Dog pregnant? I hope not!

[sannabelle]

All I'm saying is don't tell people what to do with their dogs because you believe its right. The OP said she would keep some of the puppies. Some people treat their dogs like their children ( I'm not one of those people, although I do respect their views) if op daughter got pregnant and didn't know how or when, would you tell her to abort the baby, because their are too many babys at orphanages? Or because the babys dad is not the same race? What they do with their dog is their business. Killing dogs at a shelter is not somthing to brag about. Most shelters do more harm than good. They think they are god, deciding which dog lives and which one is adopted out. Dogs that get hit by cars are dogs that play in the street, not dogs that are not fixed.

I'm not going to respond to the majority of this because it's completely unfounded speculation.

There are many many many no kill shelters popping up all over the US. I work for a no kill rescue group and the city closest to me has been 100% no kill since 2010.

As I said before- dogs and humans are not the same and treating them as such in the ways you have stated would be very silly.

 

[Bunnylady]

I disagree with her having too much mammary devolopment for not being preg/false preg. Recently lost a 15+ y/o dog who had never had a litter.. her nipples were *way* bigger than the pictured dog's, and had been since she was young.

I am not just looking at the nipples. There is a great deal of puffiness in the belly area, and enough fullness along the rib cage to create a visible crease. That is not normal for such a young dog of normal weight.

 

[Bug n Flock]

I am not just looking at the nipples. There is a great deal of puffiness in the belly area, and enough fullness along the rib cage to create a visible crease. That is not normal for such a young dog of normal weight.

Hmm, it's hard to tell in the photos but looking again zoomed in (I'm on my phone) I actually think you are correct. Thank you for elaborating what you are looking at, it's how I learn.

 

[mrsdee]

X2

Owning intact male and female dogs in the same home and expecting them not to breed is ridiculous, sorry. You need to get them fixed. There are millions of mixed breed pups and dogs dying in shelters every day. I work for a rescue, so I get to see this first hand.

Unaltered animals are also difficult to manage and much more likely to run off, get in fights, get hit by cars....

If you want to breed dogs, do it responsibly, and breed dogs that people want to buy that are held to a high standard.

I'm curious to know what your definition of "breeding responsibly" is. I find that many people who work for rescues don't support breeding dogs at all. If OP had personal reason for not fixing their dog then so be it. As long as OP gets the required vaccinations for the dogs then I don't see any problem with people making any decisions about the pros and cons of major surgeries, or the health of their dogs altogether.

Now to OP - even though she is out of heat now, you said there was only one time when she was unsupervised with the male while she was in heat? If so, she probably got bred. I found with our female there was no way to tell until she started to gain weight and visibly looked pregnant ( around 3-4 weeks). Dogs have 3 stages in their heat cycles. Once the dog starts to bleed the optimum time to breed is between 9-15 days after onset of bleeding, depending on the dog and breed. If you didn't keep track of the days then you have no way of knowing when in her cycle she might have been bred. Dogs have been known to be bred at any point in their cycle though.

If she was bred you might expect a large litter (8-12 pups) since she is a large breed, even though this is her first litter. Our first time momma had 8! I'm sure you'll be able to find homes for them. If she wasn't bred then I would invest in a doggy diaper for her when she comes in heat. If she doesn't take it off, it makes sure you don't get blood all over your house but also provides a barrier for the male. You could also get a belly belt for your intact male, that may help also.

Good luck and don't let people make you feel bad for your personal choices for your animals!

PS - most unaltered bitches nipples get bigger after their first heat even if they weren't bred. And bigger still after they are bred and raise pups!

Well I'm a realist and understand that people are going to breed dogs. I'm okay with that.

I believe that responsible breeders are going to learn everything they can about the breed of dog they choose to breed. They will choose dogs to breed that have traits that are desirable for that breeds standards. This means that they're in good physical condition and are knowingly passing on positive attributes, no known physical or behavioral problems...etc. This also means placing their litters with appropriate people and families for the type of dog they are breeding.

I get to deal with the aftermath of irresponsible back yard dog breeding all the time, as well as puppy mill breeders who are far worse. Both have tragic outcomes more often than not.

