Why is she doing this????

[Babygirl]

Recently our two and a half year old rescue boxer, Molly, has started to constantly carry around one of her toys. She has gone off her food and appears to have withdrawn from us, although she is happy for us to approach her and pet her while she protects her toy. She appears to be "on guard" continually, nervous and jumpy. Our daughter came home to find her in the back of a closet upstairs, which is very much out of character as she is usually sprawled out across our bed. She doesn't welcome us when we come home and when we go find her she is shaking when we get there. We are really concerned as our boisterous lovable boxer seems to be troubled. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Isy

 

[Babygirl]

She is not spayed yet.. Is there something we should be doing to help her just now ?

 

[MyGirlHeidi]

That's exactly what it sounds like. Our girl was 2 at the time..she went into heat and right after she was spayed. She had a false pregnancy and started collecting all kinds of toys and would lay with them. She also made a bed in the back of our closet. It lasted about 3 weeks and then she started behaving like her normal self. Although it really stressed me out..I never thought it was going to end!

I just saw you posted if there was anything you could do for her?
My vet said no you just have to ride it out..she can have the toys to make her feel like she has her babies with her. Just be real sweet to her and treat her like she just had babies. It will go away and then you should get her fixed.

 

[Babygirl]

Reply.?

Its stressing us out too.... We love her to bits, do we just wait until it passes

 

[MyGirlHeidi]

There was nothing we could do for Heidi. I took her back to the vets to get checked because I had no clue at the time dogs could even have false pregnancies. The ran bloodwork and all but it was just the fact that her body thought she was pregnant and she thought she had puppies. Heidi panted like crazy and she even got milk. She was just a total nutcase! Heidi even carried her one special "baby," outside with her when she went to the bathroom. She was a very good mommy. Once the hormones start to balance back out they will lose interest in the "babies" and return to normal. You can call your vet and ask them but really I don't think there is nothing medicine wise they can do to help you out.

 

[gmacleod]

Well you're going to have to wait until it passes, yes. Then you should make an appointment to have her spayed asap. It is surprising that a rescued boxer is still intact - normally rescues won't rehome a dog until it is spayed/neutered.

A false pregnancy can mimic the whole of the real thing - including uterine changes and even the production of milk. You should be able to find plenty more information here with a search on "false pregnancy".

 

[Babygirl]

Update.

Just to let you know how Molly is doing... She was so distressed about her "baby" crying all night because she couldn't get it to feed. We took her to the vet the following day and she was given a Prolactin Inhibitor, which is helping, she is certainley not as distressed but remains firmly attached to her duck.

Thanks for all advice given

Isy x

 

[okjennay]

Our girl, Bella, is going through what seems to be the same thing. She is now 3.5 years old. She had her first litter last January. We did not get her spayed because we are considering breeding her again. She just went through her first heat since giving birth, so I think it makes sense for what she's doing. Her nipples got really swollen, she started cleaning herself, got bizarre eating habits, started nesting in the covers of our bed and now is occassionally very nasty to our other male boxers. I'm waiting for her to "adopt" one of her toys. All I can say is that I sympathize with what you're going through.