This morning we are both shattered! Bramble has driven us to distraction with can only be described as a sort of "mewling" noise all night, combined with restless and not settling. Of course my main concern was that she was ill....but her behaviour was more unusual, and I couldn't link to any symptoms, although lots was whizzing through my mind at 3am! She has also been carrying her squeaky duck around, sniffing in a sort of worried way at all the other soft toys. She doesn't want to play bless her and is really confusing poor Benson and Casper. We put her crate back up, and she has taken herself to bed, with her squeaky duck. Not a peep, but boy does she look unhappy. Reckon this is a trip to the vet, don't know how quite we are going to separate from her ducky though.... I have read this lasts 3 weeks....3 weeks!!! of this???? Good Lord save us....
I think @JulieT's Betsy had a phantom pregnancy, and I seem to recall she said they all do, to a lesser or greater extent. Joy! I remember going through it with one of my ferrets. It was a nightmare - especially for the other ferret, who she treated as her baby and wouldn't let out of the cage (they slept in the cage, but the door was always open and they normally had run of the apartment). If Fidget sneaked our while Twitch was sleeping, Twitch would hunt her down and haul her back to the cage by the scruff. No mean feat, as Twitch was significantly smaller. When Fidget started to dig her feet in, Twitch would just flip her on her back in some funky Judo move so she was easier to drag The funniest thing was when she decided I was her baby, too, and tried to drag me into the cage. She would hold my finger, gently but firmly, and tug me towards the cage.
Oh dear, poor girl . Millie suffered a phantom , it was very distressing as she started to produce milk . We were advised to take the chosen baby toy away , and our Vet gave her Galastop , which stopped the phantom pretty quickly . We just tried to distract her as much as possible . I don't believe that all bitches go through phantoms , many of mine haven't done prior to their spay, but we were told that if they do suffer one, its highly likely that it will happen again , poor lass x
Collecting toys nesting seeming unable to settle would would make me think of a PP. Check her nips sometimes they swell and look sore too. Hope she's ok
Yep - it's normal. All entire bitches experience high progesterone levels dropping at the end of a season (this is part of preparing for pregnancy) without exception including pregnant bitches (in their case the pregnancy is real though - obvs). The only difference is the degree of the symptoms this causes. Well, that's what the vet said, anyway.
Oh that sounds awful, how distressing. Poppy never had this so I'm no help - I've only heard anecdotally that it is likely to continue, or even get worse, with subsequent heats
How bad was it Julie, are you going to have Betsy spayed, do you think, or was it all doable? Poppy's seasons were so easy, I would never have had her spayed had it not been for the epilepsy...
We didn't know if Millie had been spayed when we got her , as a spay scar can fade to nothing , so it was watch and wait . Sure enough , within four months , she came into season . I would have had her spayed anyway , regardless of the phantom and the fact that it would have most likely happened again , mainly due to the risk of Pyo in an older bitch . I certainly wouldn't have liked to see her go through repeated phantoms , especially as she was dripping milk, poor little thing x
I'm not sure but I'm swaying towards having Betsy spayed. I don't have long before I have to finally decide. It wasn't terrible for me, but it was a bit miserable for Betsy. It was quite mild (my vet said, as these things go) but still bad enough. My vet said that it can get worse, or better, with more seasons but for the purposes of factoring it into my spay/don't spay decision, I should assume it will stay the same as that's the most likely. I think the whole thing, season included, was miserable for Betsy. She was clearly uncomfortable during her season, which was nearly 5 weeks in total, then felt lousy with the false pregnancy for another few weeks. It was bad enough to stop her training effectively. Altogether the season and period after took about 2.5months. If that is repeated twice a year, then that's 5 months a year out for Betsy. I don't feel this would be sensible in terms of Betsy's overall quality of life - if I were retired, didn't live in a busy city, and could make sure she got all her holidays, training and so on in the other 7 months then perhaps I would feel it was doable. I'm not even sure about that though, really. The other factors are while I've been very influenced by my Gundog friends who (in the main) have entire bitches, I'm also influenced by my vet who holds the view that it's fine to keep a bitch entire if she is going to be used for breeding. He thinks pregnancy provides a lot of protection from all sorts, but allowing a bitch to cycle through seasons all her life without breeding isn't a 'natural' thing to do at all even if you hold the view that bitches being left entire is 'natural'. I do rate my vet, who isn't blanket neutering at all. I'm also really concerned about some changes in Betsy's nipples, I've just noticed a strange lump yesterday, so this is making me worry about mammary changes, and any last protection against mammary cancer is only available if I have Betsy spayed now (before her second season).
We have all been out for a little walk and she was fine, ate her brekky with normal gusto. Just feeling a little more paranoid than normal as I took Bramble and Casper walking yesterday with 5 other dogs, who have all been poisoned on the same walk. One almost lost his life..I have only just found out this morning.
I know, 5 dogs so far, and 2 a couple of days ago Benson's best mate duggy who was fine, but the spaniel was in hospital all night. Just madness!
This is where I am not sure. The vet said in the case of the spaniel it was more likely a natural toxin, possibly a mould of some sort, that was a couple of days ago in the same place. The lab was just hypersalivatiing but as he is a big lab, may not have ingested much as was OK.
It's a worry, to be sure. In the end you have to weigh up the pros and cons for your individual dog and your situation. I have to say, although I never wanted or intended to have Poppy spayed, she is definitely happier than before.
