My 3 year old bitch tied with a male in September. Since then there have been some symptoms which made me think she might be pregnant. She became very clingy, her energy levels decreased and around 10 days ago she had a little clear discharge (though not mucus and more watery) I took her to the vet last week after she went off her food and  I woke to find some yellow coloured  substance on the floor and a couple of brown coloured drops elsewhere on the floor. He scanned her and said she is not pregnant, there is no fluid in the uterus and could see no sign of an infection. (She would have been around day 30 at that point and would be day 38 now) He said the yellow I saw was likely bile/vomit and gave her an anti sickness injection. She is still behaving the same, now her coat looks fluffier than usual and her behaviour towards other dogs has changed (she normally does not like females but is being affectionate with my sisters bitch at the moment, licking her etc. I don’t think she’s pregnant based on the scan and that she doesn’t look pregnant to me. Her stomach isn’t swollen or anything like that and I don’t know if her nipples are different as they’ve always been fairly prominent and black. Could this be a phantom or is there some other explanation for this?

What did your vet say about the possibility of a phantom?

All bitches go through the same hormonal changes whether mated or not, except the unmated bitches hormone levels don't drop off suddenly at the time they would have whelped, but stay elevated.

That is one suspected reason for higher risk likelihood of Pyometra.

So all bitches have a Phantom to some extent, as nature allows for all the bitches in the pack to be able to feed the cubs, as all the bitches tend to synchronise their cycles.

This is also why there is no reliable hormone test for canine pregnancy.

There is a Relaxin test, but by the time that one works you can detect pregnancy by other means, and it is not very reliable.

Thanks, so you think maybe it’s just hormonal changes and no reason to be concerned about her? I’m keeping my eye on her. She’s still eating and drinking fine.

Yes, unless she is unwell, or has a foul smelling discharge.

Should she develop excessive milk then a drug called Galastop can be given.

Discourage nesting and moping.

Increase excersise, and take away comfort objects.

Thanks I was becoming a little worried incase it was symptoms of an illness but like I said they couldn’t find anything indicating she was unwell. There is no fouls smelling discharge at all. She hasn’t been nesting. She has been moping a little and clingy. I take her out on walks or try to encourage play when she’s like that.

Jean the vet said nothing about it. It was an emergency vet and not her usual guy. He was fairly young maybe mid 20s and was even quite reluctant to see her at first because he said he had emergency surgeries and he was the only vet on call that day. He initially told me to monitor her until the morning and call back unless she developed any more symptoms. I was very insistent that she be seen though so he agreed. He just said he scanned her and that he couldn’t see anything to indicate pregnancy, fluid or infection. I spoke to my regular vet and he said to bring her in next week but again to call if the situation or symptoms changed.