False pregnancy. Help!

[Crested]

I put a thread on the 'care' forum earlier asking if it's normal for a dog to have big "boobs" and got a very good anwser... false pregnancy.

I asked about it of Bella's breeder and she told me that Bella's mom had false pregnancies after every heat. (she's now spayed)

Could you tell me more about the whole false pregnancy thing? Does the dog experience labour? How long does she care for the "puppies"? Is there any way to easier get through it? Are there any long term problems with it if Bella starts having false pregnancies after every heat?

Anything and everything is helpfull... I have no clue about false pregnancies so all help is very, very welcome!

[Lokipups]

I wouldn't worry about it too much, it's fairly common among the unspayed. You'll probably see some nesting behaviors, maybe a little milk production, and my favorite, the "mothering" of a toy. This can pass in as little as a week, or as long as a few months.
My own bitch decided the remote control was her "baby", took it everywhere with her :-?, we didn't watch tv in the livingroom for a week :lol: .

[TDG]

there is no labor.

what the dog is basically experiencing is she thinks she is pregnant. there is a change in hormones in the body just like if the pregnancy was real, but there are (of course) no developing puppies or anything.

individual dogs react very differently, some don't do much once their due date goes by, others find a stuffie or other toy as a substitute "puppy" to take care of.

my own dachshund went through the entire thing several times, from gestation (with slight weight gains from water retention), to nesting and taking care of a "puppy" for about 4 weeks (basically around the time real puppies would start eating solid foods), spending most of her time in her basket or a "nest" in a closet, later on trying to get her "puppy" to move around and so on.

i have found that the whole thing goes away easier after the "birth" date if you take away any toys the dog tries to baby and offer lots of distraction and exercise.

when it turned out that she [i]would[/i] go through false pregnancies each time, i had the vet give her hormone shots to prevent her from coming into heat altogether. today i would choose to spay her, but at that point it was not an option.

if your dog is producing milk she may end up getting mastitis and the whole mental aspect of a false pregnancy is pretty stressful in itself (feeling pregnant and then not having any puppies to take care of, worrying about inanimate, "dead" toys etc.).

i am not sure if the risk of pyometra or mammarian cancer is increased if a dog regularly goes through false pregnancies, but the stress on the body surely isn't healthy, just like it isn't healthy to breed a bitch each time she comes into heat.

[courtnek]

False pregnancy is not uncommon, after all, in the wild, there is no such thing. A dog/wolf that goes into heat mates, and gets pregnant. She may shred papers, chew things up and deposit them in a nest, even dig holes in the yard for the "den"...there is also the milk thing. In the wild, dogs who DO NOT go into heat, ( the "lesser" members of a pack, usually below the
beta's) will develop milk to feed the Alpha's puppies if for some reason she cannot. Nature takes care of them. In OUR space it can be an issue.
I believe you said you intend to breed her? If so, she will get over it.
If not, get her spayed and it will stop.

:D :D

[Crested]

Thank you guys!! :D

Bella hasn't started nesting yet... just big "dogboobies". ;-)

I've been thinking that if it turns out that Bella gets this every heat I'm going to spay her. If it's just a "one time thing" then I won't... atleast not yet.

I'm planning on spaying her after the age of about 5+ depending on her health... The reason for that is that when she's in my eyes too old for breeding I don't have to worry about her getting unwanted puppies at old age...