my staffie is producing milk but certain she is not pregnant

hey ther we ave a 22month old bitch that we rescued back in january, she has been to the vets for boosters chip etc, i noticed this morning that she has started to produce milk for no reason at all she finished her season in mid july and were certain that she is not pregnant, but shee does seem to be paying a lot more attention to male dogs now is this normal?? sum people have told us that it may be a fantom pregnancy but again were not sure and dont want to waste money at the vets if it just that, if any one can help us out on this matter it would be great

thanks

Are you sure that she has not been with a dog and could possibly be having pups if not it is most certinly a phantom and she should get over it okay just give her extra special attention . If your not thinking of her having a litter it may be best to have her neutered some bitches pine for pups its so sad

as far as we no she hasnt, a family member did have her for a week whilst we were on honeymoon in july, but that was months ago this is whats confusing us, she did go to the vets the other week but they didnt say anything about her being pregnant, we do want her to have a litter but not just yet

I am suprised she hadn't been neutered before you got her, but amazing on rescuing

I haven't a clue on the milk but I would advise not to breed and have her the op being a rescue.

Welcome to the forum Xx

I think its nine weeks for the pregnancy and sometimes they carry pups right up into the ribs so start calculating the dates and seamen can live inside for up to 10 days and they dont need to tie when mating a quick on off will produce pupies. Its one or the other is she looking around making a bed nesting keep a close eye on her

i got her from the rspca before they took her to the kennals, she was being mistreated where she was and badly beaten, he was going to put her down so i took her off his hands n brought her home in to a lovvin family, she has settled in really well and the kids love her, yeah she is a pain from time to time but which dog isnt, as for her producing milk its a mystery to us, we took her to the vets just after we got her to have the once over and was told she hasnt had pups and was around 18 months months old, now were sure shee hasnt been with any dogs as were very careful with her, especially during her season which ended round abouts end of july??

she has become veryy soppy tho always wanting attention like a baby would do, but thanks gem il keep a close eye on her and see what pops up lol

Well its a phantom dont worry but she may think/hope that shes having pups and show all the signs but she will be okay just help her through it she may be a little upset at times

Yep definitely a phantom !!! Do not express milk or press on her mamary glands as you will stimulate more milk production.. Evening Primrose oil is a good supplement and helps with the hormones...
Some bitches' phantoms can last weeks, they will act different and some will be more clingy, some more depressed, some more snappy...
Being a rescue I would get her spayed...

shaun-26 wrote: we do want her to have a litter but not just yet

Why????


Sounds like a phantom pregnancy. she will be moody,clingy etc. Please if she is not KC registered, then she is not a pure bred so please do not breed from her, there are simply too many unwanted staffy crosses being put to sleep in shelters everyday.
The best thing you can do for her is get her spayed atleast 3 months after her last season,pups (which your girl is. tend to continue having phantom pregnancy more so than an adult dog), there are so many health benifits and I'm sorry but if you are asking a question like this then you should not be a breeder, Pups take alot out of their mother and they take a lot of hard work and money.
If your bitch will not look after her litter are you prepared to take over the duties from feeding every two hours, to cleaning and stimulating bowel and bladder movement, fleaing/worming/keeping the litter together until they are mentally and physically prepared for new homes which is 8 weeks/weaning food? puppy feed formular (if your female will not feed her pups) first vaccination/health tests for typical problems staffys are known for?/ securing and checking loving responsible family homes for roughly 9 pups to live out their lives.
So many things can go wrong especially if you are not aware of her history, breed/genes/hereditary conditions?

shaun-26 wrote:as far as we no she hasnt, a family member did have her for a week whilst we were on honeymoon in july, but that was months ago this is whats confusing us, she did go to the vets the other week but they didnt say anything about her being pregnant, we do want her to have a litter but not just yet

If she hasn't been with a dog, then it sounds like a phantom. She should be fine, and as long as she isn't in physical discomfort from the milk she shouldn't need the vet. HOWEVER, if the milk hangs around she could get milk fever (an infection of the mammary glands) and will need antibiotics.

