Darn it.. False Pregnancy? Update!

[Lyn]

I wasn't quite sure where to post this..

As I've mentioned before Lola is in heat. She's on day 23 currently. I believe she's done but we are on lockdown for 30 days regardless.

First and foremost I *know* she has not done the deed. She's never outside by herself and Bubba is neutered. Now that we have that out of the way..

This heat is different than any other she's had. Her teats are enormous and she's super bitchy with Bubba. She's taking all their toys and placing them in her bed, if Bubba tries to take one there is h*ll to pay. I ended up putting all the toys up just so she would settle down.

I called my vet and he thinks she may be going through a false pregnancy. But she's only 23 days into her cycle.. isn't that too early? Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

I booked her spay appointment for January 2nd but he said if she is in fact having a false pregnancy that I have to wait to spay her. I'm assuming due to hormones?

Geez... I'm becoming a good example as to why should not wait to spay your dog.

[People Whisperer]

Welcome to my world  Lily had a false pregnancy after each heat (three time now). She dug a big hole outside and placed her favorite toys in there...one looks just like her but the other one is a porcupine 
Anyways, it lasts about two weeks...no appetite, bitchy, wining, etc.



Porcupine at large 

[chaos270]

Yep, have fun with that one. Our Irish Setter had false pregnancies after her heats too.  She became the most obnoxious creature on Earth as she would burrow into our storage closet....the first time it took us hours to find her.  Then she would whine and carry around her babies, rubber crabs and a small rubber Taz for days on end til we all went nuts. We had to babysit them for her everytime she went out and it was always a battle to get her to leave them inside so she wouldn't lose them.

But yeah I'm pretty sure you will have to wait to spay cause her hormones are going crazy. Hope you can make it through without being driven too insane!

[Lyn]

Oh great!

So far it's just been her collecting all the toys and being moody. She just pushed (more like nose butted) the cat off her bed a second ago. LOL No whining or loss of appetite. Unless of course this is just the beginning.

I can only hope this is all over with asap. I don't want to have to cancel this appointment.

[ZooCrew]

Posey had a false pregnancy after her first heat but thank goodness none since then.  No moodiness from her.  But def. loss of appetite and her teats got really swollen/bruised looking.  We were actually concerned about mastitis but doc said it was just a false pregnancy.

[vmimom2006]

Thank goodness I have not had to deal with that!! 1 moody _itch in the house is quite enough!!!

[Lyn]

Her behaviour is just getting odd. Last night she peed on her bed (AKA our old mattress) and then covered it with a blanket. So now it's garbage since I can't properly clean it.

At first I thought maybe she's getting another UTI. But I've watched her outside and I don't think so. She's not doing the telltale squat pee, squat dribble, squat dribble. She just peed and came back to the door.

I didn't realize it at the time but she did it not long after I put the toys back up again because she was claiming them as her 'babies' again... 

[Lyn]

Well just an update to this! My vet recommended I cancel her spay and wait to be sure she wasn't having a false pregnancy. Well.. good thing we did because it is a false pregnancy! I noticed she was looking a little saggy and her teats are gigantic. No wonder.. I just discovered she has milk.

She's been skipping meals these past couple days and I thought something was odd. Even now she is still claiming all the toys and being super bitchy to poor Bubba.

I thought it was odd that the vet predicted the false pregnancy so early but he was right on.

[jesday]

Are you sure it's false? 

[Lyn]

Yes I'm sure.

*Calling my vet now.. on hold. I'm worried about mastitis now that I googled pics.. GAH

[lookingfornewf]

I hope she's OK

[Lyn]

Apparently she can get mastitis so I'm to keep an eye on her for lumps or excessive redness/soreness and no belly rubs since they will stimulate her milk production. I'm to remove all toys and things she thinks are her babies.

I'm to give her 30 days after her milk dries up and she can be spayed. Well um.. yeah this is worse than her being in heat. 

[ZooCrew]

Hope she finishes her "pregnancy" quickly.

I wouldn't be too worried about mastitis, but yeah, keep an eye on her teats and if they feel stiff/hard and look bruised may want to schedule an appt. 

That was my concern with Posey, but she had no milk production whatsoever.  She just looked very bruised and her poor teats were so hard feeling.  But vet said it was not mastitis, she just looked that way due to her false pregnancy.   

[People Whisperer]

Forgot to add.. So according to that it will last 2-3 weeks. She's been odd behaviour wise for the past week, so 2 more to go. 

Lyn, don't worry too much. It doesn't normally last this long. Lily had three false pregnancies and they never lasted more than two weeks 

[Lyn]

Oh thank god!

She's being super clingy and it's driving me batty. She follows me around and whenever I stop moving she drops and rolls over. If anyone overheard me today they would think I was insane. 'No Lola I don't want rubs your boobies!' LMAO