OP can do whatever she or he wants with their dog. This is a public forum so I stated my opinion

Right. Especially since it was stated early on that the OP made a health-based decision to not get the dog fixed. Your statements didn't bring anything to this conversation about whether or not the dog looks pregnant. It didn't add anything useful. Just your opinions on how OP should take care of their dogs. You are more than welcome to post your opinions but I just wanted to help shed light on why some people respond they way they do to your statements. Sometimes rescuer rhetoric can get a little old, especially when OP made an informed decision...just happened to be something you disagree with.



It might be good to see a pic of the whole dog to see how the nipples and surrounding area are in proportion to the dog! TBH I don't really see that they are more developed, kind of just looks like the dog may be a little chubby

. But a trip to the vet might not be a bad idea, especially since I think they can do a "pregnancy test". I'm not really sure how accurate that is but if you're really worried about it then it may be worth the trip!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

A vet would be able to confirm pregnancy and go over options with you. They should also be able to give a rough estimate of age based on the length of the fetuses. Options for unwanted litters can include medically induced abortion or spaying the dog (even if she is pregnant). Even if you decide to keep the puppies, the vet can go over what to expect, diet mom and puppies should be on, and vaccination schedules for the pups.

I have found a lot of conflicting information about neutering male dogs and I'm not sure I think it's always medically more appropriate. However, I have found much less conflicting research about the cons of spaying females. Spaying them early (and after first heat is still early enough!) can help greatly reduce the risk of mammary tumors and will pretty much eliminate the possibility of a pyometra (uterine infection) which is very common in unspayed females. The risks of spaying are much lower in prevalence than the risk of not spaying and include things like bleeding after surgery (very rare) and incontinence (often transient due to irritation to the bladder during surgery). In large breed dogs, they can have their stomach secured to the body wall at the same time to help prevent GDV.

I don't make judgements but I do encourage owners that find themselves dealing with unwanted dog litters to learn as much as they can and to make sure that they give the puppies the best start in life. Socializing puppies, knowing when to wean them, and giving them appropriate vaccinations can help that puppy have more success in life.

 

[mustangrooster]

Whoa.......ok. Im leaving all the drama out. I never asked for a debate.

Take her to a vet.
If you have an intact male and an intact female in heat and they were outside together then she is pregnant.
Curious what negatives you found about spaying? There are risks involved as with any surgery but far less risks then going through a pregnancy and whelping a litter. Especially a pregnancy from a first heat.
I find it odd that you have no idea how old she is and no idea if she was in heat a week ago or a month ago. Which also means you have no idea when she is due.
She needs to go to a vet to confirm pregnancy, find out how far along she is, if it is too late to abort or not and if she is old enough and healthy enough to survive this.
I am not against having intact dogs or breeding dogs but you have to have some sense about it.
You need to have her spayed.

Actually, she has already been through a surgery as a very little pup. Its not the surgery that bothers me. I have found a good deal of negatives, but heres some of the points that i copied and pasted:

Possible disadvantages of spaying your female dog

Most of the following statistics come from a 10-year study at the University of California (Davis) Veterinary Teaching Hospital. The study was headed by Dr. Benjamin Hart and study results published in 2013.

Spaying doubles the risk of obesity.

Extra weight leads to debilitating joint disease, arthritis, heart disease, pancreatitis, and diabetes.

Spayed dogs become overweight when owners feed the same amount of food as before their dog was spayed. Spaying, you see, changes a dog's hormonal make-up and metabolism so she doesn't require as much food.

Monitor your dog's shape as you feed her. Keep adjusting the amount you feed so she stays on the slender side, and provide plenty of exercise. Then your spayed dog will not become fat.

Spaying increases the risk of a deadly cancer called hemangiosarcoma.

Apparently the reproductive hormones offer some protection against this cancer, because spayed females are twice as likely to develop hemangiosarcoma of the spleen and five times as likely to develop hemangiosarcoma of the heart, compared to unspayed females.

Spaying triples the risk of hypothyroidism.

The loss of reproductive hormones appears to upset the endocrine system. This can result in low thyroid levels, which causes weight gain and lethargy. Fortunately it can be treated with a daily thyroid supplement for the rest of your dog's life.

