I think Shorty is pregnant

I can't call the vet until Tuesday because of the holiday. I know nothing about female dogs and heat and pregnancy since my females are spayed. I noticed yesterday that Shorty is turning into a barrel belly (which is hard and sounds like a drum when you tap on it) and her teats are hanging down farther then usual. From the things I've read so far online, she can go into heat as early as 6 months but the gestation is 63 (or was it 65) days. She would start showing about 2 to 3 weeks before birth. According to my uncle and my brother, Shorty is only about 6 months old, she was in heat when my brother first got her (supposedly at 4 or 5 months old). Given that age information, I would think she would be in heat now, not looking like she's going to have a litter. I understand they can have false pregnancy and until I can get her into the vet I won't know anything. Is it possible (outside of the idea someone doesn't know how old she is) that she is pregnant and going to have puppies soon with her belly getting so big?

Thanks!

She could be pregnant at that age. You should also make sure she does not have bloat. If she is pregnant I am very worried for her.
What breed is shorty? Why did she get pregnant was it planned? She is way too young to have a litter, but if she is far along it is too late to terminate unfortunately. Make sure she gets to the vet soon so they can see how the babies are. She should be on a high quality puppy (not adult dog) food (cat food and dog food have similar brands, don't give the bad stuff like Purina, Eukanuba, Pedigree, that is all bad). Try to be home when she welps, Make sure she has a welping box, heating pads, those sucker things for their lungs, floss to tie off the umbilical cord and I'm sure I'm missing stuff.

Luckily for me I have never had a dog give birth, but that means I cannot give as much info as others. You should go to this forum www.chazhound.com/forums and post this question under "the breeding ground". Some people may be harsh but don't let them scare you away, you need info. What I do know is after she she gives birth you need to get her spayed. You must wait to spay her until the puppies are weaned. In the mean time she is not ever allowed outside without constant supervision, and she can not interact with any intact males after she gives birth and before she is spayed, because she can get pregnant again right after birth. Please go to that forum, their are very knowledgeable people there.

Here's the link on how Shorty came to me: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=110348

Trust me, this was not meant to happen but after hearing that she "ran wild" I'm not all that shocked. I called the E-Vet in my area and talked to the tech. She told me that Shorty can't be spayed now as she's too far along. I have brought her in and am in the process of making an area for her away from my cats as she still tries to eat them. (She's a pure Huskey) I have started her on a better dry puppy formula then what I had her on before. I'm doing it gradually so I don't upset her belly anymore then what it already is. I've had to "mid-wife" kittens before and the tech said there isn't that much difference between cord cutting and cleaning a kitten or puppy (and hand raising isn't that different either. Thank goodness I know how to do that already, too). She also told me I should go to the library and get a book about breeding dogs and it will give me more information on what to watch out for in case there are problems with Shorty. If anyone else has anymore help to give me, I'd appreciate it. I am so lost here.

Thanks again!!

that is not good that she is pregnant at 6 months. a puppy having puppies isn't a good thing. Have you taken her to the vet to have her checked out? and has she gotten out recently? Just make sure that she is spayed after the pups are weaned and that the pups are fixed before they go to new homes.
good luck! and I would keep them until they are 8-12 weeks old, no less than that and get them in to get fixed when they are old enough and Shorty, too!

yes has the vet done an x-ray? I'm curious how many pups there are. if there are a lot, you can expect major problems delivering. i hope she does not need a c-section, but because she is not full grown it is very possible. I'm glad you took her away from your brother though, he sound like he has some issues Is it ok if I post for you on the chazhound site I mentioned?, I'd really like to hear their advice. Please answer soon and keep us updated.

I do hope things will turn out ok. Sad that there's another litter of mixed breed puppies brought in the world. I do hope that she is spayed right after weaning these pups.

At least with dogs you don't have to worry about them getting pregnant right after the litter! Keno had pups on her first heat because of her irresponsible owner - she was 9 months when bred and 11 months when the pups were born - it was 10 pups and her first and last litter! I'm sure if she stayed with the 2nd owner he'd have not bothered to spay her.

Keep us updated on what's happening.

BTW dogs have a higher percentage of false pregnancys then cats do. Maybe you'll be lucky!

Originally Posted by Maxy24

yes has the vet done an x-ray? I'm curious how many pups there are. if there are a lot, you can expect major problems delivering. i hope she does not need a c-section, but because she is not full grown it is very possible. I'm glad you took her away from your brother though, he sound like he has some issues

Is it ok if I post for you on the chazhound site I mentioned?, I'd really like to hear their advice. Please answer soon and keep us updated.

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Yes, go ahead. I'd like to hear what they suggest, too. Any help I can get right now is fine with me.

I am so stressed over this issue. I am hoping for a false pregnancy in so many ways. I wanted to get her spayed before this became an issue not knowing it already was. I plan to get her spayed as soon as I'm able to when/if she has puppies. She's scheduled to go into the vets Friday to have an x-ray to be safe. Her mammary glads are growing in leaps and bounds and the vet tech said she may give birth before she even gets into the vets. She's also starting to show signs of nesting. I'm keeping a close eye on her in case she does go into labor before she gets seen. The only possitive out of all of this is if I can't find the puppies a great loving home, they will stay here with us. Seperated until I can get them all fixed.

