New Dog Question?

[coastie_wife]

Took in a neighborhood stray about 7 weeks ago. She was in heat when we took her in, after over 3 months of watching her run around the neighborhood. She was in our home for just short of 3 weeks before leaving (my fault.....left her and our other dog uncrated and the front door blew open.....he was still home but she had run off) and has been back for 2 weeks. When she returned her nipples and vulva were back to *normal* size, but 4 days ago her nipples started swelling....she began being cranky with our *fixed* rat terrier/beagle mix dog, started nesting, her nipples started leaking, and she stopped eating normally.

I *do* realize that false pregnancy is very common, but was wondering what to look for if it is NOT false. She is an 8# chihuahua mix and most of the dogs she ran with were 30+ pound dogs.

[TDG]

if i were you, i'd get her to the vet as soon as possible and have her spayed, regardless if she's pregnant or not.

if she is pregnant, it will prevent yet another litter of mixed breed puppies, possible complications during whelping and a lot of other undesirable issues.

[coastie_wife]

I am setting her appt with our vet tomorrow. Really not concerned with future litters since *all* of our dogs have been fixed, but was wondering what the symptoms we could look for were.

[TDG]

it's not always your own dogs you have to be concerned about. see your first post, she got out and you don't know where she ended up or what dogs she came in contact with.

signs of pregnancy may include the following
- increasing body weight and increased appetite, generally you can see if a dog is pregnant by the 6th or 7th week due to the weight increase.
- swelling of the nipples with milky discharge
- nesting behavior

all those can occur in false pregnancies as well tho. the gestation period for dogs is about 63 days, and after about 30 days a veterinarian or experienced person will be able to feel puppies.

also see
http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/pets/g09923.htm

[Guest Anonymous]

"Really not concerned with future litters since *all* of our dogs have been fixed"

"it's not always your own dogs you have to be concerned about. see your first post, she got out and you don't know where she ended up or what dogs she came in contact with. "

Ummmm, not worried about what my fixed dog did....more worried with what I asked....as in *what* we should be looking for.

I honestly don't believe that what I wrote was so difficult to understand. We brought in an unspayed female dog, and our dog is spayed. I asked what we should look for if she happened to be pregnant.

[Guest Anonymous]

*Deleted*

[coastie_wife]

My previous posting was SOOOOO much more harsh than I meant for it to be, please accept my apologies. I was irritable and having a crappy day. Sorry to come across so dang troll-like. :oops: