My chihuahuas tied on March 30th and I am wondering if my bitch is pregnant.She is going to the vet in one week but I am excited and thougt maybe some of you could offer advice.My girl is pretty small,a little over 3 lbs and so is my male.She has swollen mammary glands (which she has never had) but that is about it.She would only be at 24 days but no belly,she is very thin and does not eat to much.Provided she is expecting I understand chihuahuas have small liters of 1 or 2 pups,when do you think I will notice a belly?I have read that some dogs stay slender their entire prgnancy:)I have also read about phantom pregnancy,this is her 3rd heat cycle.What do you think?Thanks

It is very difficult to determine if a bitch is pregnant, even the vets struggle to get it right! Some vets will offer a scan but again you can get false negatives, due to the size of the fetus and it location in either of the uterine hornes.
Often with small litters there is enough room in the bitches frame to absorbe the growing litter without any external expansion... in other cases the bitch can appear to expand overnight!
Food wise the bitch will not require any extra nurishment yet... probably start requiring more food in the last 3 weeks.
To be honest only time will tell.... we have our bitches scanned by a lady who specialises in scanning animals and has been very accurate with her opinions in the past usually at about 5 weeks but that is a whole new thread that you can follow!

Regards Al

Thanks Al, I will keep you posted.I keep looking at her stomach thinking she is going to suddenly look plump.She does look different,I must say.Before she just had nipples and now the whole area around the nipples are swollen and appear to look slightly pinker.Oh well, I will see if the vet has any idea next week.Thanks again,I am always ready for advice:) Melanie