My 3 year old Westie bitch seems to be having a phantom pregnancy, as far as I know she has had no contact with a male dog. I have read about phantom pregnacies but they all seem to occurr during, or straight after the bitch's heat, my dog has not been on heat for months. She is behaving very stangley and has 'adopted' a small soft toy, which she is constantly licking and trying to nurse. All day she hides away in her crate with the 'puppy', and gets very concerned if someone tries to touch it. I dont really know what to do, she seems in quite alot of distress. Would it be wise to take the 'puppy' away from her or will this 'pregnancy' go away by itself?

Hi

The phantom will eventually go away but itself but some bitches do seem to suffer them badly AND at any time irrespective of the accepted length of pregnancy.

I would suggest you take her toy away, and keep her as occupied as possible -walk in different places, try to find different games or tricks to teach her, maybe even move the position of her bed for a while.  Basically change as much as possible to give her something else to think about for a while

HTH

Hi Jenny. :)

Phantoms usually occur around the time the pups would have been due i.e. 9 weeks after she would have been mated. She sounds very much like she's having a phantom. The best thing to do is take the soft toy away and give her lots of excercise and playtime with non-cuddly toys to distract her. Leaving the "baby" with her will only prolong her phantom.

Kath.

a freind of mine has a gsd and she is going through her second phantom, would vets recommend to spay her as she has had two.

Cordelia

It is quite normal for bitches to have a phantom after EVERY season - it is part of their cycle.  Some bitches have no visible symptoms whatsoever but others have milk, swelling belly and even labour

Thank you for your advice. :)
At the time I believe the phantom pregnancy started,which was Fri 26 Dec, we were staying with friends who also have a 2 yr old female Westie, (they both get along very well), could this perhaps have anything to do with it? I noticed strange behaiavour from Friday, but didnt realise that she was carrying a toy around with her untill Tues 30th when we were about to leave. The child to whom the toy belongs could not get it back because she would snap at him, so we had to let her take it home.  I tryed to take the toy from her but she looks lost and wont settle at all, she is shaking and whining, it is very distressing more her and the rest of the family. Poor thing. Are you sure this behaiviour will go away if we give her lots of attention and distractions. She hasn't been out of her crate all day, not even to eat or drink, im worried.

They certainly suffer when they have a bad phantom like this, poor things. :(

Definitely remove the toy immediately (and anything else she may try to replace it with), and keep her busy. Don't let her brood - get her out of her crate and take her for long walks. You will have to be very firm and unsympathetic with her to get her out of this as quickly as possible, which is better for her as well as you. Cruel to be kind I'm afraid.

Be aware that she may smell attractive to male dogs, so although she won't get pregnant, they may try to mount her.

I'm not certain but I would think the fact she started when you were staying with friends is just coincidence. It's definately better to remove any toy she tries to nurse and don't let her get away with snapping at anyone. Make her get out of her crate and give her boisterous play and excercise. Be bright and cheerful with her too as they do pick up our emotions. Honestly, she'll come out of it quicker than moping around. :)

Kath. :)

It sounds like its a phantom pregnancy but if you're worried then maybe you should ring the vet..if not for anything else then just to put your mind at ease. Tey might give her tablets to make her hungry and then at least she's be eating..