Please don't breed from her. You have no idea of her history or whether she has any hereditary health problems, and you could be adding to the amount of unwanted dogs that are around right now.

thanks for all your comments we will keep a close eye on her over the next few weeks, even tho we dont know her history, the rspca and our local vets are 100% certain she is pure breed, and are willing to do dna checks to find her parents

Whether she is 100% staff or not really isn't the point. Neither she or her parents (I'm willing to bet) have been health tested. I'm also willing to bet that you probably wouldn't do those health tests yourself before mating her! If I'm wrong I apologise.

There are far too many pups being bred just because an owner "would like her to have 1 litter". That is no reason to breed.

I agree with Caryll. There are plenty of Staffords in the world as it is. If you don't know her history, you don't know what genetic diseases she could have and unless you are going have her health tested and mate her to a health tested stud, you should not breed her.

shaun-26 wrote:thanks for all your comments we will keep a close eye on her over the next few weeks, even tho we dont know her history, the rspca and our local vets are 100% certain she is pure breed, and are willing to do dna checks to find her parents

I'm sorry but if you had to ask this particular question then you have not done your research before getting a dog/bitch, you state in your question you don't want to waste money if there is nothing "wrong" wasting money would be buying cigerettes, getting your dog checked by a professional is not wasting money,
Welping mothers and their litters are alot of hard work and take alot of money (which you did not want to waste)so why waste it on puppies if something goes wrong can you afford the hundreds possibly thousands it would take for say your female to have an operation if her uterus becomes infected after birth? or to get pups out of her that she can not deliver?
Something goes wrong with the pups as well, they may need to spends a few nights in the vet clinic if they are too weak, can you afford that? do you want to afford that?

When my Cassie got pregnant the one thing i was sure of at the time is that i had the money, I bought one of the best vet checked welping kits around setting me back £150.
the extra dog food for my bitch including puppy food and suppliments (just incase)
and so much more
It set me back more than £1000 with health checks on pups/mother/vaccinations for pups/flea/worming/microchipping/basic food and hygein products.

RSPCA/your Vets....??? Alot of questions i'd like to ask them, If your dog of any breed is not KC registered then somewhere down the line whether its their great grand father or great great grandmother there is mutt in there simple as. There are thousands of staff and staffy cross put down each day because of backyard breeding and it needs to stop DNA testing is bull*. For the sake of your bitch's health and well being get her spayed asap and enjoy her as a family member not a breeding machine. there are no health physical or mental benifits of her having a litter.

What i ment by wasting money is takin her to the vets for no reason, and just to set the record straight she was health checked the day after we picked her up along with boosters and micro chip, as we knew nothing about her, we are not breeders tia is our first staff, and miss rouge my both myself and my wife work yes we could easily afford the vets bills, i just see it pointless spending out money when you dont have to.

please don't breed off her, i really don't understand why you would want to?it doesn't benefit her in anyway and it certainly won't benefit your pocket, any reputable breeder will tell you after having a litter of puppies they are actually worse off...are you willing to go and home check all the homes your pups will be going to and if 6 months down the line one of the puppies suddenly develops heart problems or something else are you willing to take the puppy back and refund the owner its money...there are sooooo many unwanted dogs waiting in kennels at the minute why would you want to add to that?!

shaun-26 wrote: and just to set the record straight she was health checked the day after we picked her up along with boosters and micro chip,

That's not the health checks I mean at all! I mean the DNA checks that discover if she has any of the hereditary diseases that staffords rae prone to have, before mating her! For all you know she could be a carrier of one or more genetic disorders that could then be passed on to pups.

ok i get the message about breeding but i never said i was i only asked about her poroducing milk, as it turns out she is not pregnant and it is just a phantom one of our neighbours works in our local rescue center and had a look at her for us

shaun-26 wrote:ok i get the message about breeding but i never said i was i only asked about her poroducing milk, as it turns out she is not pregnant and it is just a phantom one of our neighbours works in our local rescue center and had a look at her for us

Let me refresh your memory.............

shaun-26 wrote:as far as we no she hasnt, a family member did have her for a week whilst we were on honeymoon in july, but that was months ago this is whats confusing us, she did go to the vets the other week but they didnt say anything about her being pregnant, we do want her to have a litter but not just yet

That's whu everybody has been talking about the breeding side of it!

