My bitch went to the vet on Monday morning, following a worrying weekend where she wouldn't eat and was obviously feeling nauseous and unwell. She was kept in and they ran some blood/urine tests and had a scan. Anyway, they diagnosed quite a severe phantom pregnancy, as she has fluid in her uterus and is also lactating. She was prescribed a course of antibiotics just to cover against any infection (although bloods fine and showing no other symptoms which might suggest infection) and Galastop, and I am having trouble finding out more about this apart from the contraindications on the leaflet it came with.

So she has been given 2 doses, given in the evening. She had a few bites of her food yesterday, but is obviously feeling more unwell today, is being very quiet and has refused any food at all. She came for a walk this morning, but seemed almost doped up. She seemed happy enough, but I kept her on-lead for most of the walk as she isn't her normal self and there were quite a crowd on the beach running about etc.

What I'm wondering is should I be speaking to the vet, or are these symptoms normal with this medication? It does say on the leaflet this can happen the first couple of days, so I'm quite prepared to soldier on and hope she shows signs of improvement in the next couple of days.

I had the discussion with the vet about having a litter later in the year with her on her next season, and afterwards to get her spayed, as it doesn't seem very fair that she should be going through this after her seasons. I'm desperate for one of her pups to stay with us, but would never put her health under threat to achieve this. The vet really didn't see her having a litter as a problem, but suggested the spay operation would be better sooner than later.

So any experiences you have had with phantoms would be appreciated. Also the use of the drug! And is there anything I can do to help her in the meantime? Thanks.

Worried about my girl....
Tanya

If you are at all concerned about her then it will put your mind at rest and best for her wellbeing to have her looked at again just to be safe.

We had a litter earlier this year . One of my other bitches saw the litter during her season (never had a phantom before but was in season at the time) went on to have  a phantom earlier this year her behavour was peculiar to say the least plus exessive panting which worried me to the point I took her to see the emergency vet (GRR Locums) who said it was a rash on her belly causing her discomfort ...I wasnt happy with that prognosis so went back to see my own vet, he said she was having a full blown phantom and gave her galastop only to use at my disgression if I thought she needed it and if her symptoms escalated ..which they did so I decided to give it to her and within 2 days she had stopped panting and some of the unusual behaviour ceased.Below is what we did.

Remove her toys if she is using them to cuddle upto , move her bed to another sleeping area , get her out and about and generally keep her busy so she doesnt have time to mope,give a high dose of evening primrose oil.

This last season I bought rasberry leaf tabs for the first day of the season (you give the highest dose) from the first day and for 12 consecutive weeks... plus high dose of a good Evening primrose oil , watch the food intake as they can tend to put weight on. I am now 7 wks post my girls 2nd season  this year and we have no signs at all she is slim fit happy playful etc etc...

HTH

Roni

Thanks for the advice Roni

I don't have any Evening Primrose Oil or Rasberry Leaf, but I'll definitely think about it in the future, so good advice there. As we're planning a litter with her next season, I presume those two things are not really recommended for a bitch in whelp? I've heard about Rasberry leaf being good for problem whelpers but she whelped no problems at all with her first litter.

She has been digging her bed, but since the medication I haven't seen her doing this, although I think I will speak to the vet re her inappetite, also I haven't seen her drinking today... hmmm!

it's not nice seeing her like this, I just want my lovely girl back...:)

Thaks again
Tanya

you can give her evening primrose oil now I give it everyday to all my bitches .
I wouldnt worry about her not eating but make sure she is getting fluids so put some goats milk in her water and offer it to her she may take it that way.
You could also put some glucose in her drinking water for a bit of energy with not eating much.

lots of walks and play complete change of routine will get her through it.

R~ 

I had a chat with the vet this afternoon and he suggested I give her some tlc and only take her out if she wants. He said to take her back to them if I'm still worried, but to continue with the medication...

So she wanted to go out for her walk tonight (with my other dog) and I prepared her some rice and chicken (which I added a little dry bread with the Galastop soaked in) and she ate the lot! Feel much happier now she's eaten as hopefully this will make her feel a little better.

Will keep my fingers crossed that she will feel better tomorrow. I'll get some evening primrose oil tomorrow and start giving her that, so thanks for the suggestion.