Uh oh...I'm afraid Gracie is pregnant!
 

OK Gracie is 16 months old, and Griffin is 5 1/2 months old. My vet told me I had to wait until Griffin was about 6-7 months to get him fixed, and I was going to get Gracie done at the same time.

A little background here...originally I got Griffin to breed with Gracie one time, then on his first vet visit (which Gracie was also there to get shots) I found out that she was only 3 1/2 lbs (my scales at home had her at 4) and that he recommended I do not breed her because she's too small. Plus, Griffin is bigger than she is, he was 4 1/2 lbs. at his last vet appointment and is estimated to top out at around 5-6.

SOOOOOOO...I've been watching them closely in the evenings when they play together, and keeping them apart during the day "just in case". Today, I happened to take a good look at Gracie and she looks fat! Now keep in mind she is pretty thin usually, and when I looked down on her I thought her back looked filled out more. I picked her up and I swear she feels pregnant!!!! :confused:

Is there any way to tell other than taking her to the vet? I'm very concerned because I have no idea when it could have happened, how far along she could be, and my main concern is that she is too small to handle puppies of Griffin's (or any puppies, period).

HELP! :eek:

Uh Oh! I wish I knew, but I have no clue, can you call the vet and ask them if there is anyway of telling?

found this by doing a simple google search:

Pregnant dog - pregnancy signs in dogs - dog article on Pets.ca

A doggie biscuit in the oven

The next logical question is, "How can you tell if your dog is in the family way?" Confirming pregnancy necessitates a trip to the veterinary office. The earliest method of pregnancy detection is ultrasound—a nice test because it is noninvasive and very reliable. Fetal heartbeats can be detected at around the 25th day from first breeding. This is not, however, considered a reliable way to determine fetal number.

One interesting fact about the canine reproductive cycle is that the dog goes through roughly the same hormonal changes whether or not she is pregnant. For this reason, there is no progesterone blood or urine test to diagnose pregnancy in dogs. There is, however, a blood test that will detect relaxin, a hormone that is produced in pregnant dogs but is not found in non-pregnant dogs. This test may be performed mid gestation, which occurs at around the same time that your veterinarian can palpate the fetuses.

Most experienced veterinarians can determine pregnancy by simply feeling the dog’s abdomen during a certain a window of time—about 20-30 days after conception. During this time period, there is uterine swelling around the placental sites that feels like firm and discrete lumps. After 30 days, the uterine swelling is more diffuse and it is difficult to distinguish the gravid uterus from the feel of the intestinal tract. Dogs that are very large or obese may be difficult to examine in any stage, however.

A third way to detect pregnancy is by taking x-rays. Fetal skeletons can be visualized at about 45 days of pregnancy. This test cannot be done until late in gestation, but it is nice to know about how many of the little creatures you can expect once the actual birthing occurs.

Get out the clean towels

Although it takes an average of 62 days for puppies to gestate, normal variation is from 54-72 days depending on the breeding dates. During this time there is really not a lot for you do—just feed the dog her regular diet for the first month. It is absolutely crucial that you do NOT supplement your dog with vitamins during her pregnancy. Although this seems to be against normal thinking, dogs that are supplemented are unable to efficiently extract calcium from their bones after they give birth, and this predisposes them to suffer from hypocalcemia, which can result in muscular weakness and even seizures. Starting in the second month of pregnancy, you will want to switch her diet over to a good quality puppy food. This will provide her with the extra calories that she needs without providing excess supplementation.

Speaking of the blessed event, here is your reward for reading this far. If your dog is pregnant, you will want to start taking her temperature (yeah, you know where) about a week prior to her due date. The normal rectal temperature for dogs ranges from 100 to 102.5F. About 24 hours prior to giving birth the dam’s rectal temperature will drop a few degrees. If you record the temperature daily you will know when it is okay to go out to dinner and when you will have a long night ahead of you.

One to two weeks prior to the delivery, get your whelping box and supplies together. Your whelping box should have sides that are high enough so that four to six week-old puppies cannot get out, but when mom needs a Calgon moment she can leave without doing damage to the milking apparatus. It is also important to have a ledge of some kind all around the inside edge so that no puppies are inadvertently smothered by the mother—the pups should be able to slide under the ledge so that mom cannot squish them. Place the box in a familiar but private area and line it with towels.

