Pregnant?

[schokomaus]

Hiya!
Lexi, my 18 months old Jack Russell girl, is just not herself at the moment. When walking she gets easily tired and won't run around as much as before. At home she sleeps a lot and likes to cuddle at all times. She had some vomitting in the past but that's better now. She isn't off her food or anything. We took her to the vet because there is a chance she could be pregnant but even an ultrasound didn't show anything. We were told just to wait and see - not the answer I was looking for. I am really concerned about her. Had anyone the same problems with their dog? Thanks a lot!

[Leigha]

I have had a pregnant female, but my circumstances were very abnormal so I won't be much help--while I had a sinking suspicion she was pregnant, we took our girl to the vet on a Thursday and the vet gave us a definite confirmation and said we would have 10 days 'til the arrival. We had puppies at 2 am that Sunday morning (three very short days later). Nettle, Mattie, and Emmabeth were a great help to me when my girlie was pregnant and all through the birth and rearing of my puplets.

My girlie didn't have any signs or symptoms (other than at the end appearing as though she'd ingested a basketball) but she was also severely malnourished so she was eating with wild abandon and fattening up like she needed to in order to be a healthy weight for herself.

In my opinion, if your vet has ruled out any other malady or illness and says she might be preggers, then I'd start researching puppies and puppy rearing. I have a very long thread here somewhere ( I think in the health section) with all of my puppy questions and everything I went through with mine. Our vet said we were going to have 3, we had seven... the last of my puppies actually just left home two weeks ago.

[schokomaus]

Thanks a lot Leigha! You had quite a busy time then.
I am just so concerned because our usual vet wasn't there and the guy who checked Lexi didn't seem to have a clue. All he told us was to come back in about three weeks for another ultrasound. He also suggested that she could have an infection somewhere and we should watch her closely. I do hope that she is having puppies so I will have a look at your posting to find out what I have to prepare. xx

[Leigha]

When does your normal vet come back? Three weeks is a very long time to wait if she does happen to have an infection and isn't pregnant. We did look online and do a lot of research about how to tell if your dog is pregnant, and from what we experienced and what we read, it's not overly easy to tell if they're pregnant.

[schokomaus]

We never know which vet is on when we take one of the pets around. Our's normally doing the evening clinic so I will give the practice a call on Monday to see what evening he is on. Lexi has never snapped at him but she didn't like the other one this week. It's not just me seeing the change in her - her sister is very upset because Lexi won't run and play with her that much anymore. I really hope that it's not an infection or anything else like it.

[Nettle]

You need to go to another vet asap. And I think you need a refund on that inept consultation you had, but that's up to you.

If she has an infection, it may be pyometra (pus in the womb) which is very serious and must be attended to without delay.

If she is pregnant, you need to know. How long is it since her season?

We will help you all we can, but to begin with you need a proper diagnosis.

Keep us posted.

[Leigha]

Did you ever get in touch with your regular vet or visit another one?

[schokomaus]

Yes, we saw our regular vet last night and he reassured me that there is nothing terrible wrong with Lexi. She is getting a bit rounder around the tummy and her nipples are bigger as usual. She eats more than usual and protects her food like a hawk. The vet thinks she is pregnant but said he would wait till next week for another ultrasound. He was very reassuring and we are feeling much better now. It would be nicer to have a definite answer about the pregnancy but even a breeder told us that he suspects that she is pregnant.
Thanks to everyone for their answers and suggestions! It's appreciated.

[Mattie]

Is this a planned pregnancy or an accident? Why I am asking is the puppies, I would start to look for homes for them now before they are born, the more you have the better chance you will have of rehoming them all. Leigha adopted a ***** in terrible condition, she had been neglected, then found she was pregnant days before Dixie gave birth, 7 puppies later Leigha is still in shock. These were lovely puppies who have had a wonderful start in life but she couldn't find homes for them all, some have had to go to a rescue to rehome which has really broken her heart.

[Leigha]

That's a very good point Mattie. Of the 7 only 3 were adopted out. You'll also find that people would LOOOOOOVE to have a puppy while they're still in mommy's tummy, but when they're out it's a different story. At one point when the puppies were very much too young to be adopted we had homes for all but one or two, that drastically changed a few weeks later when they were ready to go home.

[schokomaus]

But how can I look for homes if I don't know exactly if the dog is pregnant or how many pups will be born if she is? I don't want to disappoint people or loose their trust.

[Nettle]

No need to make promises to anyone - just let them know that IF they are looking for a pup, she is likely to be pregnant so they can have a think about it. When the pups are born you can say we have X boys and X girls and they can come and see them when they are old enough. You can email photos to interested people but it's not a good idea to have lots of people viewing very young puppies. Then if interest is still there, you say that the pups will be ready to go on X date so would they like to come and choose and pay a deposit.

If she turns out not to be pregnant you say ever so sorry she isn't in pup after all. People understand these things - and if they don't they aren't suitable owners.

[Zeldacorgi]

When I contacted the breeder we used they weren't sure if a mating took, but if their ***** was pregnant then we could get a puppy. Lucky us, she was pregnant. However, we would have been totally fine if the opposite had been true. It's nature. As long as you're not making any promises, people should understand.