Could she be pregnant?? or is it phantom (sp!!)

Hemirjtm

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Our bitch is producing milk, and has been for almost 3 weeks 9same as with her last litter). She is no bigger, but she didn't get that big when she had 9 pups last time!! She is very tired and keeps messing up the beds, making nests...etc!!! Wants to sleep all day, only wakes up for short spaces of time, then goes back to her bed! For her this is very strange behaviour!! the vet couldn't feel anything when he came out to see our horses, but it he said he could be wrong and the only real way to tell is to take her to the clinic! if she is pregnant, she would be due in the next week so no point taking her
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Our friend came over today, and she did the crystal test on her and it said she was pregnant, she did this 3 times and each time it said yes, and it was very definative
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We're not sure, as she has no bump, just droopy teats
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and is very lathargic (sp!). Maybe she's pregnant, but doesn't have 9 like last time
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When she lies down, she has a bigger bump on one side... And she has become very defensive of her territory (sp!), just like last time...she never barks at the gate, at noises...etc but in the past few days she has become very defensive and barks at almost everything that disturbs her!!!

What do you think??

thanks
GN
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she's almost definitely pregnant -and yes you SHOULD take her to the vets to be checked out ! - you should also be preparing a whelping area for her and collecting newspapers like mad. Spread her meals out so that she has several smaller ones throughout the day and let her do as much or as little excercise as she wants. Keep the other dogs away from her whelping area or she may decide to move herself somewhere she considers safer - which could be under your bed !!. It may be too late to worm her as she is so near her due date so the pups may have to be wormed early on - Panacur puppy wormer is very good and safe.You will also need to be lining up prospective homes - so start letting everyone know . Do you know who dad is ? if he was significantly bigger than her then be prepared for possible whelping complications - good luck and come back on here if you need any more help.
 
thankyou

she just gets a bowl of biscuits down all day so she eats when she wants to. She was wormed about a month ago.

We think the father is a black lab x who is bigger but the father of her last litter was also bigger than her and she didn't have any complications, the pups were pretty big too!!

We don't have other dogs at home.

will start preparing a whelping box, how big should it be??
 
Should be big enough for her to be able to lie along any side - or at least ours is, and high enough for pups not to be able to roll or be pushed out. You could make it a bit bigger and put pig bars around the edges - these stop pups being squashed.

This is ours, just to give a vague idea:
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I would say she is in whelp, the teats are standing out which is usually a give away. Looks like she fancies having them on your bed! If this is her second accidental litter I would suggest you think seriously about speaking to your vet and getting her spayed.
 
We are going to have her spayed, don't worry!!

With her first litter the dad was 11mnths old - and we didn't realise he could actually perform, she had also stopped bleeding a week before - so honestly thought she would be ok!! And if the father is the lab x he was only 5 months old so again we thought it was ok, but have since been told he could!!

It wouldn't surprise me if she carried her pups onto my bed - in her mind she has a double bed, that I'm allowed to sleep in
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Some of these dogs are quite precocious! Some friends of ours had a 7 month old GSD and he mated both their bitches within 2 days, and both had litters. They hadn't bothered taking them to the vet for jabs cos they thought he was too young. Its also quite common for bitches to mate and be fertile long after they have finished showing colour. I had one that wouldn't mate until her 24th day and had a litter of 8!
 
ovulation usually happens when the bleeding stops i.e when the discharge has turned clearer - many folk think this means that their bitches are safe then but the opposite is true ...this is when they are at their most fertile and most attractive to male dogs !.....good news that she will be spayed after this litter.
 
quick tip .....instead of going to a lot of time and expense making a whelping box ( particularly is this is her last litter ) ....buy a childs three ring inflatable paddling pool and use that....line the bottom with lots of newspaper and a layer of vebed ( or similar washable fleece type material) and you'll have an easy to clean effective whelping box. The ridged sides stop any pups from being squashed underneath mum and 'give' slightly when mum rests against them so very comfortable for her - and they are usually pretty puncture resistant to claws etc. When you've finished just deflate and throw away !.
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That's a great idea milor - wish I'd thought of that!! The terriers had a massive cardboard box as Jenna will have this time because Darcy is in the wooden whelping box
 
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