Is spaying while pregnant an option? Not too pleasant, but possibly the most humane thing to do. My rescue has to do this with pregnant kitties all the time and we do it almost up until delivery and haven't had any momma fatalities that I'm aware of. I'm not sure if this is something you can do with dogs, though I'd imagine you could.

ETA: Oops, sorry my question was already answered. Perhaps if your vet won't do it, a rescue might?

Originally Posted by lionessrampant

Is spaying while pregnant an option? Not too pleasant, but possibly the most humane thing to do. My rescue has to do this with pregnant kitties all the time and we do it almost up until delivery and haven't had any momma fatalities that I'm aware of. I'm not sure if this is something you can do with dogs, though I'd imagine you could.

ETA: Oops, sorry my question was already answered. Perhaps if your vet won't do it, a rescue might?

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I think at this point in the dogs pregnancy it is inhumane and cruel to do a spay/abort, as you would have to literally kill the pups. Shes so far along that the pups would be born alive and breathing.

Im sorry you are in this situation, and I know its not your fault. Please keep a sharp eye on her, alot of very young mothers dont know what to do when the time comes. We fostered a pregnant bitch who was also about 6 months when she was bred, and 2 of her pups died because she just didnt know what to do. With her last remaining pup she didnt want to nurse or clean her and it took her a good 2 weeks to start taking care of the baby.

It's not a false pregnancy. I finally got Shorty to lay still long enough to just hold my hand on her belly. Suprise, suprise, my hand got bumped all over. There be babies in there. She's gone off her food, ripping up newspaper and laying around whining.....a lot. The vet said he wouldn't be suprised if she starts whelping in the next 24 hours. I am so p*ssed off that after everything this little puppy has been through, she's now going through having puppies. It's like "babies having babies". The poor girl. I'm trying to keep her calm. I spend time with her just petting her and talking to her softly. My "kitten bag" now has everything upgraded to become a "puppy bag". Thread, scissors (sp?), towels, puppy baby bottle, milk replacement, the emergency vets phone number, and everything else I can think of. I even have a book from 197 - something with a whole chapter dedicated to whelping puppies and what can go wrong and how to help. I feel a tad bit more cofident after reading that. UGH!! Poor Shorty. All I can hope for is everything goes smoothly and she survives this.

Thanks a ton, everyone!

Oh poor baby! I hope everything goes alright for her, keep us updated.

I did some more research to find out what size litter to expect. Since she's a pure Siberian Husky, she can have 6 - 8 puppies. So that's a bit more info then I had before.

how are things going today? Do you have a whelping box for her? I hope everything is going ok. Do you have a dog thermometer? You probably should have one to make sure she does not spike a temp. I'll keep in touch.

The people on the forum I was talking about say you should also probably be prepared that she may not be a good mother so you might need to hand rear them. You need some puppy milk supplement formula encase that does happen. They all wish you and shorty good luck!

I was hoping she wasn't pregnant. the poor girl. I hope she survives this and that her pups survive as well! Good luck! please keep us updated.

how is shorty today?

yeah, how is she today ????

Maxy, thank you so very much for your help and for talking to others on that forum for me!

As for Shorty, I finally got her birth month info from my Uncles girlfriend. Shorty was born in June 06. That makes her only 8 months old now. She'll be going on 9 months old when she gives birth. I got her into the vet today. She's going to have 7 pups but the vet believes one has passed as there was no movement but he also said it could be asleep. She's been having "false labor" today. Her uterus was contracting while she was getting the ultrasound (which was wild to watch) but she's not going into active labor yet. He said for a puppy her age, false labor is somehwat normal as her body doesn't really know what to do. But I'm to be prepared for her labor at anytime. She's still whining and she did that at the vets. He said it's because she's scared (I know how that feels. Poor girl!) and she kept showing off her belly giving him looks that said "please get these things out of me!"

I have a can of puppy milk and a bottle just in case, nail polish so I can keep a record of weight, who got fed, feeding schedule and such. (Going to paint a tiny tip of a nail on each pup a different color so I don't confuse myself) I've enlisted my hubby to help with feeding if it comes to that. The doc said they are big puppies and to watch out for straining that goes over 2 hours. She'll need a c-section then but he doesn't think it'll come to that. She's a healthy pup and her muscle tone is perfect so he thinks the delivery will go fine but still not sure how well of a Mom she'll be.

So, that's pretty much it for now. Just counting time until the big event comes. Trying to keep Shorty calm and myself calm. I'm nervous for her and I know she's picking up on that.

Shorty will be in my thoughts and prayers. I hope that she will know what to do with the pups being so young. good luck to you both! hopefully the pup was just sleeping, not dead because that is not a good thing if a pup died inside of her, she'd need to have an emergency c-section to save the others and herself. I just hope she has an easy delivery and some healthy pups. Do you have any pics of Shorty? I am partial to huskies, please share some pics if you have any.

I'll get a picture of her tomorrow if I can get her to hold still long enough. LOL Even being so close to whelping I have to about sit on her to keep her still.