Many pet owners should have encountered this problem, the family dog often increased appetite, vomiting, diarrhea reaction, the Internet to find out that the dog is pregnant, but the dog has reached the due date but not the birth of the phenomenon.
What is pseudo-pregnancy in dogs?
Pseudopregnancy (hereinafter referred to as pseudopregnancy) is a condition in which a mature female dog, whether mated or not, undergoes physical changes and behavioral changes similar to pregnancy, such as a tendency to nurse or build a nest for her pups, but does not give birth when she is due. False pregnancy is most common in bitches 6 to 8 weeks after estrus, when she will show this symptom due to a hormonal imbalance in her body. Depending on the severity of the problem, the symptoms may last for more than a month. Symptoms of false pregnancy can occur in adult and older bitches, mated and unmated dogs. The incidence of false pregnancy may be influenced by age, breed, litter size and environmental factors.
This type of disease can occur in most adult female dogs, and because the symptoms are extremely similar to pregnancy, it is important to have your dog reviewed in the hospital as soon as possible after finding out she is pregnant.
I saw a pooper scooper online who initially found his dog showing symptoms of a big belly, pregnancy vomiting, and good food, and thought the dog was pregnant. He gave the dog good food and drink, but eventually found that the dog was not producing, and he thought the dog was pretending to come out in order to cheat on the food, so he didn’t take this to heart.
Within a few days, the pooper scooper noticed that something was wrong, he found that the dog began to show symptoms such as loss of appetite, external tension, sluggishness and irritability, he took the dog to the hospital only to find that the dog turned out to be falsely pregnant.
The veterinarian examined the dog carefully and said: the dog is now in good condition. There are many factors that can cause a false pregnancy. Fortunately, it was caught in time, and the condition could have worsened later. In this case, the dog’s life could have been aborted.
Although the risk of false pregnancy itself is not really high, the causes that induce false pregnancy are the most deadly and I hope that all pooper scoopers will never underestimate it.
How is false pregnancy detected?
Diagnosis is easy to make based on mating history and clinical signs.
X-rays are a common method of identification. Its main basis is the presence or absence of the fetal outline (skeleton) in the dilated uterus. However, the timing requires that it be performed after the fetal skeleton has formed, i.e. about 40 days after estrus mating.
Ultrasound is another fast, effective and minimally invasive method of differential diagnosis. The main basis is also the presence or absence of a fetus in the uterus. Since the fetal sac can be observed by ultrasound once it is formed, ultrasound examination can be done as early as about 20 days after mating. In addition, ultrasound can also be used to identify and diagnose ascites and urinary bladder accumulation, uterine pus accumulation and other symptoms.
3 Causes of False Pregnancy
The first is the endocrine disorder in the dog’s body caused by false pregnancy, the second is due to the unscientific breeding of the dog, but the above two are not the cause of false pregnancy can be fatal.
The last such factor that can cause false pregnancy in dogs and fatal is the abnormal secretion of progesterone due to uterine pus, thus triggering false pregnancy, is this uterine pus really that scary? Let’s find out.
Uterine pus accumulation is because the dog’s uterus accumulates a lot of purulent material can not be smoothly discharged, these purulent material in the dog’s body and other pathogens infect each other to cause a disease.
According to veterinary clinical studies, dogs show particularly pronounced symptoms in the early stages of uterine pus accumulation, and symptoms begin to appear 15-30 days after infection.
The specific symptoms of uterine pus are pseudo-pregnancy, depression, increased frequency of defecation, redness and swelling of the intimate area, and occasional secretion of sticky discharge with a fishy odor.
If the dog is not detected and treated in time, the condition can easily deteriorate and may even lead to concentrated blood sepsis, with a particularly high mortality rate.
How to treat pus in the uterus
Once the problem of pus in the uterus occurs, the entire treatment process for the dog becomes relatively complicated. There are two types of treatment: one is conservative treatment and the other is surgical treatment.
Conservative treatment: The veterinarian will first clean the dog’s uterus with saline to help it drain the pus, and then repeat the cleaning until the dog’s uterus is clear and transparent, and then use medication for post-operative treatment.
