No Babies In There, Silly!

Via’s body believes that she is going to have puppies. Think about the hormone flood that pregnant women have – moodiness, food cravings, morning sickness, nesting. Now put that into a canine body that has not been bred. She is at the tail end of her first false pregnancy.

Canine false pregnancy is a term used to describe female dogs showing signs of pregnancy, nursing, and lactation, and yet produce no puppies; either there was no mating occurred or have any fertilized eggs. False or phantom pregnancy (also called pseudocyesis) occurs in an estimated 60 percent of female dogs that have not been spayed.

In very mild cases, you may not notice any difference in the female’s mental or physical state. As false pregnancy progresses, many females can experience a dramatic variety of mood and sensory changes such as a swollen abdomen, mammary glands filled with milk. She will exhibit almost the exact physical symptoms, as well as behavioral symptoms, that she would go through a real pregnancy.

Symptoms may include exhaustion or feeling sleepy, food cravings, frequent urination, abdominal cramps, and/or tender or swollen mammary glands. Changes in appetite are also extreme. When a dog is pregnant she will go through periods of huge appetite increases as well as periods of what appear to be hunger strikes which can last for days.

The female behavior will start displaying that of a mother who is trying to “nest.” She will spend time building her nest and form attachments to inanimate objects like toys, shoes, remote controller, and throws. She will then carry her “puppies” around the house and taking them to her bed. Her territorial and maternal instincts will show as she protects her invisible litter.

Via’s case is mild. She did some nest digging under the deck. She was a little more bitchy. Her teats have not filled with milk. She had to pee a little more often. She’s a little more food motivated. She is very distracted even when training in the bathroom. Via has been swinging from grumpy to exuberant to clingy to bold sometimes with in the same five minutes. And until this morning she never went anywhere without carrying her “baby,” a stuffed bone, along.

A state of false pregnancy is actually normal for dogs, writes Mike Richards, DVM, on vetinfo.com, because of the sustained production of progesterone when they go into heat. This means that with each heat a dog is hormonally pregnant, regardless of whether she is actually pregnant; in other words, her body will feel to her as if she is pregnant, although there really are no puppies.

Unlike other mammals (and primates) that have a monthly cycle, dogs only go into heat every six to eight months, which extends the production of progesterone. False pregnancy occurs when a dog’s progesterone level does not return to its normal level after her heat cycle.

The symptoms usually disappear when the dog’s hormones return to their normal levels. Some dogs may experience a false pregnancy with every heat. Dogs that have whelped (given birth) are more likely to experience this phenomenon than those who haven’t. Symptoms generally become noticeable 6 to 12 weeks after estrus.

Via’s pseudocyesis is winding down. This morning she forgot to bring her “baby” with her when she left the crate and she has gone back to trying to get Blue to play instead of digging under the deck.