Welcome to Croft Reproduction
Croft Veterinary Practice offers a full specialised canine reproduction service. Our team of fully qualified veterinary surgeons with an interest in canine reproduction is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to meet all your dog breeding requirements.

Progesterone Lab Request Form Download the form complete it and send it with your payment to us at the address on the form. We promise to report the result on the day we receive the sample. It is not recommended to use conventional post unless delivery can be guaranteed next day.

Meet the Team Our Canine Reproduction Team is headed by Louise McLean, a veterinary surgeon with many years experience of small animal veterinary practice, and a particular interest in endocrinology and reproduction. Louise has studied canine reproduction in the United States and has now brought the very best of techniques back to the UK

Need to find us? Download a map with directions of where we are

Pregnancy Management and Whelping

Pregnancy diagnosis

There are various methods of pregnancy diagnosis including:

 

• Palpation – gently feeling the bitch’s abdomen. Possible at 3-4 weeks
of pregnancy may not be possible again unit 7-8 weeks due to the large
quantity of fluid in the womb. Not totally accurate, not possible in all
bitches and difficult to give estimates of litter size and does not assess
foetal viability.


• Hormonal testing -  Relaxin – a blood sample taken from day 28 of
pregnancy, it gives no indication of litter size and may be falsely negative
if the litter size is small

• Radiography – from 6 weeks of pregnancy when ossification of the
bones occurs. Useful for litter size, and development. Will not identify
non-viable foetuses until some time after death when secondary changes
occur. Major disadvantages are that may require sedation and exposure
of ionizing radiation to developing puppies.

• Ultrasound examination – from 3-4 weeks of pregnancy. Usually very
accurate and also assesses viability of pups. Will give some idea of litter
numbers but not totally accurate for large litters. Does not require
sedation and no evidence that harmful to pups. 

At Croft Reproduction we recommend ultrasound as the most accurate,
useful and easiest of the pregnancy diagnosis method.
Ultrasound is also useful for checking for remaining pups to assess when whelping is complete.
We have a high quality colour Doppler ultrasound machine so pregnancy
diagnosis and assessment of foetal viability can be carried out 24 hours
a day, 365 days/year. Pregnancy detection by ultrasound carried out from
25 days after ovulation is generally very accurate. It can also give a rough
idea of litter size although it is difficult to give an accurate number in
larger litters. Ultrasound examination is also the best way to assess the
viability of puppies in utero when problems with pregnancy arise.

To make an appointment for ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis please
contact us:


Croft Reproduction
Croft Vets
Northumberland Business Park West
Cramlington
Northumberland
NE23 7RH

Telephone: 0191 2503800
Email info(at)croft-reproduction.co.uk
www.croft-reproduction.co.uk