False Pregnancy. How real can it appear? - Page 1

Can a false pregnancy fool any of you experienced breeders?  Will the stomach swell and appear that she is carrying a load of pups?  Will her teats fill with milk?  Will she carry this falseness through 65 days or so?  Will she become aggresive towards other dogs that she loved to play with before?

I am curious to know as well what the symptoms would be.

Do Right, it does not happen often but I have seen one (1) false pregnancy. The female underwent some physical as well as behavioural changes before an ultrasound determined there were no puppies present. The teats did swell, but made no milk after repeated pinching, although I understand that they sometimes do make a bit of milk.

The bitch returned to her normal state and was bred the following year with no consequences. I may add that she recently had a hysterectomy due to her age (nine years) and a small tumour was present on one (1) ovary. I think this was something that recently appeared because she delivered healthy litters of ten (10) puppies and eleven (11) puppies. Perhaps it was there all along and could have caused this false pregnancy, but I do not think so. But, I am no expert here and do not know.

Regards,

Bob-O

Today I met a lady who breeds Sharpei's and we discussed this subject.  She stated that she has had a female go into a false pregnancy and display all of the signs of actually being pregnant, so that even an experienced breeder is fooled.  She stated that she took the dog to a vet to have it pulpatated (is that the correct word), and there were no pups.  She further stated that this female went through this false pregnancy for approximately 65 days and then it disappeared almost overnight.

She stated that this sometimes happens when the male and female are closely kenneled (next to each other), but are not able to get to each other, and this encourages the false pregnancy to formulate, more so, than if the male is not so closely kenneled to the female.

hmmm, wonder if a human can have a false pregnancy if she works near the man of her dreams, if they never do anything?  But, I digress. 

Seriously though, what would make the swelling if there are not puppies inside her?  Fluids?

I have seen a dog spayed during a false pregnancy, they thought she was pregnant and didnt want the pups (mixed dog bred to who knows what), her uterus was full of fluids, like the clear fluid that first comes out right before they start having pups. 

We had a pregnant bitch and a false pregnancy at the same time, there were fifteen pups in the litter so we split them and both females raised seven pups.  Much easier on the actual momma and the bitch who didnt have pups had plenty of milk to feed them. 

My czech female had a complete false pregnancy.  All the way past 65 days.    She swelled , she bagged up with milk,  she started to nest around day 60,  she got protective of the whelping box towards the other dogs.   Then it just went away by day 67.  She even went so far as to have a little discharge, as if her water broke.  

Palpated is the correct word.  : )

Reggae,   that is really wild , that your non pregnant female had enough milk to feed pups from the other  female.  

I  had a dutch female and another female who were arch enemies,  but they would both nurse the each others pups .   The two litters  were born 2 days apart so I would let the pups  play together and only  let one mom at a time out.   The pups were opportunist and the females didn't care. 

psuedocyesis or false pregnancy in a dog is quite common. There can be behavioral changes, milk let down and even delivary of membaranes, of course no fetuses as it is a false pregnancy.  An X-Ray after 42 days would fail to show calcification, and an ultrasound done even earlier would detect no pups

Actually DoRight, humans also experience false pregnancy although not a often as dogs. They exhibit all of the symptoms including an enlarged abdomen. And milk production doesn't surprise me either, especially if the bitch had had previous litters.  A woman can produce milk without being pregnant if suckled on a regular basis, expecially if she has lactated with a previous birth.  And the more any female is suckled, the more milk she will produce. I know this stuff from way back in the stone age when I was having children. My sister is a nurse and I read all of her medical books so I would know everything there was to know about pregnancy and childbirth, dogs can't be that different.

This has been discussed a few other times on the board. My female had 3 false pregnancies before we had her spayed, and she never whelped a litter. She gained the weight, looked like milk came in but I never tried to squeeze any out so not sure if she actually had milk. She did the nesting thing and the whole bit and one day it just stops. She was always housed with a neutered male but I had seen him mount her a few times. So yes false pregnancies take place and neutered males still get it on. LOL

Then you have the opposite situation.  3 weeks ago we took one of  my DH's yorkies to the vet to verify pregnancy.  The vet swore she was not pregnant, x-rays showed nothing.  Sunday afternoon we whelped 2 healthy boys.  I will have to tell them that they really aren't here. ROFL