What to consider before breeding your pet

Our independent vet practice can hold your hand through every step of the breeding process. Before breeding your pet, look at the following considerations and to get prepared, ensure you do plenty of research: 

What Apex Vets can offer

• 24/7 emergency cover right here in Denny.  If your pet requires emergency help due their pregnancy (For example low calcium), or an emergency c-section at the end, this can be done locally with a team that you know.
• In house Progesterone testing with results within hours (costing under £70).
• High levels of experience and high standards from pre-breeding right through to rehoming.
• Discounted pricing when vaccinating, microchipping and performing health checks on larger litters. Please ask us about this.
• We have a high definition ultrasound scanner and can often give a strong indication of whelping date and number of offspring. 

Considerations for all pets

Many owners want to breed their beloved pet for the benefit of keeping one of the puppies. Breeding your dog can be a rewarding experience, however there are lots of important factors to consider first. Particularly for bitches, breeding is perhaps the riskiest thing we can voluntarily put our pets through, and owners must be aware of everything that is involved.

Before breeding from your dog, ensure you can confirm the following:

• Your dog is fit, healthy and has a good temperament.
• You can afford the required health testing and checks; pregnancy diagnostic scanning; caesarean (if your pet struggles to pass the litter naturally); worming and suitable feeding for mum and puppies; puppy health checks, vaccinations and microchipping, etc.
• You have enough knowledge to be able to support your bitch during the whole gestation, whelping and puppy rearing process.  Our experienced team can help here with our comprehensive package of breeder support.
• You would be capable of potentially hand-rearing a full litter of puppies until 8 weeks old, should the mother become ill, or reject the puppies.
• You can fully care for the health needs of mother and puppies, and suitably provide them with worming, vaccinations, socialising and nutrition.
• You have enough knowledge to ensure your puppies go to suitable homes, and support/inform them on how to care for their puppy.
• You can at least consider taking back or rehome any puppies if their homes can no longer care for them.

Also keep in mind that your pet's new babies will need vet health checks and depending on the species, vaccinations, flea & worm treatments, microchipping, training and tailored nutrition for strong growth. 

The next generation

Health and welfare of the next generation should always be our priority. You should only breed from healthy dogs that do not have any hereditary conditions or birth defects (such as an umbilical hernia, or undescended testicle). Genetic testing is also a must, to avoid the passing on of any hereditary conditions. Such testing includes hip scoring, elbow scoring, eye scheme, and DNA tests. There is different testing recommendation for every breed of dog.  to request a health check with our vet well in advance on breeding, as this will ensure your pet is physically healthy and we will be able to provide suitable recommendations on the tests your pet requires.

When finding a partner for your dog, ensure that they have also been health and genetic tested, as this will ensure that any offspring your pet produces has a higher chance of being healthy.

“Will having a litter stop [X] behaviour?”

If you are considering breeding from your dog due to behaviours such as humping or straying in males, or nesting in bitches with a phantom pregnancy, this can often be heightened after breeding. Castrating male dogs and spaying female dogs will remove hormonal influence on behaviour, and alongside training may stop the undesirable behaviours altogether. Neutering also has health benefits. See your vet for more information.  

Breeder services at Apex Vets:

1. Pre breeding consultation, advice and health examination
2. In house same day progesterone blood testing to know when to breed
3. Herpes virus vaccination
4. Worming during pregnancy and folic acid supplementation
5. Pregnancy diagnosis ultrasound scan including an estimate of litter size and a calculation of the estimated due date of the litter.  All images will be emailed to you.
6. Cesarian section
7. Neonatal checks on mum and litter screening for birth defects
8. Puppy vaccination and microchip packages prior to going to new homes at our competitive breeder rates.

Please call us on 01324 829989 to find out more or to request an appointment.