[Jessie's Mom]

brought jess back to the vet yesterday. as i stood there telling the tech the how she's been acting, a light bulb went on in my head - at least part of what she was exhibiting were signs of a false pregnancy. the tech had the same suspicion, at the same time. she squeezed a breast and it proved jessie was lactating. the dr came it, all was confirmed. i have to tell you - i feel terrible. i feel like all the time spent disputing with my husband about not wanting to breed her brought her to this point. she's gonna be 16 months old, had 2 heats already. she should've been spayed. now my baby is being tortured carrying around her stuffed toys, scratching at the floors, looking for a place to whelp her non-existant litter, crying and needing consoling in the middle of the night. how terrible is this?

the vet assured me she will be fine, her uterus is not very enlarged at all, as soon as this passes, she will be spayed. i thought this was a dangerous situation for a dog, i thought i remember from my years of working at an animal hospital, the vet said it's not dangerous, just stressful for the dog and her family. anyway, she gave jess a good exam, listening to her chest and her heart - everthing was clear, no murmur, no congestion. i left her there for 2 hours so that they could do the test for addisons. i wanted her completely cleared, medically, so we can move forward from this.

has anyone had any experience with false pregnancy? of course, i will be doing a lot of online self-educating today.

 

[Dogsinstyle]

My Weejun almost does that. Last year, 2 months after her heat, she began gathering matching squeeky toys, I have no idea how she found them all.
She cared for them about 3 weeks, making those very concerned noises.
She was in season 7 weeks ago, so she's probably due in a week.
Here is last years litter.

 

[Jessie's Mom]

so your dog goes into false pregnancy after each heat? do you breed her? i can't wait to spay jessie. i hate seeing her go through this. she is so distraught.

 

[Dogsinstyle]

She only seems to do it once a year. She did have 1 litter almost 5 years ago.
Those are all brown, btw.

 

[Pamela]

I feel sorry for the dog but its so dear of them to care for the toys like they are babies. awwww

 

[Jessie's Mom]

She only seems to do it once a year. She did have 1 litter almost 5 years ago.
Those are all brown, btw.

all brown ? what color was the male? do you keep in touch with the puppies' owners?

 

[Jessie's Mom]

I feel sorry for the dog but its so dear of them to care for the toys like they are babies. awwww

pamela! awwww...i know and that part does get to me. HOWEVER, jessie is to distraught. she cries like crazy. wakes up after only a couple of hours of sleep. i lie with her and cuddle her and stroke her and talk to her, repeatedly telling her to go to sleep, it's ok, mommy loves you - all the stuff she finds consoling at any other time too. i try to distract her by taking her to my gym, by taking her to the dog run, etc. these are only temporary. so i guess, for now, i will have to grin and bear it and deal with the bags under my eyes until my baby gets through this. my husband is away on vacation with his brother and he's on a cruise so i can't even tell him about this. however, i hope he is getting a lot of rest :sarcastic: cause when he gets home, it will be HIS turn to be up with her at the 3:00 & 4:00 time slot which is the times she seems to get restless. i know it is going to kill him to see her like this, but maybe now he will understand why i didn't want to wait to spay her.

 

[Dogsinstyle]

I try and keep in touch. Here is the one I kept, Widget, last week. She will be 5 in July.

 

[Jessie's Mom]

how beautiful!!!! awwwww....so pretty. it must feel good to have a pup from the dog you love so much. that is why my husband was giving me a hard time. he didn't just want another dog, he just wanted a pup from jessie.

 

[Pamela]

poor little girl - I hope she feels better soon. I had Ginger spayed at 6 months, so she never came into heat. You live in Brooklyn? I live upstate in the Catskills not too far from Albany. Are we the only two in NY? lol

 

[KPoos]

My Weejun almost does that. Last year, 2 months after her heat, she began gathering matching squeeky toys, I have no idea how she found them all.
She cared for them about 3 weeks, making those very concerned noises.
She was in season 7 weeks ago, so she's probably due in a week.
Here is last years litter.

This is so sad and cute at the same time.

 

[flyingduster]

from what I've read it seems that entire girls will go through SOME form of a false pregnancy after EVERY heat. Often it's minor and is only just the slightly larger mammarys and vulva until a couple of months after, others go the whole hog and swell up, produce milk and then have 'puppies'! It seems to be though that they do go through it to some[]/i] degree every single time, which is the reasoning behind why it's becomming quite reccomended to do back-to-back matings so the girl can be spayed sooner rather than going through the whole false pregnancy on her 'rest' heat/s!!

 

[poodlelover]

OMG that picture with the toys is so cute. I can't believe a dog would do that. I have never seen that before.
If you watch the young and the restless there was someone on there that had a false pregnancy and went into labour. lol
I am happy that you found out what was wrong with you spoo.

 

[Olie]

My Weejun almost does that. Last year, 2 months after her heat, she began gathering matching squeeky toys, I have no idea how she found them all.
She cared for them about 3 weeks, making those very concerned noises.
She was in season 7 weeks ago, so she's probably due in a week.
Here is last years litter.

OK - last years litter, thats funny, but at the same time it so horribly sad. I feel for the poor girls.

 

[Dogsinstyle]

Weejun seems very happy with her little charges. Hubby always wanted me to wean them, but hey- she was quite proud of her children.
Her daughter has kept an increasing litter of Boohbahs, I give her a new one every birthday and Christmas. She will not let any of the other poodles mess with them.

 

[Olie]

LAUGH MY ASS OFF!! That is adorable!!

 

[Gorky]

Pamela, I live in NY near Ithaca, NY. I can't believe that bitches have false pregnancies. Very interesting. I won't go through this as Gorky is a male.

 

[blackcurls]

Great to hear she is ok. I laugh at the antics, not very funny at 3 in the morning I bet. My girl Caoimhe had her first season at age 2 back in Feb. She is a snugglepot anyway and became more so. She also became afraid of swimming and after being a wonder girl in the water this is a worry. I have not been able to get her back in for a swim, even though her sister dives in no worries.

 

[ArreauStandardPoodle]

Weejun seems very happy with her little charges. Hubby always wanted me to wean them, but hey- she was quite proud of her children.
Her daughter has kept an increasing litter of Boohbahs, I give her a new one every birthday and Christmas. She will not let any of the other poodles mess with them.

Carole...this is one of the cutest things I have ever seen!!! Sigh...Spoos are just cute even when they are suffering from psychosis!

 

[flufflvr]

Ohhhhh. . . poor baby. I can just imagine her distress, and your distress at her distress! I'm so glad it's not a serious health condition though, and that this will pass. How long does this usually last?

And the little boobahs and other stuffies...how sweet is that? What a good mama. Seems like she'd be one of the ones you always see pictures of on the internet who adopt orphaned wildlife and such. I guess you don't have to clean up after these or feed them though, and training must be a snap!