False Pregnancy – What you should know
All bitches have a false pregnancy every time they cycle. Bitches have what is known as an obligatory dioestrus period. This means their progesterone level remains high for nine weeks whether they are pregnant or not.
All other domestic species have some sort of maternal recognition of pregnancy. This means that when the mother is pregnant, the developing embryo and/or foetus will produce some sort of signal to tell the mother she is pregnant and not to cycle again. Dogs do not have this function.
Most bitches when they are not pregnant will still produce milk at the end of the nine-week progesterone phase of their cycle. This is believed to be an evolutionary process which has developed due to dogs being a pack animal. When bitches are housed together they will cycle together. So this means in the wild that some bitches will become pregnant and some will not. However, when the pregnant bitches whelp, the non-pregnant bitches will finish their progesterone phase as well and their progesterone will drop as well, in turn their prolactin levels will rise resulting in stimulation for milk production. This means the non-pregnant bitches will produce milk and are able to help supplementary feed the puppies from their previously pregnant counterparts. It’s quite smart really, as there are no milk formulas to feed puppies with in the wild!
Some bitches will suffer terribly from false pregnancy, mothering toys, producing excessive milk and in some cases they will get mastitis. We are able to treat and manage this type of situation via a consultation.
Desexing a bitch will prevent false pregnancies from occurring, however care must be taken to avoid desexing a bitch in certain times of her cycle which could then cause milk production to occur. For this reason, it is imperative to seek expert reproduction advise on when to desex your bitch.