Spaying is major surgery requiring general anesthesia.

Studies show that about 20% of spay procedures have at least one complication, such as a bad reaction to the anesthesia, infection, abscess, etc. But most of these complications are minor. Less than 5% are serious, and the death rate is less than 1%.

IF DONE AT THE WRONG AGE, spaying increases the risk of hip dysplasia, torn ligaments, bone cancer, and urinary incontinence.

The reproductive hormones help your dog's bones, joints, and internal organs to develop properly. If you remove those reproductive hormones too early, they don't have enough time to complete their valuable work.

• Early spaying causes the leg bones to grow unevenly. This leaves your dog more vulnerable to hip dysplasia and torn ligaments.
• Early spaying triples the risk of bone cancer, a deadly cancer that mostly occurs in large and giant dogs.
• Early spaying causes urinary incontinence in up to 20% of spayed females. If your dog is spayed before her bladder is fully developed, weak bladder muscles may start to leak in middle age. This is stressful for both you and your dog, who is understandably upset at "having accidents" when she can't understand why. Lifelong supplementation with estrogen will be required and getting the medication properly balanced can be tricky.

As for the age, its not my fault. When i first got her, she was a rescue. Merely 4 weeks old, not even the vet was accurate on her age. So i have had to guess along as she grows.
I am strong on my point here, im not trying to sound ignorant but im not spaying her just yet.

X2

Owning intact male and female dogs in the same home and expecting them not to breed is ridiculous, sorry. You need to get them fixed. There are millions of mixed breed pups and dogs dying in shelters every day. I work for a rescue, so I get to see this first hand.

Unaltered animals are also difficult to manage and much more likely to run off, get in fights, get hit by cars....

If you want to breed dogs, do it responsibly, and breed dogs that people want to buy that are held to a high standard.

Our full male dog is a guard dog. He is very loved, and i dont have any good reason to get him fixed. We are in the middle of nowhere if we were town based, then it would be a different story. But its not, and with him almost being a 4 year old dog, i see alot more risks involved.

All of our dogs are rescue dogs (or dogs rescued from bad backyard breeders), and mixed breeds.

Heidi, doesn't run off. We dont have to worry about that. She follows me everywhere, does everything with me, goes on her on adventurous on our land, and always returns. Shes never got into a fight, and i dont need to worry about the cars. Whilst the other full dog likes to run off, he always returns. And he has gotten into fights with other dogs, but only over food.

I'm curious to know what your definition of "breeding responsibly" is. I find that many people who work for rescues don't support breeding dogs at all. If OP had personal reason for not fixing their dog then so be it. As long as OP gets the required vaccinations for the dogs then I don't see any problem with people making any decisions about the pros and cons of major surgeries, or the health of their dogs altogether.

Now to OP - even though she is out of heat now, you said there was only one time when she was unsupervised with the male while she was in heat? If so, she probably got bred. I found with our female there was no way to tell until she started to gain weight and visibly looked pregnant ( around 3-4 weeks). Dogs have 3 stages in their heat cycles. Once the dog starts to bleed the optimum time to breed is between 9-15 days after onset of bleeding, depending on the dog and breed. If you didn't keep track of the days then you have no way of knowing when in her cycle she might have been bred. Dogs have been known to be bred at any point in their cycle though.

If she was bred you might expect a large litter (8-12 pups) since she is a large breed, even though this is her first litter. Our first time momma had 8! I'm sure you'll be able to find homes for them. If she wasn't bred then I would invest in a doggy diaper for her when she comes in heat. If she doesn't take it off, it makes sure you don't get blood all over your house but also provides a barrier for the male. You could also get a belly belt for your intact male, that may help also.

Good luck and don't let people make you feel bad for your personal choices for your animals!

PS - most unaltered bitches nipples get bigger after their first heat even if they weren't bred. And bigger still after they are bred and raise pups!

Before i go on, as for the vaccinations, yes they are all up to date.