If the dog is treated surgically, the uterus is removed along with the uterine horns, disinfected with alcohol gauze, and sutured back to the abdominal cavity.
Post-operative care is then required. In mild cases, the dog will only need routine care for five or six days to fully recover.
If the case is more serious, a certain amount of nutritional fluid should be supplemented and care should be taken to clean the wound to prevent reinfection.
What are the dangers of false pregnancy?
In addition to the problem of pus in the uterus, there are other problems caused by false pregnancy that should not be underestimated.
False pregnancy can also cause mammary gland growth and milk secretion in dogs, but a false pregnancy cannot actually drain the milk properly, so it can lead to inflammation of the dog’s mammary glands and, in severe cases, cause ulcers and necrosis.
These symptoms are similar to those of other diseases, and there is a high risk that the dog will be treated as such and not receive timely and effective treatment, causing more serious damage.
How to prevent false pregnancy in dogs?
1. If you find that your dog has symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, and a large stomach, take it to the vet in time for a checkup.
Even if these symptoms do not appear, you should always take your dog to the vet for a medical checkup so you can be prepared.
2. After you have gone to the hospital and found out that your dog has a false pregnancy, there is no need to go panic.
A large part of false pregnancy in dogs is due to unscientific breeding or disorders of the dog’s reproductive hormones.
Therefore, as long as the dog’s diet and daily routine are strictly controlled and the dog’s exercise level is increased according to the doctor’s instructions, the shoveler will be able to recover the dog during the false pregnancy.
However, there are some particularly serious cases, only need to be sent to a special rescue place to solve the problem will be able to, so the pooper scooper still do not need to panic.
The last point is that if you don’t plan for your dog to breed the next generation, you can take your dog to be spayed or neutered in time to eliminate the root cause of the false pregnancy.
But when a dog is in a false pregnancy, you still need to wait for it to be treated before you can go for spaying.
What should I do if my dog has a false pregnancy?
If the false pregnancy is mild, no treatment is needed as the symptoms will disappear in about 2 to 4 weeks. At home, owners can press on her breasts to help her drain her milk and relieve her swelling.
After that period of time, if the dog is still unwell, very reactive, or has severe behavioral changes, the owner will need to take him to the hospital for treatment. The doctor may use a sedative to reduce his anxiety, administer a diuretic to reduce his milk production, and in rare cases, hormone therapy may be required. If you don’t want your dog to mate and breed, it is best to spay or neuter him in advance to avoid false pregnancies. If the dog already has symptoms of false pregnancy, it will need to wait until all symptoms have subsided before it can be neutered.
The owner should pay more attention to the dog’s behavior, and if he finds that he has signs of false pregnancy, he should pay attention to the time period of the development of the symptoms, and after a period of time the symptoms have not resolved themselves, he should take the dog to the doctor for treatment, in order not to delay the disease.
Other problems：
Can false pregnancy cause swelling of the dog’s chest
Yes. The main symptoms of false pregnancy in dogs are swollen breasts, reddened nipples, increased or decreased appetite, lethargy, vomiting, making a nest, and increased abdominal girth, which will be almost identical to the symptoms of real pregnancy, so it is difficult for pet owners to tell the difference.
What to do about milk production during false pregnancy
Why does a dog have a false pregnancy? What are the symptoms of false pregnancy?
Recently, many owners have asked why my dog has not been mated, but recently the dog is as pregnant, and the breasts are significantly larger, and also secretes white milk. It’s not a disease, right? In fact, this is due to a false pregnancy, called pseudopregnancy for short, which is when a dog mistakenly thinks it is going to become a mother. When this behavior occurs, how should the owner deal with it? I will tell you about false pregnancy today.
What is a false pregnancy?
It is a physical change and behavioral change similar to pregnancy that occurs in a female dog that has developed to maturity, whether she mates or not.
For example, there is a tendency to nurse or build a nest for her pups, but she does not give birth when the due date comes.
False pregnancy is most common in bitches 6 to 8 weeks after estrus, when she will show this symptom due to a hormonal imbalance in her body.
