After 65 days and what I thought was a bitch in whelp, has turned out to be a full blown phantom pregnancy. I feel sooooo disapointed. The vet scanned her this morning and confirmed that there were no puppies. Does anybody know what causes phantom pregnancies? I think we may try again next season. What are the chances of this happening again?. My bitch is 2 years old and was a maiden bitch. She showed all the signs of pregnancy and now the vet has told us that we need to get her back into shape! She seems quite depressed at the moment, whats the best way of dealing with this? Will she come through it quickly or will she stay like this for a while? Any advice appreciated.

Hi! I'm sorry for you..it happened to one of my girls last spring too..it's very frustating and sad. Do you have the Book of the Bitch? It has good information on phantom pregnancies, which are not uncommon in females who haven't been spayed, because of some hormones acting after their season. Good luck in your search for info.

Hi I know what your,e going through, I had a bitch whelp a litter in April and the other female who comes into season the same time as her developed a phantom and this carried on all the time the pups were here, she was very ill and annorexic its a nightmare shes a gsd and dropped weight to 24kg which is nothing, I had to force feed her its awful watching them like this my vet gave Jordan galastop which did dry her milk but did little else I think a lot of her trouble was that there were pups around at this time, she had a season in July and upto now seems fine, I also got a product called stroppy bitch from bonnygate products, which did seem to help also tried homepoathic remedies, my advice is to get her out and about more to take her mind of this, take any toys she may have of her so she cant try and nurse them, its a nightmare whilst she,s like this but it does get better in time HONEST

Janines

Hi, sorry to hear that your girl had a phantom, mine has too. I was expecting pups last week as she was showing all the signs, but here we are day 70 and nothing lol just typical, i was really excited and spent a fortune getting a box and all the bits and pieces ready!! oh well, maybe we can both try again next season and hopefully we'll both be on hear asking for advice on how to stop the puppies nipping at our ankles!! lol

Take care x

So sorry to hear of your problems.One of my bitches had one last year and I found Homeopathic remedies helpful.Try the following
Pulsatilla 15C Valuable in reducing the symptoms of phantom pregnancy, but also for gingivitis and other mouth and throat problems.
Suggested Dosage: Give one pill every two hours for first 12 hours, then reduce to one pill four times daily until symptoms reduce.

My girl is having a phantom , but i can only assume its a mild one ( if they exhist!!) as she has no milk as yet.
Shes only ten months and this has followed her first season ( which we were letting her have before spaying three months after ) .
She has been great , but a little down.We havent noticed her nesting , but she's become VERY protective of my four year old daughter!
Her teats are just starting to feel a bit lumpy , i shall take her up to the vet tomorow , could this be a sign the milk is coming ? or something else ?
There isnt any chance she is in whelp so we'l just ride this through!
Bless them!

Poor poppet! Best thing, if you can, is to keep her active, jolly her along, and take her for lots of interesting (not necessarily long) walks so she doesn't get a chance to think. I've found that usually works fine. Good luck.
:)

Do try the Pulsatilla, it will almost certainly work and can do no harm. There are no nasty side effects with these remedies. Keep her busy with lots of exercise and games. I would reduce the protein in her diet - maybe replace half her ration with plain boiled rice until her symptoms subside.

You won't belive it but the same bitch has just gone into another phantom again,just a little over a year since the last.I don't think it helps that her sibling is in the family way either.Oh !well it's back to the Pulsitilla again.

Hi, thanks for all your advice. My bitch seems to be coming out of this phase ok now. She's nearly back to normal. She did'nt produce any milk so this probably helped. It's amazing how the weight fell off, just like someone pricked her with a pin. The whole business of phantom preganancies amazes me!!! On the day that she was due to whelp she even started excessively panting for about 45 minutes and we thought "this is it". Not to worry, better luck next time. :)