some help please

[SuzanneC]

Hi there, I wondered if anyone could help me please. On sunday I rescued a cocker spaniel bitch, it started out as simply helping someone I knew rehome her, I found a friend to have her but she was brought to my home and dropped off and I immediately knew something was wrong.

This bitch was supposed to be 18 month old but appears older by looking at her teeth. She was also in a terrible condition, her fur was matted with months worth of poo and mud, it was so bad that it was matted right to her skin and took over 2 hours of bathing and trimming to get her looking even half presentable. I cut matted chunks of fur from her that were thicker and longer than her tail.
She is a timid little thing and on trimming underneath I noticed her nipples looked bigger so I squeeze a little and a drop of colostrum came out, I have checked for the past 2 days and every nipple seems to have colostrum in.
Anyway it turns out that this bitch had come from some sort of puppy farm as far as im aware although I dont know if shes ever had a litter before.

I am trying to determine if she is pregnant or not. She isnt fat at all, infact she is a bit thin,esp when she lies on her back and shows her underside it seems to sink in a bit. She is extremely quiet and has spend most of her time here sleeping. I presumed with her being a working dog like my huskies that she would be quite active and she seems to have come out of her shell a lot but still isnt active really. Other than that she looks healthy and happy. She doesnt eat very much at all but then im used to 2 hungry huskies so maybe im expecting too much.

I cant feel anything inside her but ive read that I probably wouldnt until she was nearly due. I contacted the lady who asked me to help rehome her and she said that she doesnt know whats going on because she was supposed to be with a lady who was looking after her and shes been in a run outdoors, she said there was a stud dog there (another cocker) that could have got to her when he was been out for a wee but TBH I dont really know what to believe because it seems ive been lied to all along she started in season about 2 month ago maybe less im told.

Is it likely shes pregnant ? would she have colostrum if she had been bred last year maybe that was left over (ive no idea if she ever has had puppies or not). I dont want to get her scanned and it be too early to see anything as im a parent of a disabled child and dont get a lot as it is. Im starting to put money aside just incase she is pregnant.

Thankyou in advance for any help

[Ninasmum]

I can only give you some suggestions:-
If she is an ex puppy farm dog she would more than likely be traumatised to now be in the outside world, which would explain her timid behaviour & possibly not eating well. 
Regarding wether she is pregnant, they don't normally increase in size until 5/6 wks approx.  A vet would be able to tell you by examining her at about this stage or a scan will confirm at 4/5 wks too.
She could be having a phantom pregnancy, which can occur approx. 7/8 wks post season.  This could also explain why she is producing milk. 

Imho its impossible for anyone via a forum to know if she is pregnant & the best route is to take her to the vets asap.
If she is pregnant she may not even be healthy enough to carry or give birth to the puppies, so her life may be at risk.   
I also would be surprised that a puppy farm would release her if they knew she was pregnant because these poor dogs are just used for money making & hence they would have lost some of their 'precious' income.   
This also makes me concerned that she might have other health issue's   

[SuzanneC]

thankyou for your reply, when the lady that dropped her off found out she might be pregnant they were very agressive and threatening and wanted her back straight away. My partner told them to take a hike and they werent going to be getting her back and that we would phone the police if they tried coming round.
The only reason im thinking puppy farm is because she rehomed an akita bitch, another cocker bitch and 2 female labs the same day.

I am trying to locate a sheep scanner so I can get her scanned.

[Ninasmum]

thankyou for your reply, when the lady that dropped her off found out she might be pregnant they were very agressive and threatening and wanted her back straight away. My partner told them to take a hike and they werent going to be getting her back and that we would phone the police if they tried coming round.
The only reason im thinking puppy farm is because she rehomed an akita bitch, another cocker bitch and 2 female labs the same day.

I am trying to locate a sheep scanner so I can get her scanned.

If she is pregnant what are you going to do for her? 

[kalami]

Personally if I'd 'acquired' a dog I'd be straight round the vets getting the dog checked out. Even if it looked healthy.
If the dog is in such a state I would presume that it hadn't been vaccinated.
And surely a vet would tell you if a dogs pregnant.

Bit confused really as to why you've not taken it to the vets.

[SuzanneC]

If shes pregnant she can whelp here and I will look after her and the pups, I will then rehome her pups to checked homes (infact I have about 7 people who are all doggy person friends who would love to take a pup for its forever home) Im a siberian husky person myself and have 2 sibes. We run them in harness.

[SuzanneC]

Personally if I'd 'acquired' a dog I'd be straight round the vets getting the dog checked out. Even if it looked healthy.
If the dog is in such a state I would presume that it hadn't been vaccinated.
And surely a vet would tell you if a dogs pregnant.

Bit confused really as to why you've not taken it to the vets.

I got her Sunday so shes only been here for 2 days, I am paid monthly and I get paid on Saturday so im unable to take her till then. I will however be taking her saturday

[Nicola]

I would second the advice to take her to the vet straight away. Depending on how far along they are it's not always possible even for a vet to tell if a bitch is pregnant though - I had a bitch at the vet yesterday at 28 days from date of mating, she's showing slight thickening around her waist and the vet thought they could feel some enlargement of the uterus but couldn't tell for sure if she's actually pregnant or not. I work in the breeding programme of an assistance dog charity so I see a lot of pregnant dogs, usually we can tell by the time they get to around the 5 week mark but we routinely scan at 35-40 days so we can be sure. As they can't tell you when her last season was you obviously can't date anything accurately though.

Given that this girl is not really showing any obvious signs of being pregnant yet it may be possible to have her spayed which would obviously remove anything that may be there; given her poor condition and timid nature and the trauma she's already been through it could be worth speaking to the vet about this. In any case it would be less traumatic for her than potentially having to carry, whelp and rear a litter of puppies which really is a big drain on even a healthy and behaviourally 'normal' bitch (not to mention the drain on you and your finances, if something goes wrong an emergency caesarean can cost £1000+ and even if the whelp is ok raising a litter of puppies is very expensive and incredibly time consuming). Some bitches will lactate during a phantom pregnancy, I fostered a young Cocker bitch a couple of years ago who produced quite a lot of milk but definitely wasn't pregnant. You really do need to take her to the vet asap, even besides the potential pregnancy she may have other health issues going on.

I also wouldn't be surprised if she's not all that active at the moment given that she's only been out of that situation for a few days and her poor condition. From the photos you've posted she looks more like a show Cocker than a working Cocker, she looks like a lovely girl and I hope she's ok.

[Jane S]

Suzanne, welcome to COL - I think you've been given much the same advice on another forum so I won't add anything more except to re-iterate that people on an internet forum can't tell you whether this poor girl is pregnant or not - you need to get her vet checked as soon as possible (especially as she may have health issues coming from such a poor background)

[Henshallboys]

Hi.....did you take her to the vets and is she pregnant ?

[Jane S]

Suzanne didn't agree with some of the advice she got from COL members and has decided not to continue posting on this forum. However on another forum, she has posted that she thinks Molly is pregnant although her vet is not sure (no scanner available)