Hi Everyone Just seeking some advice? Luna is now 11 months and is currently going through a phantom pregnancy She has been to the vets twice now and they have decided to try her on hormone syrup for 6 days and review. The two main problems are: 1).She won't eat her breakfast or evening meal, no matter what we try. I have never known a lab to be so fussy with food.We have soaked her food in warm cool boiled water and she eats a mouthful of it. We then made her some chicken and rice when her symptoms first began. She gobbled this down no problems. So we thought she was pulling a sneaky trick and was being a picky eater. We then put her back on her Arden Grange puppy food and she didn't eat it, so we let her get on with it for a day or so. Come the 3rd day of not eating we were getting worried and this is when we first took her to the vets and she was diagnosed with the phantom pregnancy and review 3 weeks later if no better. She picked up again and started eating normally. Then at the weekend she stopped eating again. Vet visit and she was started on medication. This was on Monday the 3rd September. Still not eating last night but we had to get this medicine in her, so i gave her a tin of wet food, well it was gone in a flash. 2). Skittish with unfamiliar sounds, barking and quite nervous. She was bomb proof prior to her 1st season and now she's like a scared pup. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly received. What do people think about wet dog food. I used with my old girl, Sadie, who has since passed away and it caused her terrible bowel problems and then i changed her to dry food and never looked back. I am worried about trying Luna on wet food in case this happens again I don't really want to try raw natural food with her because i know this carries problems too. Please any advice xx
Personally if she will eat wet food then that's fine! It will blow over soon. I would however, keep her calm, make sure on a walk she has positive experiences, maybe a walk with a buddy to help distract her. With some bitches phantom pregnancies can be really hard on them. After all her body is thinking she has puppies. My bitch gets a little skittish, more wary, but luckily apart from stacking soft toys in her bed for a few days she is fine! Good luck though, hope she feels more like her old self soon, and in your case probably a good reason to consider spaying? https://www.thelabradorsite.com/false-pregnancy-in-dogs/
We are getting her neutered in October/November time. But i feel it should have settled by now. Her season lasted 3.5 weeks and that was in July. Surely things should have gone back to normal by now?
Oh I do feel for you and your pup, phantom pregnancies can be very distressing to pups as I understand and therefore to us as their owners. I know @selina27's Cassie had a phantom pregnancy which was very hard on her and @selina27 and it lasted a few weeks. I hope things start to get better soon. And I agree with @Beanwood re wet food, if she's happy with it and it's not upsetting her tummy, keep giving it to her.
Hi @Tammy Cooke, Cassie did indeed have a phantom pregnancy after her first season which was horrendous, it didn't help that I was slow catching on, and had no idea how long it could last. It's so difficult when they are young too because you can't be sure what is causing what behavior -- is it hormones or just being young. It lasted for weeks, and with hindsight I wasn't patient enough and exposed her to new things when perhaps it wasn't wise. She is totally food motivated and eats anything, but even she went off her food in this period, and was frequently sick. I found it really hard because she really truly believed she had puppies on the sofa
