Does it sound like my dog is pregnant?

Snowflakes Falling

I've been very irresponsible.
My basset hound went into heat 5 weeks ago. I believe she may have mated. We don't own a male dog any longer, but we do have some next door (not fixed) and we have a very rickety fence so any stray dog could have come in and mated. :/ Well, now my dog's teats are growing, a lot. The back ones are already big and drooping a bit, and the front ones are starting to get little sacs. She's sleeping a lot more, and not eating her dog food much. She will, however, eat raw eggs. Is that OK? I've been giving her a little bit of milk, some egg, crackers, chicken, anything that will persuade her to eat more. I need advice on what to expect if she is indeed pregnant. I also need to know when to switch to puppy chow.

At first, she was my sister's dog. My sister let her get pregnant a year ago with a Labrador and she had 5 puppies. Luckily, everything turned out to be OK! My parents got so mad at my sister that they finally persuaded her enough to give the dog to me, and *sigh... now she may be preggo again. When she was pregnant before (with 5 huge puppies) she got huge teats but we could never feel the puppies move much inside and she didn't gain as much weight. So it's going to be hard to know for sure this time. When I got her, though, her teats were fully back to normal, and now they're getting sacs again.

I also did some research. If it was a false pregnancy, I read that usually it stops at 3 weeks. Well, she's 5 weeks... but who knows, I really don't know what to expect. Which is why I came here for some advice. Please no rude remarks.
I do plan to get her spayed, but I won't abort.
Thanks.

~SF

Anyone? I would really like some advice, as my parents don't want to take the dog to the vet. It's sad, actually. They don't want to waste money on the vet just to find out later, but I'd really like to know what I need to do if she is pregnant.

GroovyGroomer777

Sounds like shes pregnant.

It is indeed sad that your folks won't bring her to the vet....

so you have no idea which dog she may have mated with? What if it is a huge dog like a rotti or newfie or something?
If you aren't willing to abort then she may need a C-section, and if your folks wont pay for a vet - she could die.

Snowflakes Falling

The dogs next door to us are Labs, and even though she's already been pregnant from a lab and turned out OK, I'm still worried about the puppies maybe being too big. Also, a bigger dog could have gotten in our gate... I don't know.
I'm not sure if she's pregnant because she's not gaining much weight (but then again, you could barely tell last time and she had 5 big ones). When she lays down, though, you can make out a small bulge.
I am still trying to beg my parents to get her to a vet! On her last pregnancy, she didn't see a vet at all, and I don't want her to have to go through that again. So I'm hoping my parents might give in if I tell them the dangers of her not going.

Also, advice on what to feed her or how to persuade her to eat? She won't eat unless its egg, milk, or chicken, or whatever other human food I give her. Is it bad for the puppies if I give her dairy products?

GroovyGroomer777

I would love to help you but I am really inexperienced in this department.

The chicken is great and the egg is good in moderation. Is there any way you can get her some good high protein canned food? She may be more likely to eat that if she is refusing her kibble. I don't know if it is bad for the puppies if she eats dairy, probably not very harmful, but not exactly what they need.

Wish I could help you more. Maybe someone who has had a pregnant dog before will speak up.

animalcraker

Hrmm seems like I've heard this exact same situation before, maybe it was on another forum. How did she do with the last litter? Typicaly, assuming there aren't any complications, things will go the same or better then before. However, as I'm sure you're aware, breeding can be very dangerous even deadly. You're going to have t convince your parents to bring her in to the vet. Your mom wouldn't have children without going to the doctor, so why would she think the dog should have pups without going to the vet? At the very least they could have an ultrasound done to help determine if she is pregnant and how many pups to expect. At the vet hospital I work for it's $42 for a pregnancy ultrasound to be done. There's also lots of books on breeding and raising puppies, you may want to buy one and start reading asap.

Snowflakes Falling

I finally convinced my parents, the catch is that I have to pay for it myself. Would $400 sound about enough to not only check if she's pregnant but to continue appointments if she turns out to be pregnant? I won't abort. So, I'm going to try to schedule an appointment for tomorrow.

animalcracker, when you heard a similar scenario, maybe you were thinking of my little sister? I think she posted on another forum, but I'm not sure.

GroovyGroomer777, thanks for helping me out as well!