Yes, only one time while she was in heat, it was during the final stages where she could breed......shes a rascal. And yes again, i did keep track of her heat cycle

Oh goody.........well she was from a large litter, but was also the runt..thats alot of puppies that your first time momma had! Yep, im sure i will be able too, people fall in love with her wherever she is. Well....the diapers sound like a good idea, but she might take them off......

Phew, thanks.............i was starting to feel like the worst dog owner in History. Not a good feeling.

Yep, once her heat was over, i looked closely for bigger nipples. But then she started to have alot of mammary development. Im not sure if this helps but she also vomited this morning...

I get to deal with the aftermath of irresponsible back yard dog breeding all the time, as well as puppy mill breeders who are far worse. Both have tragic outcomes more often than not.

Heidi was the aftermath of a irresponsible back yard breeder........she would be dead if it wasn't for me.

I am not just looking at the nipples. There is a great deal of puffiness in the belly area, and enough fullness along the rib cage to create a visible crease. That is not normal for such a young dog of normal weight.

I was looking at that too......which was what made me post this in the first place....

It might be good to see a pic of the whole dog to see how the nipples and surrounding area are in proportion to the dog! TBH I don't really see that they are more developed, kind of just looks like the dog may be a little chubby

. But a trip to the vet might not be a bad idea, especially since I think they can do a "pregnancy test". I'm not really sure how accurate that is but if you're really worried about it then it may be worth the trip!

Yep, I'll get to that as soon as i can.......Well, she doesn't look overweight from food to me.......but you never know. I'll think on it, right now i dont see a big urge to take her to the vet

 

[mrsdee]

I would just keep an eye on her then! I've heard of dogs getting a little "morning sick" from pregnancy too

sounds like you might have a pregnant momma on your hands! But like I said earlier I wasn't able to tell for sure until about 3 or 4 weeks into it. If you've never had a litter of pups before, it's an experience! But I wouldn't trade it for the world. The only bit of advise I would give above all others is to get an x-ray once she is about a week away from her expected due date. Ours showed 7 or 8 pups so we knew what to expect if she stopped at only a few. Because that could lead to major issues if she has trouble and you don't know roughly how many she has in there. Good luck!

 

[mustangrooster]

 

[dainerra]

yes, she is either pregnant or going through a false pregnancy.
having a spay/abort procedure done is not going to be much more dangerous than a young mixed breed dog giving birth before she is fully mature. In some ways, it's less dangerous.

As a breeder, there is a LOT of work involved in not only breeding responsibly but also owning intact dogs and putting puppies in home. First is full separation to avoid any contact between males and in-heat females. In some cases, that means sending the male to be boarded elsewhere. Then there is all of the health testing that needs to be done to be sure that a female should be bred. When a vet says "this dog is healthy enough to breed" that simply means "this female is no more likely to die in whelp than any other female" It doesn't mean that she doesn't have any genetic issues that could be passed on to pups, health issues such as hip or elbow dysplasia (both a problem in many lines of pit bulls) or similar issues.

Then once you manage to keep the female alive through pregnancy and delivery and keep all the puppies alive for a minimum of 8 weeks, you also have to find homes for them. All the family and friends who want a puppy when she is pregnant tend to disappear when it's time to bring home a puppy. Then there is the fact that, sadly, the vast majority of John Q Public shouldn't be trusted with a puppy. So you have to sort through a lot of chaff to find the good homes. Often, that means doing a lot of education to potential buyers, especially when you have "controversial" breeds such as pit mixes or other breeds often listed on dangerous dog lists.
That means it's your responsibilty, to the best of your abilities, to verify that the buyer is allowed to own pit mixes in their area. Not just their county or town but make sure that they verify it with their insurance company before taking home a puppy. And, if they rent, that they get it in writing from their landlord that the breed is allowed by them AND their insurance company.
And be prepared to verify this info yourself since people will lie and it will be the puppies you produced that will pay the consequences.

There is a lot of info and research showing that males are better left intact until fully mature (around 18 months minimum for most medium to large breeds). Females are more of a toss up and needs research for the specific breed.

 

[mustangrooster]

Well, how far along in her pregnancy do you think she is? I need to mark it on my calendar now.

(I will get around to replying to everything else soon)