My foster dog....Can she be PREGNANT????
 

I have been fostering a very sweet little maltese girl for the past 4 weeks. She is approx 6yo, 10lb.

She was a stray for a while before she came to the shelter, and since she was in a lot of stress at the shelter, they asked our rescue group (Pomeranian and Small Breed Rescue) to take her in.

I have noticed that she has been putting on some weight, and sometimes when she lies down on the couch, her belly is kinda "hanging" out. Hard to explain though. but the belly has definitely got bigger.

When the vet examined her 4 weeks ago, they could not determine for sure if she had been spayed. they said they could feel something that might be a scar tissue of the spaying, but another vet didn't agree and thought she was most likely NOT altered at all. Because of her grade 5 heart murmur it was not recommended that we spay her either. They said just wait and see if she goes in heat or not, and you'll know for sure.

Anyways, as I was watching her sleeping on the couch yesterday (with her big belly), it just hit me: Could she be pregnant???????

She has been in my care for 4 weeks, and she was at the shelter for another 2 weeks before that. So that puts her at least 6 weeks pregnant if that's the case.

How can I find out? When would she "show"? Any ideas?

I'll bump this up for you, 'cause I don't know. It would not surprise me that she could be pregnant if she was running loose.

I think if she is pregnant, she's probably far enough along for the vet to be able to palpate her belly and determine if she is indeed pregnant. I would call your vet and give them the timeline and ask if they would be able to tell.

If she could possibly be 6 weeks along, it is too late to safely palpitate them. BUT an x-ray or an ultrasound could confirm a pregnancy at this point.

XRAY???? Wouldn't that hurt the babies???

no.. most breeders x-ray thier pregnant dogs about a week before they are due to deliver so they know how many to expect and thier size/positions

:thumbup: It is common and does not hurt the mom or babies. It actully will help, You know how many to expect (if one gets stuck you will know) it will also help determin if mommy can delivery (size of mom and puppies) :animal36

This might be a really stupid question but is she spayed? That is one of the first things that YHR does when we have a new foster is the spay/neuter. Did you look at her belly to see if she has a scar from a spay?

This is what the OP said about that:

When the vet examined her 4 weeks ago, they could not determine for sure if she had been spayed. they said they could feel something that might be a scar tissue of the spaying, but another vet didn't agree and thought she was most likely NOT altered at all. Because of her grade 5 heart murmur it was not recommended that we spay her either. They said just wait and see if she goes in heat or not, and you'll know for sure.

She has a heart murmur and they suggested not spaying her? I surely hope that means that the rescue does not plan on adopting her out!

The vet needs to examine this poor thing and decide whether or not she is pregnant. I am not so sure that being spayed is any less risky than a pregnancy!

We can't see anything visible on the belly. When I took her to the vet the first few days in foster, the vet kinda touched and felt the belly and said he could feel some sort of scar tissue that might indicate that she was spayed at some point, but he couldn't tell for sure. He said we can only wait and see if she gets her period.

Then I had to take her back in the next week for a chest xray for her heart condition, at that point a second vet in the same clinic saw her and said he didn't think she was spayed.

As far as a visible scar, my yorkie is 2.5 yo and there's no trace of her spay scar at all, so I'm not surprised that we can't see anything on the belly. Although her nipples are bigger than a dog that would have been spayed before her first heat.

Well, one thing for sure is that if they actually do decide to adopt her out, they will be very "selective" about the adoptive home, considering her heart/spay issues.

she hasn't been advertised yet. I think we still need to figure out a few things about her, including my suspisions about her being pregnant.

I tried to touch her belly but didn't feel anything. At 6weeks (or more) pregnany, would I be able to feel any lumps or anytihng?

Is her vulva enlarged?

Doesn't seen so to me.

Maybe she is just putting on weight. I hope so. :)

I sure hope so too :(

OH, me too. More than anything.

When I got her she had severe diarrhea. She was pooping like 10 times a day!!!

Now everything is under control, she is complately housetrained, she is enjoying the spoiled loving life that she always so deserved, and she is eating good hearty high quality organic homemade doggy food. And she eats a LOT! So it may very well be just extra pounds.

Here's her photo. Isn't she adorable? My heart bleeds for this girl though. She has a horrible past:

First she was rescued from a hoarding situation along with 40 other dogs, lived all her life in a trailer, in filth and neglect, never saw the daylight, never enjoyed a human lap....

She was at the shelter for a while, and then she was adopted out to some woman. Now ,why she was adopted out without being spayed is beyond me. Maybe because of her heart issues, who knows.

Anyways, a few months after she was adopted by that woman, she was picked up off the streets as a stray. IN WINTER!!! She was never reported missing by that woman, and the left side of her head was all black and blue due to some blunt head trauma. She also had a blood pool right behind the left eye, which was causing her eyesight problems on that side. The vet thinks she was probably smacked really hard, and that's how she sustained the injury, maybe in the home where she was adopted, or on the streets when she was a stray. We don't exactly know what happened, but thank god the bruise is gone, and apparently she has gained her sight back in that eye.

After a week or so back in the shelter, they contacted the rescue group and asked if we take her in and have her in a home environment, because poor thing seemed to be extremely stressed at the shelter. And that's how she ended up in my care. I foster for this group from time to time.

One thing for sure is tht it cannot get any sweeter than this little girl. I am so incredibly in love with her, if I didn't have my hands full with my own three dogs (one of them a special care old girl with conjestive heart failure and failing kidneys) and two cats, there was no way I would have let her go. Like I said I do foster form time to time and I have loved them all to no end, but she's one of those that grab your heart and won't let go!

Look how beautiful she is. The first photo was in a cage at the shelter before I got her, and the second one is in her new bed at home, in her new Juicy Couture dress that she borrowed from her foster sister, and a brand new haircut (poor thing was so matted and dirty!!!)

Aw...she's so cute. She truly looks like a little angel.:p

Oh, she is beautiful!! She has the sweetest, warmest little eyes. :)

Exactly. Everytime I call her name, she tilts her head to one side and looks at me with such warm loving eyes, she makes me melt right on the spot.

It's incredible how forgiving dogs are. She was abused and neglected by humans over and over again, yet she wags her tail and offers her unconditional love and affection everytime I call her!!! How can she do that?!

Bless you for loving her. She is a doll! I wish she could stay with you...looks like you are taking wonderful care of her.