I recently bought a female that I had previously owned because I wanted to use her for breeding. The man that I bought her from did not take real good care of her. He did not abuse her but, he did not feed her the best of feed and he kept her in a filthy, dirt floored pen. He kept her worked very hard and she looked much older than she actually was (8). When I first got her, she came in heat and I bred her. The other day she had the litter which consisted of only two pups and they both died before they were out. (I rushed her to a vet after first one died but the vet turned out to be a quack but, that is another story.) I have since gone to a much better vet and he told me the cause was probably due to a combination of her age and her health, more due to health. He suggested a vitamin supplement and I already feed high quality feed. Does anyone know if there is any type of medication that can help a female produce more eggs,(I know it exists in livestock)? Can anyone recommend a vitamin supplement? I have invested too much money in this female and, even though I am definitely not in this for the money, I would like a larger, healthier litter to help cover my expenses.

Jeremy, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you will not recoup expenses on an older bitch. If she has had a hard life breeding her is not even fair at her age. Yes, bitches can whelp litters at 8, but when they have had it rough their bodies tend to age quicker and all the feed and vitamins in the world will not reverse the long term effects.

Your bitch is 8 years old.
You bought her back acknowlodging she is in terrible health, and appearing older than her age.
You bred her right away.
She had a disastrous pregancy and is probably now in even worse health.
A supplemental vitamen is needed, yes.
Fertility pills are not what she needs.
She needs time to get her health back.
Good breeders do not breed their bitches every heat.
Perhaps you should swallow your loss and concentrate on the health of your female and not the dollar for now.

Aren't there laws against people like this? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Does anyone know of a pill or suppliment that cures stupidazz breeders of cruelty to animals?

Let the poor girl retire, in a nice pet home would be best.

First, I should let you know that these are Treeing Walker Coonhounds. I am very active in competitive field trials with this breed and I am not running a puppy mill. I only breed when I have the time to work with one or two of the offspring and I sell the remainder of the litter. I do not breed my females every time they come in heat. This female had one litter when I first owned her and it turned out to be an exceptional cross(This is the only other time this female has been bred). I kept a female out of this litter which became the best hound I have ever owned. Unfortunately, this female was killed by a car while hunting. I bought the older female back to make the original cross again, in an attempt to recreate my lost female. The older female is not in terrible health, she was hunted 3 to 4 times per week and did not get the absolute best care but, like I said, whe was not abused. Before I bought her, I took her to a vet to have her check for parasites and overall health, as I was paying a substantial amount for her. The vet found absolutely nothing wrong with her, I personally felt that she was a little thin, I repeat, a little thin. Contrary to your beliefs, dogs remain fertile and able to reproduce until shortly before they die. Humans are rare animals, in that we lose fertility long before we die. I know that having multiple litters is hard on females but, as I said, she has only had one before this . I do not expect to make any money on this litter. It would help if I had a few extra puppies to sell to help cut my costs. Given her and the sire's breeding, and the results of the first cross, these pups would be very much sought after. I wish I had waited until she was in better condition to breed. I felt that given her age, I should hurry and make the cross before her health was terrible. Please don't think I am being cruel, that is far from the case. I just was curious if anyone knew if superimposed ovulation has been done in dogs like it has in horses and cattle. I already give vitamin supplements but, I wondered if there were special formulas designed for my specific needs. As for concentrating on the health of the female, I will do everything in my power to make sure that this female lives life at its best at my home until she dies. Sometimes breeders must make sacrifices when trying to improve the breed and this cross must not be lost. After getting her on a new vitamin and resting her for a couple of cycles, I will breed her one more time and if the results are the same, I will have to eat my time and money spent. Until then, can anyone answer my original questions?

I had not read the two posts before my last post until after I wrote the last post. I take great offense to those comments. I have been active in dog sports for as long as I can remember for one reason, I love dogs! My dogs are members of my family as well as competitive sporting dogs. The only reason that I ever sold this dog in the first place is because I owned her with another guy with whom I had some disagreements with. I was very upset when I did sell her. I still have a hard time talking about the female I lost on the highway. I not only lost a very valuable dog, I lost one of the best hunting partners I have ever had the opportunity to spend time with. Let's compare this situation to humans. I know of people who have had numerous miscarriages trying to have children and eventually have succeeded. Thanks to medical science, sometimes people are able to reproduce when it was not possible before. Are we to think these people are cruel? No! I selectively breed these dogs for ability. This is a situation where I am trying to make a proven cross before the dog's health won't allow it. If I need to spend some money to get some help from advances in animal science, I will. I have yet to make a dime in my breeding program, I do it because I enjoy working with the dogs and seeing them mature in competition. My dogs are kept in very expensive kennels and are fed Eukanuba dog food (which is not cheap). I excercise the dogs almost daily. I have never kept more dogs than I am able to adequately care for. I began using this board when I purchased a Belgian Malinois for home protection. I have learned a lot from Leerburg's videos and from this board about training my Mal. I have also been able to relate to the different types of breeders on this board about general breeding issues. I do not appreciate being thought of as someone who is cruel to animals. I would bet that my knowledge of dogs and their care is much greater than many using this board including those making the negative comments. You shouldn't be so quick to judge someone just because they have some difficulty in their breeding program. I would apologize if I had made such a mistake.

There are canine infertility clinics out there, often you can find them in the same places you will find AI specialists. http://www.sladevet.com/FemaleInfertility.html

They are in Mass... so that is a bit out of your area, but maybe they can counsel you some or steer you in the right direction.

So far as the livestock things you speak of, they do not increase fertility, only delay or induce estrus.(depending on how they are used)

The only reason I brought up the money issue was because of the last sentence of your first post. Read what you wrote and see how that might sound...

Also, litters of one or two can sometimes not be enough to induce labor on their own fast enough. That is probably what happened here (if they were just still born, not mummified) If you do breed her again, x-ray her and if it is a small litter be prepared to C-section her.

Eukanuba is not a cheap food, but there are better ones, with better quality ingredients out there for around the same price. I would look into a natural kibble for her. Wellness, innova, flint river ranch, etc. If you can't or wont feed raw.

I am going to have to disagree with your statement that "dogs remain fertile and are able to reproduce until shortly before they die." This simply is not true from a medical standpoint.
Canines are living to extended ages fairly commonly now a days, with a twelve year life span for a large dog being the norm. I think a pregnancy after the age of 8 or 9 is considered unusual and would concern most vets.
And my feeling is that if I have to breed a bitch to " cover my expenses", I would give up up breeding. I think that maybe you should consider the health and welfare of the dog, instead of your wallet.

Jeremy,
I would not be looking towards superovulatory drugs for this dog's next breeding. It sounds like a decrease in trace nutrients as well as body condition store could have influenced the problems you had with the last breeding. Increasing her rest and body condition score (without allowing her to become obese) could greatly help the success of the next breeding. A little extra body fat on the animal prior to her heat cycle would be beneficial.