false pregancy

[Chocolatecoco]

Hi everyone

My girls had come into season, on 16th of january coco came into her first full season, she took rather badly to it was nervious and needing much love and affection more than she normally was. Since then she has had what at first the vet termed as a prolonged season that was a week ago, today after going back with her, she has now got mammory growth and has gone into a false pregancy. She had liked her tummy to be stroked more than the other one and i mentioned this today and the vet told us its because it feels like puppies, that we are not to do it. She hasnt taken to hiding toys but has taken to taking treats ( all the dogs ones) into her cage and hiding them in her bed and refusing to let the other dogs in to reclaim them. She also had a high temp today and although she is healthy he gave her an injection to help bring the tempeture down and also some antibotics to double check.

I am hoping she will come out of this but he has told us if she produces milk then to cut her food down by a quarter and also to watch for her if she begins to take her toys into her cage.

Has anyone experenced this and give anymore advice on to how long it may last and if this will be repeated with every season. I dont want to have her operated on because i lost a dog last year in a op due to her having a reaction to the meds used, coco as already shown allergic reaction to some treats so is on a pure natural diet. However if this is going to be a repeat experience for her i may have to consider it for her.

Thanks in advance

Amanda

[Nicola]

My last foster Cocker Kooki had just ended her first season when she came to stay with me last September and she went into a full-blown false pregnancy, her teats were huge and she was producing a lot of milk. She was also quite unsettled, she paced around a lot, whined a lot, tried to nest and she was very clingy. It began to wear off after about 3-4 weeks and her new owner had her spayed in December with no problems.

[smartietopdog]

Smartie has a false pregnancy every time she has a season. Whilst it gets quite distressing, so far we have had no complications. First time she had one, I was worried sick, and like you, rushed her off to the vet, convinced she was dying (I always was a drama queen!)
Generally she now just carries her favourite toy welly (same toy every time) does alot of whining, digging, panting, and guarding, but within a week or so it's passed. Her teats have always become very swollen, and we were told not to tickle her belly during this time too.
Like you, I don't want to have her spayed, and have come to notice the signs now, and reassure her alot during this time.
Good luck whatever you decide x x

[ladylola]

I was told to give my girl a lot of exercise [takes their mind of it] Cut the food down too.

She produced milk too. I had her spayed    [which I was going to do anyway]

[Joyce]

get in touch with Dorwest herbs their on the web, and put your girls on raspberry leaf tablets as soon as they come into season if your are not having them mated, I remember a few years ago I took a bitch to a show after she had her season and said to someone about her now producing milk and the bitch had not been near any dogs and got told off for not having these tablets at home.   

[ClareB]

Mocha was in phantom pregnancy when she came to live with us. Although she was fine in herself and wasn't nesting or collecting toys or treats and protecting them like puppies, she was producing milk.  At her first check-up we were advised to not stroke her belly and to remove all toys so that there was no temptation for her to treat them like puppies.  After a couple of weeks when she was still producing milk and there was no signs of the phantom going on its own, she was put onto a hormonal treatment which cleared it up.  A few months later she was spayed.  I'm sure our vet did say that once a dog suffers a phantom pregnancy she is likely to have one after every season, but as we intended to have Mocha spayed anyway, we didn't really take this bit in! 

[sarahbe]

My springer Holly did this 3 times - and the only way to stop t was to get her spayed Im afraid.

[Chocolatecoco]

Thanks for all your advice, I went out for a 2 hour walk in the woods today, hopefully the false pregancy ends soon.

I dont give lots of treats at mo just little tiny ones, have stopped all the big chews that she can hid in cage and protect.

Hopefully her mammory glands  go down without producing milk.

I dont really want her to have a major op as i am scared now of losing any of my pets. I really lost a big part of our life when we lost our other cav last year it was incrediably sad.

thanks again

amanda