Pregnant Yellow Lab

[jesusiswithallofus]

Yellow lab abdominal palpation

Our yellow lab is pregnant and the estimated due date is March 26th. We brought her into her Vets and he tested her by abdominal palpation. He’s estimating 4-5 pups in there. So here’s my question…is that method usually accurate or could she have more/less than that?

They would like to do an X-Ray on March 15th to see how many she actually has but is that safe? I know with humans it posses a risk to the mother and child.

We’re trying to make sure we’re beyond prepared for everything and want our girl and her pups to be as healthy as possible. Any other tips and advice you feel I should know would be greatly appreciated!

 

[meli034]

@jesusiswithallofus A 2-view X-ray has very minimal radiation to the pups. Obviously the less radiation the better but they could have 100+ X-rays before any real risk of harm to the puppies. We always do the X-rays to know for sure.

 

[jesusiswithallofus]

@meli034 Thank you! How accurate would you say an abdominal palpation is on knowing the number of pups?

 

[meli034]

@jesusiswithallofus I’m not a vet but it’s not very accurate. If they told you 4-5 then it’s reasonable to assume it’ll be a small to medium size litter, but with a bigger margin of error it may be more like 2-7

 

[mygisfy]

@jesusiswithallofus An xray will give a more accurate headcount. Palpitations are less accurate, especially with a large breed who can have more pups.

 

[lyndsey]

@jesusiswithallofus For sure do an x ray!!!