Ihave a 5yr old bitch who has had 3 phantom pregnancies .I have been to vets and had her checked out thoroughly . She had one litter of pups when she was 3 yrs.she had a long stressful labour over 2 days,and needed lots of care and attention .I had to sleep in the spare room with her and put the pups onto her to feed ,and do all the things that come with raising pups yourself.I rarely let a bitch have 2 litters mostly because I hate parting with the pups,but I also did not fancy doing all that again.In view of what was happening I mated her when she came in season.She had another phantom .Can anyone come up with any answers? mari

The only way to stop phantom pregancies is to spay. There are remedies that can limit the symptoms but not all of them and not necessarily totally. However, if you are going to have a bitch spayed make sure she is completely over her phantom otherwise she will be in a perpetual state of phantom pregnancy.

Hi marie-how are you?My bitch has had 3 seasons so far, the first two she had phantoms which is a pain in the neck when they are show dogs.So what i did was when she came out of season for the third time i took all her play toys away cut her food down slightly and increased her walks.This did the trick.You have to no your dogs cycle to get it right.Some bitchs are that way inclined even after a litter of pups. Give it a try its "slightly" cheaper then a vets bill to have her spayed and its great exercise for you.Any thing these days is cheaper then a vets bill.Now come on marie lets see 20 laps of the local park ( none stop ).

Hi there Billy we will have to stop meeting like this .I will most certainly try your way
Iwould only consider spaying if my dog was in danger. but thanks to bec for the interest .Iam as we speak waiting for a phone call from a friend for a number to ring an old gentleman, who is supposed to know how to put a stop to this .I will most certainly share it with you all if I am sucessful.Ihope its not whisky ,oomph.only joking mari

HI, As well as following Billy's advice it may be worth contacting www.ainsworths.com (or .co.uk-sorry cant remember which) to see if they could suggest a homeopathic remedy for phantoms- if you are not going to spay. I think the remedy would be Sepia or possibly Pulsatilla, but it would be best to check with them, it certainly wont do her any harm and may work like "magic". If you have not used homeopathic remedies before ask their advice on how to give them, there are certain "rules" like never handling the tablets, dont give 1/2 an hour either side of meals etc etc. Also its much easier to crush them betwen two spoons and put the powder on the tongue, they are not supposed to be swallowed. Do give Ainsworths a try if you haven't "been down the homeopathic road". Keep in touch with them through the treatment as sometimes the remedy or potency needs changing, depending on the results the original remedy gives.

It is very inexpensive compared to vets treatment, and a bottle costing £4.50 could last for years!! Good luck. I had a Lab once who had phantoms every time she wasn't mated and although she didn't have " pretend babies" but she would demolish- overnight, with no warning, the sofa or armchair she was sleeping on!! You would never believe how much foam is in a sofa til you have seen it in bits all over the floor!!! Little darlings aren't they!! :-)

Thank you so much Iwill give it a go nothing to lose ..mari

what about having injections to stop her seasons, this would probably stop the phantoms too

the old man I told you about , gave me this advice .to give her feeds of herrings 3 or 4 times a week for 2 wks. this is supposed to bring a bitch into season .and then mate .Iwill give the fish to her anyway . as it will be good for her.stranger things have happened Isuppose. mari

Hi
Our Chihuahua went into season about 9 weeks ago. She was mated and we believed her to be pregnat. Her stomach and mammory got big and she slowed down and rested alot. All of a sudden her stomach is small but she has milk in her teats. We can not find any puppies any where. She is comforting her self with soft toys.
Is it possible to have a phantom pregnancy that last the full term and for the dog to also actually get milk?.

i think most phantoms get milk, mari ,it couldnt be an infection could it, or are you using the same male each time, if so is he siring well to other bitches,
in our breed an american champion was brought over, he was fabulous, he sired about 3 litters, and then started to miss 3 bitches in a row had nothing, id been down to use him ,on a bitch that had had pups before, she never had phantoms, so when she started showing signs of pregnancy i was thrilled, however she got to around 5 weeks and everything just seemed to vanish, it wasn't for a while that we found out the male was sterile, hed picked up an infection from a bitch he 'd mated, i tyhink thats what had happened to my bitch, i believe she was pregnant but whatever the infection was the male had ,lost her the pups, the sad part of this was that the owners of the male never got to use him on any of their bitches before he became sterile,

getting back to phantoms they say its natures way of in the wild only the alpha bitch would mate ,and the other bitches came into milk as a safe guard. :(

Its so wierd, we are not breeders or anything like that. This dog was a give away. We got her about 6 months ago. She actually went for the full 9 weeks, then just over night everything vanised. We thought maybe she had the pup /s over night and maybe they were still born and she has rejected them and hidden them somewhere and is substituting with the soft toys. We have turned the house upside down, brought over another dog to sniff around, but we cant find anything. If she did have them they would be so small being a chihuahua.
Its a complete mystery. To top it off, in our search we have found a very small, what looks to be a puppy poo. But there is no sign of any birthing evidence.
Is there any sure fire way of finding out if she has given birth or if it was a phantom for nine weeks??

i think you can put your mind at rest that there wasn't any pups, there would of been signs that the bitch had given birth, they lose colour from behind for a while, she would of probably been panting bed tearing etc, if shes carrying toys its because she wanted pups, so if there'd been any she would of stayed with them ,as for a puppy poo, the bitch has to lick the pups to stimulate them to poo,for around two and a half weeks ,then the little buggers do it themselves--we've just reached that stage, i kept seeing little poo's in my garden beside the hedge, and kept telling my husband something was about ,as the gardens about 99% cat proof i knew it was something different, anyhow i caught it when it set the security light off, it was a hedgehog, of course if the object you found was inside your house that would be unlikely,

My sister-in law had a rough collie who had a phantom just like you have described.She appeared to be pregnent for the full nine weeks even changing shape and producing milk then over night she changed back again.Gillian

Welcome to the forum Feeran :-)

I did not realise the new question was added to an old thread had a look at dizzy's advice and thought I didnt post so went in had a look and realised i had , last november , well since then I had all the necessary things done , she came into season after herrings [truly] vet gave dog and her synulux AB , mated her . was thrilled to see she looked pregnant,would have been due in 2 weeks time. Took her for scan last tuesday, on arrival vet said, jeez mari she has about 19 pups in her , Well he scanned ,and he scanned, could not believe his own eyes ,nothing .swirly water no swimmers, and she is looking slimmer by the day , she will be six in june so thats it , no more pups from her as to my mind six is too old for a bullmastiff to be having pups. I can see how confused Feeran is. it is a shock even to experienced breeders when you realise youve been had :) but as you live you learn , what is it Joan says take the rough with the smooth , thats about it :d