Get as many clean towels on hand as possible. It is amazing how many you will use trying to keep the canine family clean. You will also want to have sharp scissors (to cut the cords), dental floss (for tying off cords), and povidone iodine (for disinfecting the cord ends) on hand for the delivery.



full article:
http://www.pets.ca/articles/article-dogpregnant.htm

You can actually use a home ept test for humans. All mammals produce the same hcg hormone that the test detects. Now getting her to pee on the stick may be a totally different story! But I would definately take her to the vet to be absolutely sure!

WOW... you learn something new every day..

Crystal

tests that detect elevated levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hcg) are ineffective to determine whether or not a dog is pregnant, according to vets. you can inquire about a relaxin test though.


Pregnancy Care
Veterinary & Aquatic Services Department, Drs. Foster & Smith, Inc.

Pregnancy in the dog lasts approximately 63 days. Just because a bitch was bred, however, does not necessarily mean she has become pregnant.

Determining if a bitch is pregnant

For the first three weeks or so of pregnancy, you may not notice any changes in the bitch. Some females will become more demanding for attention, their nipples may enlarge slightly, and some may become hungrier. These are not a guarantee of a pregnancy, but are good signs. Bitches can show the same signs during 'false pregnancy,' a hormonal abnormality, which may occur after a bitch has been in heat.

Several methods are available to determine pregnancy. A clear mucoid vaginal discharge may be seen. It is a reasonably reliable sign of pregnancy and is noticed about 4-5 weeks into pregnancy and continues until parturition. Ultrasound is able to pick up fetal heartbeats at about 28 days into gestation. This will not be able to determine the number of puppies but can give an estimate and can confirm a pregnancy. At about the same time, a veterinarian may be able to palpate the uterus and feel the fetuses. This may not be possible on a large dog or one that has the puppies under the rib cage. A blood test to check for pregnancy is available. It checks for the hormone, relaxin, which is produced when the fertilized egg implants. The test can be done about 28-30 days into the pregnancy. Small litter sizes (less than 3 puppies) may result in a false negative result. X-rays can be taken around the 60th day of pregnancy to confirm a pregnancy, count the number of fetuses, and determine size-wise if the puppies will fit through the birth canal.


full article:
http://www.peteducation.com/article....&articleid=900

Julie - you need to take her to the vet as you have some serious decisions to make if in fact she is pregnant. I certainly hope she is not but I would not waste $$$ or second guessing this issue. Don't mean to sound harsh but I don't want anything to happen to your little girl and I would definitely get your little boy in for the big chop chop.

I have an appointment with the vet on Thursday to take her in. Yes, I know I have to get Griffin fixed, it has been planned all along to take him in sometime in April. I'm afraid somehow he's an "early bloomer" and got her before I could get him!!!

When was Gracie in heat? My female, Brandy, was in heat a couple weeks ago (it was her first heat and she's 19 months old). Now she is feeling fatter and her nipples are very swollen. I was very careful to keep my male away from her. If I didn't know better I would think she was pregnant also but I actually think it's just from being in heat around a male. Like a false pregnancy.

I have never seen anything (ie: blood) indicating she's been in heat. I've watched her and she's never bled.

It's doubtful that she's pregnant than. I kept wondering about Brandy since she had never gone into heat. My vet told me that she probably had and I just didn't notice. Well when she finally did go into heat it was pretty hard to miss. There wasn't really much blood but she was so swollen it would have been impossible to miss.

At 3.5 lbs I would assume you would never breed Gracie anyway so why don't you just schedule her spaying and get it done now before she goes into heat. I hear there are health benefits to spaying them before the first heat anyway.

IF I were in your shoes ...I'd go to the vet asap and find out for SURE...then decide to spay her right away....Good luck.

When I first got Griffin and realized that breeding him and Gracie wasn't a good idea because of her size (again, remember that my scales at home were off) I decided to fix them both so that it would not be an issue. My vet recommended waiting until Griffin was old enough and then doing them both at the same time so that I wouldn't have one recuperating while the other was wanting to play.

