Phantom litter, so unhappy

[Sunrisemouse]

We are at the start of a phantom litter, woke up to her nursing her 'pups' next to me this morning. We have taken toys away and plan on lots of training and exercise to tire her out. Any other things we can do?

She is almost 2 years old and has huge hormonal swings, so we plan on spaying her in June, providing this clears up in time. We are having lots of worry mouthing, pacing, crying, and trying to build a den outside. Last time, she also resource-guarded around our other dog, so we did get the medication. Not done that yet this time, but it is an option.

This was my view this morning.

Oh, I'm so sorry. It's incredibly distressing watching your dog go through this. You're doing all the right things. The only other thin I would say is i'd consider medication if you needed it last time, if only to ease her discomfort - remember, evening tiring her out won't get rid of her urge to nurse and mother.

I know you've said you'll get her spayed, so I won't comment on that other than to say please do get her done soon.

Not relevant at all, but she is beautiful.

@LandSharksAnonymous thank you. She was already booked in to have the spay pre op at the beginning of June with a view to getting it done the week after. This is her in a much happier mood.

Any chance you can see if any local rescues/vets have any tiny pups in need of foster, or kittens even?

@Sunrisemouse You're going to be sick of me saying this...but she is absolutely beautiful - both in terms of actual appearance but also how bright her eyes are and how silky her fur looks. 😍Love seeing dogs with bright eyes and luscious fur - always a mark of how well taken care of they are

It's also worth looking at the medication to ensure you have a window of opportunity to spay. My youngest was booked in for 14 weeks post season, but had milk present at her pre-op (she only had very mild nesting/digging behavior, no pretend pups) so we had to delay. Then timings meant she was over the 17 weeks from season they like to spay between.

It might be worth trying some raspberry leaf. I used a tincture from Fenland Forager and it was brilliant.

That’s interesting - I had one that went past the 17 weeks due to a phantom pregnancy and the vet said it wasn’t a problem because the whole cycle was delayed. I can’t remember how many weeks later it was.

My pup was spayed post 17 weeks in the end, but when we were rearranging we were warned there was a risk it wouldn't be possible.