dogs pregnant

[Kuachui]

Hey all my cousin wants me to post here to ask a question, she doesnt know what to do.

So shes just bought an older dog, lovely female Golden Retriever but shes just taken her to the vets to have a check up and they say shes pregnant 😂😂 and it looks like she may have quite a few puppies, Friend is trying to prepare but doesnt know how she is going to afford getting them all vaccinated, wormed, flead and chipped etc..

Shes done her research online and she seems to be getting a good handle on the labour etc but she is freaking out that this will cost hundreds or thousands , she has about £500 saved up that she will put towards it but they think her dog may have at least 7 puppies 🤔

She hasnt got great credit and one of her local vets is only offering 10% off if the dog does have 6 or more puppies.

What are her Options

By the way before anyone mentions it yes i say friend as shes my friend but shes also my cousin, We are also neighbours 😂

Can she get in touch with a rescue to see of they can help?

Presume the seller knew there was a chance she was pregnant - has she spoken to them?

Why do many crying laughing emojis? This isn’t a funny situation. If she cannot afford the proper welfare of the animals so should get in touch with reduces to surrender the dog. If the dog has complications during the pregnancy it could cost her thousands to save the dog.

Your cousin can surrender the dog to a rescue. Or she can find a vet which will offer a payment plan and let her pay back the bills over several months.

This is probably why her previous owner sold her on tbh: older dog so greater risk of complications, puppies will probably turn out to be mongrels fathered by some random from the park so not worth £££ / the hassle of raising.

If I were her I would be contacting a rescue and talking about the situation.

Best case scenario - the rescue will be able to take the dog into foster care and allow her to whelp there, vet all the prospective puppy owners and rehome them.

Given some luck - and under the circumstances - they may allow her to take the mother dog back afterwards, but that would be a topic for discussion.

Your friend doesn't have the resources available for the whelping (what if something goes wrong and she needs an emergency c-section?) or the care of the puppies - which will require her to take significant time off work - in addition to the cost of things like microchips. It's no good assuming that the sale of the puppies will cover these costs - it's not unheard of for an entire litter to die despite expensive medical intervention during the birth. The value of puppies of an unknown cross in this situation is also not high.

Yes he just said oh well her responsibility now, Vet has said that the dog should be fine as Doggy is 5 years old and healthy so hopefully all is okay. She is contacting some rescues, its a shame as she does love her but think thats best as at least they will find good homes for the pups

@undertonesofcake Thank You, Yeah she will definitely ask about maybe getting help from the rescue to have the pups and rehome them but maybe get dog back and see what they say

How far along is the pregnancy? Termination might be the best option rather than getting rid of the dog and bringing yet more unwanted puppies into the world.

If everything goes well it will cost hundreds to do properly. If something goes wrong with labour it could cost thousands.
My (meticulously health tested, show winning) dog currently has a planned litter. It’s costing £8 per day just for feeding her. This will double by the time the pups are weaned at 5-6 weeks until they leave at 8-10 weeks.
Worming every two weeks from two weeks old, first jab, microchipping, and a small contingency fund in case of a minor puppy health problem I allow £100 per pup. Plus £17 for KC registration but that won’t apply here.

I am experienced with whelping, however that doesn’t help you at all if there is a real problem, it only lets you know there is a problem and you have to go to the vet.
Whelping inevitably happens at night, the lowest intervention would be an oxytocin injection to speed up contractions. We were in the car on the way to the vets at 11pm about to spend £400 on this as labour wasn’t progressing with the first pup, when she had it on the backseat of the car.
Luckily we had cord clamps, scissors, iodine, towels in the car in case but it was still not great being a midwife in the pitch black on the backseat.
You also really need a second person willing to be with you so you’re not in the position of driving while trying to look after the bitch.
An out of hours c-section can be £2K.
To be safe and to be able to make choices for the good of the bitch and puppies not dependant on finance you need access to £2.5-£3K, even if it’s on a credit card.
It is a huge responsibility looking after them once they’re born too.
I’m 20 weeks pregnant with twins and I’ve spent the last two weeks sleeping on the sofa, making sure the bitch doesn’t lie on the puppies, feeding her every four hours and taking her out for the toilet every night. Weighing the puppies every day and putting the lightest ones on the nipple first so they catch up. I only leave the house when my husband is home to watch them. I might be able to sleep upstairs towards the end of this week when their eyes open. I won’t be leaving them alone in the house at all until they go to their new homes.
People can and do breed and raise puppies without all the above, but you don’t want to be faced with a financial decision in the middle of the night, and hesitating at all can kill some or all of the puppies, your bitch, or both.

Has the Vet said how far along the dog is in her pregnancy your relative may only have a couple of weeks to arrange things if they decide to rehome with a Rescue.
Personally if it where me I would let her whelp at home and keep the pups with mum until 6/8 weeks then get a rescue centre involved as moving a pregnant bitch between homes could really upset her and she could loose her pups.Good luck.

Can she abort them?

@Porcupineintherough

How far along is the pregnancy? Termination might be the best option rather than getting rid of the dog and bringing yet more unwanted puppies into the world.

This ^

Vets don't tend to like doing a late spay so it might cost extra, and the risk is slightly higher. If her vet wont do it he might be able to refer her to another vet who will.

If your friend can't afford to have an older bitch spayed she really shouldn't have bought her. There's always the risk of pyometra in an unspayed older bitch.

I would suggest she starts with looking at a termination spay rather than starting with letting the dog go full term.

@thelnebriati She can afford to get her spayed, she was told the dog was neutured and everything, she took her to the vets to get checked up and finds out she obviously isnt/ is pregnant, i even said she has £500 savings so how could whe not afford spaying?

PDSA? They can be really helpful if you have one nearby.

@wheresmywoolyjumpers Thank You ill Look up our nearest :D

@bollocksthemess Thank You! that was great Information, Shes waiting on a call back from 2 rescues

I do think some of the responses are quite nasty in tone. OPs cousin did not get this bitch pregnant on purpose. It’s a situation that no one could have expected and she’s doing her best to do the best for the dog and puppies, clearly. You can certainly reply with a helpful response without being so belittling in tone.

No experience with dog pregnancies but thousands of experiences with lambing. It can go well but it can also be heartbreakingly sad and/or expensive. Personally, if it was me, I’d take her to a rescue and see if she can work something out between them and herself. Puppies get rehomed in a matter of days, whereas an older dog will take much longer. They might be willing to rehome the puppies but OPs cousin keeps the dog, considering the circumstances. Or I’d shuffle finances around and try and get the funds together to have the puppies. It wouldn’t feel right to me to abort them unless there was a medical issue.

I would question why this dog has been sold in the first place
Breeders are very unlikely to sell a pregnant bitch for no reason as the puppies are worth a lot.
Speak to a breed rescue, there will be people who can guide her through the process and find well vetted homes for them. Someone experienced may offer to take the Bitch as well.
If your cousin isn’t in this for the money that’s what she will do, anything else and unfortunately it suggests otherwise

That's great that she is contacting rescues.
Your cousin will have no idea what breed the father is, and mum presumably isn't health tested or hip scored. With a rescue those pups will have back up for life, if any of the homes are unable to keep them in future.

@pizzacrust thank you, i feel the same, shes a lovely young girl trying to do her best and is definitely against aborting.

she can at most save up 1.5k if needed but would prefer to atleast get a rescue centre to do the rehoming but doesnt mind taking care of the babies beforehand