Depending on the severity of the problem, the symptoms may last for more than a month. Symptoms of false pregnancy can occur in adult and older bitches, mated and unmated dogs.
The incidence of false pregnancy may be influenced by age, breed, litter size and environmental factors.
What are the symptoms of false pregnancy?
The main symptoms are mammary gland development, distension and the ability to lactate. Behavioral changes such as nesting, increased maternity, anorexia, vomiting, restlessness and impatience. The abdomen gradually expands and enlarges, and on palpation of the abdominal wall, the uterus can be felt to grow and become thicker in diameter, but the fetal sac and fetal body cannot be palpated. The clinical manifestations of pseudopregnancy vary in degree, and in severe cases, the symptoms may appear near the time of delivery. In some cases, after 45 days of breeding, the enlarged abdominal circumference gradually decreases, and once examined, it is known to be a false pregnancy.
In order to facilitate your readers to read and control, I have compiled the following ten articles.
- 1. There are behaviors such as nest building
- 2. The vulva is loosened and enlarged in about sixty days
- 3. Breast enlargement, swelling, the owner gently with his hands can squeeze out milk-like secretions
- 4. Some dogs will appear intermittent vomiting symptoms
- 5. Abdominal enlargement, after two months of enlargement, hormone levels are reduced to restore the normal body shape
- 6. Some dogs show loss of appetite and lethargy.
- 7. Actions become cautious. Particular attention will be paid to protect the abdomen
- 8. Individual dogs may also appear gastrointestinal reactions, there is a slight diarrhea
- 9. Some dogs begin to become unstable emotions, some very irritable, while some will be particularly docile.
How to detect false pregnancy?
Based on the breeding history and clinical signs, it is not difficult to make a diagnosis.
X-rays are one of the common methods of identification. Its main basis is the presence or absence of the fetal outline (skeleton) in the dilated uterus. However, the timing requires that it be performed after the fetal skeleton has formed, i.e. about 40 days after estrus mating.
Ultrasound is another fast, effective and minimally invasive method of differential diagnosis. The main basis is also the presence or absence of a fetus in the uterus. Since the fetal sac can be observed by ultrasound once it is formed, ultrasound examination can be done as early as about 20 days after mating. In addition, ultrasound can also differentially diagnose ascites and urinary bladder accumulation, uterine pus accumulation and other symptoms.
What are the dangers of false pregnancy?
- 1. If the symptoms of false pregnancy do not go away, the breasts are swollen and keep producing juice, and the juice accumulates in the mammary glands, there is a risk of mastitis, which can lead to ulceration or even necrosis of the mammary glands in severe cases.
- 2. If the false pregnancy is due to the accumulation of pus in the uterus, the dog will keep secreting purulent discharge, which will aggravate the condition and may be life-threatening if not treated in time.
- 3. The symptoms of false pregnancy in dogs are similar to many conditions, such as ascites and tumors, and owners may confuse the disease and delay treatment if they do not pay attention to it.
How to treat false pregnancy?
In general, false pregnancy does not require any treatment and can be cured by itself. Usually, the clinical symptoms of false pregnancy can subside on their own in 2-3 weeks without treatment.
If the more severe clinical signs of false pregnancy persist for more than 2-3 weeks, the dog should be considered for hypothyroidism.
However, before treating a false pregnancy, it is important to adequately diagnose to rule out the possibility of pregnancy, as any treatment for false pregnancy can be detrimental to the pregnancy.
Alternatively, if you want to treat your dog’s false pregnancy better and faster and reduce your dog’s pain, you can also use the veterinary-specific [uterine pus clear] for treatment.
What about the secretion of milk during false pregnancy?
1: The owner can boil fried malt in water and give it to the dog to drink to help the dog return to milk.
2: The owner can consciously reduce the amount of water and food feeding to reduce the lactation.
3: First of all, we recommend you take veterinary special [mastication elimination] to help dogs alleviate the secretion of milk and prevent the accumulation of milk! But need to exclude the dog real pregnancy situation!
