Tuesday, November 18, 2008

What's Your Diagnosis?

Patient history: An unspayed female Corgi, who was seen "hanging out" with a male Bichon about 9 weeks ago.


I don't think you have to be a radiologist to make this diagnosis.


Look at that lovely jumble of heads, spines, and pelvises. (Pelves? Pelvi?)

Bonus points: How many puppies?







Hint: Count the skulls.










Did you say four?


Congratulations! You win a brand new Corgichon, born this weekend!

9 comments:

nina at Nature Remains. said...

I see spines!

But, I'm curious--why the x-ray?
(because even the slightest exposure for humans is avoided)
Or is this to know what to expect for her delivery?

Dog_geek said...

Corgichon? Bichongi? Corgon Frigi? (That last one sounds like a chicken dish...) Whichever, I hope that the owners are prepared to find good homes for these unexpected puppies!

Kim said...

Very cool. I have never seen pictures like that before. I too hope all of the pups find good homes. When is she expected to deliver?

Susan Gets Native said...

Those Bichons...nuthin' but trouble.
They are only looking for one thing.

Lisa said...

Mmm, corgichons... so nice and crunchy.

I *did* say 4, and I would LOVE a Corgi, but I'm afraid the Bichon would win out and Murphy would accidentally step on it.

Kathi said...

X-rays were taken on Thursday of last week to confirm our suspicions of pregnancy. Ms. Corgi was noted to have a distended abdomen and in thinking back, the owner remembered a male dog hanging around, but wasn't sure if the dogs actually "dated."

Because dogs can commonly have a false pregnancy, with all the typical signs up to and including abdominal swelling, milk in the mammary glands, "labor" and taking care of imaginary babies, appearance alone can fool you. I once had a Dalmatian patient that I swore was pregnant and in Stage I labor. The owners swore she hadn't been near a male dog. The owners won - X-rays showed ZERO puppies.

The other reason to take radiographs is to count puppies and to check the fetal size against the size of mom's pelvic opening. One or two big pups in a small female increases the risk of dystocia (difficult labor) and possible C-section.

X-rays at this stage, BTW, pose little or no risk to the pups. I wouldn't want to X-ray a dog in the first month or 6 weeks, but I routinely shoot films any time after 7 weeks (gestation is 9 weeks) without any problems.

The babies were born on Sunday and the little family came in for post-partum check-up on Monday, but I missed seeing them. The current thinking is that maybe the dog wasn't a Bichon.

Mary said...

Guess who had a false pregnancy? Chloe, of course.

Hey, my mind wandered:

Corgi. Bishon. Corgi. Bison.

Whaaat? Can you imagine?

We rarely get to read X-rays, Kathi. Thanks. They're great.

NCmountainwoman said...

New breed of designer dog? Interesting.

Anonymous said...

Did they actually ever date or was it more of a booty call?