being spoiled rotten and we’re finding delectable tidbits to get her to eat something. Some dogs do suffer from a type of “morning sickness” as their bodies adapt to the pregnancy. Now before you get your hopes up, Lizzie does occasionally decide she doesn’t want to eat her supper, so we can’t guarantee that this is a sign that she’s conceived.
At this point in the pregnancy, some dogs also experience behavior changes – more affectionate, more aloof – but these changes are different for each dog. Also, breast tissue is developing to nurse the puppies and on some dogs, their nipples get larger and a darker pink. Not to get too intimate but Lizzie’s nipples have always been on the larger size, so we haven’t noticed any differences there. Her behavior also hasn’t changed all that much.
Most importantly, all the blastocysts have migrated into the uterus and have found a place to begin implantation. At this point, the blastocysts can officially be considered embryos at approximately 1cm in size. A good, experienced vet can detect a pregnancy by palpating the dog’s abdomen and feeling for tiny marbles.
Since we are concerned about the ability of the embryos to implant, we’re not going to have Lizzie palpated. We could go for an ultrasound this weekend, but we’ve decided to wait until Thursday. This will make sure that all the embryos have had a chance to implant and any that were unable to implant to due uterine damage will have been reabsorbed. It is possible that the ultrasound won’t reveal any pups because they’re hiding around the ribcage. So, we’ll also run a Witness Relaxin test which detects a hormone that only exists when there are placentas in the uterus.
By waiting, we’ll have a good idea if there’s even a chance of Lizzie whelping any pups. Unfortunately, even if there is successful implantation, there is still the possibility that the uterus cannot sustain the placenta. We’re keeping fingers, toes and paws crossed.