So I was planning on getting them both fixed in April sometime (Griffin will be 6 months old on April 1st). Hopefully, Gracie is just getting ready to go into, or is already in her first heat and that's why she's swollen. If that's the case, then yes...they will both get scheduled ASAP to fix this!

If it's not the case, and she is pregnant, what are my options? From what I've read today, she's potentially about 5 weeks along based on her "shape" and the thickening/widening of her body between her ribs and hips. If there is just one puppy, could she potentially carry it?

This is exactly the same thing I would do. I wouldn't chance risking
her life. Please keep us updated!

This is a hard choice and not one I would want to make. I would take her to vet to see for sure. IF she is then you would have two choices. 1. you could let her have the puppies and take a chance on losing the mom. 2. You could have him remove her uterus but that would mean aborting the pups.
And to be honest with you I would have a hard time doing that but their are alot of people that have chosen that. It's up to you of course. So I would suggest discuss all of your options with your vet and decide from there.
If she is 5 weeks along then she is too far along to palpate yet not far enough along to feel puppies moving.

I would ask your Vet,they would know what to do.
Also you might want to post in the Breeding section,
as I'm sure they have the answers to your questions.
I don't really know anything about Breeding, I wish I could help
you.
Princess acted the same way, a little over a year ago.
I knew she wasn't pregant, that I knew for a fact, but she
sure did act like it. She even took her toys and was moving
them around as if they were her puppies. I had no idea what
was going on. Our Vet said she wanted to be a mommy, so she
had a false pregnancy. She was fine, but I don't think I want
her doing that again. :eek:
Good Luck to you, & please keep us posted.

I dont think that is totally true I tried on my pomeranian and it didnt work at all. I just had to wat until she was like 45 days from when I thought it may have happened and then we got x-rays done and she was PG even thought the test said no

Omg Poor little Gracie.

The thought of puppies make me smile.. they are just so darn cute! But if she is too small, poor baby.

But from the threads I read, she is probably just in heat. Let's hope thats the case and she will be back to normal in no time! :)

I agree with you.. I know when tasha came in heat for the second time she had all signs of being pregnant but there was no way she could of been cause she was in a house full of females. But she actually gained weight ect..ect..

hi, I really don't think your gracie is pregnant i've never heard of a male being mature enough at that age to breed. my experience is that the male has to be over a year or close to year to breed, just wished my little boy could have breed my females a few months ago. now that he's 15 mos old he bothers them but they are not in heat now!!

My bulldog gets chunky and has big boobies after every heat. Logically, I know she's not pregnant but it still freaks me out every time!

I sure hope Gracie's not pregnant -- best of luck at the vet!!!!

Julie

Most males aren't mature enough at that age but there are exceptions..I have heard of males be ready at that age. But it's not the rule..

OK so now I'm thinking I was all paranoid yesterday! When I got home last night, she didn't look as "pregnant" as she did in the morning, and I gave her the once over last night, palpating her tummy and looking at her nipples and stuff and I don't really see anything unusual. She's not bleeding either and her hoohoo doesn't look swollen or red or anything.

Still, I have the vet appointment tomorrow and I will schedule her and Griffin for their prospective surgeries then!

Thanks for everyone's input yesterday!

Best of luck to you! Keep us updated! :)

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!

OH Yea

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Gracie
 

I doubt it is possible...if Gracie looks pregnant that would mean she wa a tleast 5 weeks along...that would make your male around 4 months old when he sired the litter, not possible...Plus, you never saw her in season...LOL
You are wise to alter them both and not worry again.

Hoohoo!!! That is soooo funny!!!

When I got one of my cats spayed - lo and behold (unknown to any of us), she had five little kittens in her. This surprised the vet also - because she was so little - of course, she wasn't very far along and was thin and didn't appear pregnant at all.

If my Yorkie were as small as yours, I wouldn't let her carry the pups. I just couldn't do it and wouldn't take the chance - especially since the male is larger than she is. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her.

BUT - let's keep our fingers crossed and hope she not pregnant in the first place. This could well be the case......


Carol Jean

Gosh I'm an idiot..i didn't think about that..i was going by his age now lol..and your right at 4 months theres no way..