DNA tests are not at all accurate at determining breeds. Most can't even identify pure bred dogs. DNA tests are very important when it comes to finding genetic disorders before breeding your dog, though.

I agree with many of the comments on here. Unfortunately you sound like you have very little experience regarding the breeding issues. With this being your first staff, I seriously think that you shouldn't be breeding from her for many reasons. The first being that you are new to the breed and obviously new to the hereditary conditions associated with staffies. By breeding from her, even later on when she is older, you are going to put her health at risk. You have no idea of her history both physically or mentally and this is enough to prevent a sensible person from breeding a dog.

It would be in the best interest to get your bitch spayed both for you and her. As she is experiencing a phantom pregnancy at such a young age it is highly likely she will continue with phantom pregnancies after each season. This isn't fair on her to have to go through. Mentally she will be feeling confused and physically it could affect her and cause her discomfort which in my opinion can be prevented.

Unfortunately there are thousands of staffies and staffie crosses in the rescue centres looking for homes. And breeding from unregistered bitches is one of the reasons. Your pups, should you decide to go ahead, will be taking the homes of those which could go to other dogs in need. And with regards to DNA testing there is no certainty whether this actually does work as the breeds are so closely related. The only way to tell a "pure bred" staff is if they are KC registered, which yours isn't.

In my opinion it is your decison to go ahead and breed from her, but you should seriously think about the risks involved to the health of your bitch.

I say this because our bitch which we acquired 5 weeks ago, at the age of 15 months old it looks like she has already had a litter, which from the previous owners I wouldn't be surprised about. She has also got a scar on her abdomen, which isn't a spaying scar as she was in season the day we had her. My thoughts on this are that she has possibly had a caesarean as a consequence of her possible pregnancy. So things can and do go wrong and unless you are a reputable breeder with registerd dogs why would you want to risk the health of your bitch and her pups.

shaun-26 wrote:as it turns out she is not pregnant and it is just a phantom one of our neighbours works in our local rescue center and had a look at her for us

Is you neighbour a vet?

Breeding always hits a nerve

It does, but mainly because so many people do it on a whim - you hear it all the time....."I want her to have one litter" or "She won't feel fulfilled unless she has a litter" or "I want to see what pups from her will look like" etc, etc.

I'm not, as you know, an exponent of neutering, but there are times when it is absolutely necessary in order to stop indiscriminate breeding.

Caryll wrote:It does, but mainly because so many people do it on a whim - you hear it all the time....."I want her to have one litter" or "She won't feel fulfilled unless she has a litter" or "I want to see what pups from her will look like" etc, etc.

I'm not, as you know, an exponent of neutering, but there are times when it is absolutely necessary in order to stop indiscriminate breeding.

I think this definitely counts as one of those times.

Please do not breed your dog if you care about her and her health and well being and the future of staffs in general. I really do think the best thing you can do is have her spayed and enjoy her as your pet, not as a breeding machine or money maker.

Sounds like a phantom pregnancy to me.Even us humans can have these

I agree with Karen about getting her spayed to prevent future phantom pregnancies. Phantom pregnancies are very hard on the dog both physically and emotionally.

I would get her spayed the poor little dog carnt go through this after each season its messing with her head

It's funny because you hear so many things about desexing an animal. It's a hot topic! As I have said, I am very new to owning a dog, however, we have no interest in using him as a stud dog, getting another dog to breed him with and we aren't going to be using him as a show dog. He is a member of our family that we love to bits and that's all we expect from him. However, what we have is all of his papers to demonstrate his pedigree, he has had all the relevant health checks (hips, eyes etc... which we also have documentation for) before we purchased him and he was also registered with the dog breeding association under a pedigree name. We were also selected for our puppy. There is obviously a lot of effort, time, money and love that goes into breeding and unless it's done properly all animal shelters and pounds are going to be inundated with unwanted animals which is really sad. I agree with everything that has been said on here and I do think you need to take her into the vet, not just to have her checked out but to also have a good chat with the vet about what they believe would also be the best thing for Tia Good luck!

Oh, and well done on rescuing your dog! We got our cat from the R.S.P.C.A and I found it difficult going in there knowing a lot of the animals there may never have found homes.