phantom pregnancy

[tugger]

I dont know where to go with this question.

A friend of ours has been waiting for a puppy and now is being told the dog has had a phantom pregnancy. I didnt know this happened. Is this common? She is considering another breeder. She has not been told by the bitches owners she was told by the sires owners. I dont have any expirence with this type of situation and thought the experts here at BW would have some answers.

I also have some backround on the bitch. I know the owner and she has had some problems lately and too much on her plate. I think the last thing she needed was a batch of pups. The whole issue has me questioning issues.

Anyone ever run into this type of situation or dealt with a phantom pregnancy?

 

[boxer]

Phantom preganacy is quite common, yes. It occurs after a bitch has a heat cycle but does not concieve - and that's irrespective of whether or not she was bred. That is one of the major reasons a pet dog should be spayed before the first heat - because her uterus, etc is going to go through all of the changes it would if she was actually pregnant, hence the increased risk of cancer.

Anyway, phantom pregancy isn't rare by any means. What is perhaps slightly less common is a bitch that was bred not conceiving a litter (which isn't to say that is uncommon either - fertility isn't an exact science ).

 

[haleyandmark]

That is one of the major reasons a pet dog should be spayed before the first heat - because her uterus, etc is going to go through all of the changes it would if she was actually pregnant, hence the increased risk of cancer.

In regards to the original post, I have heard of phantom pregnancy but know nothing about it - I'm not a breeder and don't know much about that area of dogs.

Boxer - You know, I was told when we got Asia spayed that we were stupid and we should've waited until after her first heat cycle because if we spayed her before then, we would stunt her growth and all this other crazy stuff. So, we researched it and stuck with our gut and she was spayed before her first heat.

Now, one of my friends' is worrying about when she should get her pup spayed and she has been wanting to know WHY you should get her spayed BEFORE the first heat cycle ((because she has heard so differently), so thank you for this information you unknowingly gave to me!

 

[boxer]

LOL - well just so I can give you some information knowingly :D here are a few articles your friend might find rather useful:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1629&articleid=918
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1625&articleid=909
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1625&articleid=926

 

[Draymia]

Phantom or False Pregnancies are fairly common in all breeds. I have a girl who had me quite worried. I knew she had not been bred, but showed all signs of being pregnant. Puppies would have been due near Christmas. She went as far as to adopt two "babies". One was a yellow trumpet and the other was a pink pig?? Well, she loved them? :D She even got milk, but no real puppies.

As for spaying before they come in season. It will make no difference to a females growth, but by spaying before coming in season, it eliminates the risk of breast cancer and of course any risk of a uterus infection.

 

[shannonmac]

We were looking for an american bulldog, and were thinking of getting a puppy. the breeder I was in contact with was unsure if her bitch was pregnant, due to the fact that her kids had accidentally let her out in the yard with her stud dog. she ended up only having one puppy, but we ended up getting a 1 year buu instead of a pup from her.
at first I was a little taken aback by the fact that this had happened. but then I found out that she takes in foster kids, and this was a new foster who didn't know that the dogs weren't supposed to be put together. she had actually been the first person to mention "phantom pregnancy" to me. because that's what she thought may have happened, but she did have 1 pup.

 

[haleyandmark]

Hey, Boxer, thanks for those sites, I appreciate it! I'm going to send those websites to her in an email so she can look at them herself! :D

 

[MyGirlHeidi]

Phantom or False Pregnancies are fairly common in all breeds. I have a girl who had me quite worried. I knew she had not been bred, but showed all signs of being pregnant. Puppies would have been due near Christmas. She went as far as to adopt two "babies". One was a yellow trumpet and the other was a pink pig?? Well, she loved them? :D She even got milk, but no real puppies.

Yup, happened to Heidi too, except she adopted Tommy from the Rugrats doll and a pretty pink baby doll. She went into labor, got milk, made a nest in our closet and for the first few days anything that made a noise was HER BABY! This happened after she went into heat, was not bred and then was spayed! When she came home from being spayed it was around the time her "puppies" would have been due and boy was she outta wack. Poor girl I wondered if she would ever return to normal. It took about 3 weeks for her maternal instinct to calm down. Now she is back to normal.

 

[LuVsHeRBoXeR]

Good to know! Thank you for that information on the spaying. My next boxer is going to be a girl and I probably would have been asking that at some point.

 

[hogan's mom]

I saw a show on the animal planet about a dog who had a phantom pregnancy, I think it was a dachaund (sp). Anyway, that poor dog took both the cordless phones from the house and they were her babies until her hormones got back to normal. The bad thing for the owners was that the husband and wife both worked out of their home and were "somewhat out of commission" while the phones were being nurtured.