Vet negligence

sheramber

63 days from 26 February would be 30 April.

Conception could not happen before first mating,

Assuming that was 26 th February an elective C section should be done  a day or two before 30 April, not 10 days before.

20th April was very early for a 26th February mating.


But someone breeding their dog should have enough knowledge of the process to be able to query the date with the vet.
 

yksi

It does seem like the c-section has been done a week early. But it also does seem that you, as the breeder, didn't know enough about your breed to know that the due date would be after 9 weeks (and not 8) and you don't seem to have either checked this nor conferred with other breeders on the issue. What this says to me is that you don't have a good, valuable breeder network around you, which honestly is so incredibly important. Those people will know what to do when unexpected things happen or a girl is ill or has a fever or a pup won't eat, etc etc etc. You really need to get chatting to them, get to know them, and become part of the "gang". The good breeders have one thing in common, and that is they all want to further the health and well-being of their breed, and they will work together to make that happen. Become their friend and you will get that support.

As for what you can do, going after the vet legally will be a pain in the rear end and hard to win because it's hard to fight about potential lost money that you haven't actually earned first and might struggle to prove would have come to you. Start with talking to the owner of the dog about what has happened, I don't know about the bulldog breeding world specifically but there's often an "honour" arrangement when things go wrong like this and you may be able to get your girl mated again for free or at low cost. You should also get into a polite, calm discussion with the vet about how this has happened and what they are willing to do for you - and be prepared for the idea that you might need to consider a full refund of vet costs plus possibly the stud fee as the easiest solution here, followed by talking to your breeder friends to get another vet recommendation for the future.

But the number one takeaway is this: think long and hard about whether breeding her is actually the right thing to do. Think about why you're doing it. Money is the wrong answer. If you think that good, ethical breeders are making large profits, think again. You have just learned why. As someone who also had one pregnancy go wrong and another end in caesarian, I know full well what vet bills do to such plans and how stressful it is for you when you see your beloved pet suffer like this. In my personal opinion, the only way I would be promoting a breed that struggles with natural births (!!!!) would be to select for smaller-head-larger-pelvis and actually try to move back towards type that can give birth!