Long term use of AB's during pregnancy?

Just wondered what peoples views are on long term use of Anti-biotics (Synulox) during pregnancy?

If anybody has used them on their dogs for the whole 9 weeks, or if you think it's a bad idea??

Think it depends on what they are for, sometime it is the better of two evils and better the AB's than a heavy infection of the womb and dead puppies. The latter can lead to emergency spay where as the AB's given long term may lead to bugs with an immunity I think I would chose the AB,s having had experience of the other option.

Depends what they`re for & if there really was no alternative to them.

I often wondered why some breeders did this, or at least used them before mating and again before the pups are born. But I recently lost a litter and nearly lost the bitch, who had to be spayed as an emergency due to pyo. So, I will be consulting my vet on the pros and cons before I breed from my next bitch.

One of the contra effects would be that bugs would be immune to synulox and also the pups would be born with no 'good bugs' in their system - but this could be countered with bio yogurt or pro-biotics after birth.

I will watch this thread with interest to see what other breeders think.

Ok, this is a brief description of what is happening, I would appreciate any comments as we have a vets appointment on Tuesday:-

Normal season, mated days 9 & 11......2 weeks later a brown discharge which got heavier over the days....went to vet scanned her on day 17 (too early I know ) said no pups, I told him too early, so he gave her a 7 day course of Synulox. Returned a week later, scanned again saw 2 possibly 3 pups on scan....although he thought they were still at the implanting stage, so not to take the number as accurate, because she still had the discharge (slightly) he gave her another 10 days of AB's......

Ok, now 10 days ago, she started passing quite big clots, so by now I'm certain she has aborted the whole litter......phoned the vet who gave her another 7 days on AB's, I am certain she IS still pregnant, not a huge litter but it makes her now just over 5 weeks.

My question is: she is now completely clean, no discharge, in fact we have the normal healthy clear discharge. Do you think it will be safe to leave off the AB's when they finish on Tuesday?? All this brings back bad memories of when my Daisy lost her litter, once the AB's stopped, the litter died

Vets are ok, but to be honest probably haven't been through some of the things we have with pregnant dogs.




Hope it's ok to post this eRaze, if not please remove it. Thanks

I don't know what to suggest - I don't think I would leave off the AB. This is what happened to my bitch at 3 weeks after mating and I nearly lost her.

I think if it were me I would carry on with the AB and have her scanned regularly to check on what is going on inside. Good Luck whatever you decide.

I've just got to convince my vet that this is the right thing to do, he wasn't very keen to let us have the last 7 days worth, but I insisted as she did still have a slight discharge.

I have to say I am not in favour of giving AB to pregnant bitches except in exceptional circumstances.

If it is thought a bitch has absorbed/aborted the foetus obviously ABs are needed in this case.

My prime concern is this, if it becomes 'popular' to use ABs for prophylactic purposes , with the easy accessibility of drugs on the internet we could looking at the overuse of ABs and the same problem we have in humans, the immunity of some bacteria to antibiotics.

Edited to say Sorry CC posting at the same time ..in your case/your history I would say it is an exceptional circumstance and could be done with care.

Oh what a difficult situation C/C

Probably be best with keeping her on the a/b`s & start adding some good probiotics & something to boost her immune system, at least some vitC.

I know drugs and antibiotics are available on the internet - but surely these are still prescription drugs and can't just be bought hey willy nilly. I wish AB were more freely available, as there are times when I know just what I need and have to pay for a consultation at the vets just to get the AB. On a few rare occasions my vet has known me well enough to take my word for what I need and will leave them for me to collect from the nurse when I need them in an emergency out of hours - but that is rare.