My pregnant dog isn't eating!!!

[Little_Angel]

Hey,
I have a dog that is almost a year old and she is pregnant, due the first of October. I am starting to get very concerned because she hasn't been eating. If she does eat it is only in the afternoon or at night and only if I hand feed her. She hasn't eaten on her own (that I have seen) since she got pregnant. Most of the day she will lay right next to the treats and will just beg and beg and beg for one. Lately I have been giving her like, 5 treats because she hasn't been eating. I don't know what to do and I am very worried. Please post me a comment!!!

[BC_MoM]

I would take your dog to the vet. How much is she eating during the night? It's very important for pregnant dogs to eat.

[Suki Wingy]

This is esentially a teen pregnancy. Since your dog is in the teen stage of development, it will be a very high risk pregnancy. Dogs should only eat twice a day anyway. Although I have not researched yet essentially what times the pregnant bitch should eat, I'm sure you have because yours is! Is this Angel who is pregnant? Tell me, what will you get out of this litter except a bunch of pet puppies? Was the pregnancy accidental? I think you should see your vet anyway.

[critter crazy]

I would have gotten your dog to a vet before now! If she hasnt eaten at all during her pregnancy, I would be highly concerned, and take her to a doc. She needs all teh food, and nutrition she can get, to properly care for her pups. I hope this was an accidental pregnancy, cause she is way too young to have babies. I hope you are prepared to call a vet, cause she is highly likely to have problems during her prgnancy since she is so young. Do you ahve homes lined up for the pups, if they survive?? I hope you get her seen, and taken care of.

[Giselle]

Kandi the min pin...I think I remember you.

At any rate, judging by your posts, your poor pup is only 11 months old. She is much too young to be pregnant and she is indeed at quite a high risk. Get her to the veterinarian as soon as possible. Pregnant dogs need their nutrients. And PLEASE spay her.

[wolfsoul]

I'm confused. Unless you got another dog, the only female you have under one year is only 7 months old....which is even worse than being just under a year, as it's just over half a year.

It's very common for a pregnant dog to lose her appetite or get morning sickness, but this usually only goes into the third or fourth week.

I would take her to a vet. She is a mix of chihuahua and dachschund -- both breeds are very susceptible to birthing problems and often need C-sections. One reason dogs stop eating is because the puppies press into the organs inside the abdomen, including the stomach, and they cannot comfortably eat. In a chihuahua, this is often a sign that there are too many puppies or the puppies are too big and need to be either aborted or delivered by c-section before they kill the mother. Chihuahuas are one of the more common breeds to deliver by c-section, which is expensive and takes a long time to heal, and can be very dangerous for both mother and pups. I've heard that doxies are prone to having their uterus rupture and so c-sections are common for them too.

I hope this gives whomever bred the dog or didn't watch the dog during her heat a clear enough example of what happens when breeding isn't done correctly. Breeding is very complicated, it isn't risk-free, often times the mother or pups come out of it in poor condition or don't come out of it at all, and it adds to the population problem. The only reason to breed is to better a breed, which clearly isn't being done. And breeding an underage female is very unhealthy for her. She isn't in the proper physical or mental condition to breed. She may reject the litter and the puppies will need to be constantly bottle-fed throughout the day and night, and then they will not inherit any antibodies from the mother and may have problems later in life. The female wouldn't have had any of her health checks done which is very important for both doxies and chis, as they are VERY prone to joint problems. Good luck, I hope this is a lesson to whomever is at fault. A young dog, an untested dog, a mixed breed, etc, should not be having puppies.

[Little_Angel]

Well, to answer all your questions, Angel is the one pregnant. She is 11 months old and will be 1 in October. Her pregnancy was VERY accidental! When she had her 1st heat we put a diaper on her, but the other dogs like to horse around...well, they chewed the diaper off. We didn't have enough money to buy a new one so she didn't wear one, we thought it was harmless, but we didn't think about DUKE!!! A couple of days later my mom found Angel and Duke "Doin' It". We didn't have enough money to spay her, so we had to just go on with her pregnancy. I have heard that if a brother and a sister get pregnant they will have deformed puppies. Is that true?

[BC_MoM]

Yes, it is. And most of them will probably die or have major problems.

My cousins dogs had a litter together: brother and sister. They had 6 puppies and only 1 lived past a week old.

[wolfsoul]

Unfortunaly the problem with siblings having puppies is that you are not only doubling up on the good genes, but the bad ones as well. Because she probably has a questionable pedigree with some health and temperment issues in the background, these are likely to pop up in the puppies.

There was a litter of goldens born here, out of littermates. I believe only one of the puppies wasn't put to sleep. Even at a young age these puppies displayed such strong aggression issues they couldn't even be touched. If one dog in the background had aggression issues, you are basically taking that one dog and doubling it up in the pedigree, so that the liklihood of aggression problems will be stronger. Same goes for health, and unfortunatly you have an unhealthy breed/s, very prone to joint disease, spinal problems, eye disease, etc

[sumbirdy]

Actually not every brother/sister mating results in puppies that have deformities or even severe behavior problems. It really depends on the parents. I know several litters of this kind where all the puppies ended up normal. How do you think they got so many dogs of one breed? The had to interbreed them. I'm not saying that there won't be deformities,health problems, or behavior problems because there could be. But they still have the chance of being normal. As to the eating...you said you didn't have enough money for spaying so you probably don't have the money for a vet visit right? They don't charge for phone calls so just call them to get their suggestions and if it is very serious then maybe you can work out a payment plan. I've had lots of experience with that.

[catnapper]

I'm sorry you are having financial issues, but NOT spaying her has now just brought 100 times the financial burden than spaying her would have. No matter where you live, there are free or reduced cost spay clinics available. Finances is too easy and excuse for not spaying her. Unfortunately you are learning this lesson the hard and expensive way. Hopefully she won't have complications but it sounds as if she already is. Instead of $200 surgery to spay her, this could run into the thousands and you might still lose her.

[critter crazy]

I'm sorry you are having financial issues, but NOT spaying her has now just brought 100 times the financial burden than spaying her would have. No matter where you live, there are free or reduced cost spay clinics available. Finances is too easy and excuse for not spaying her. Unfortunately you are learning this lesson the hard and expensive way. Hopefully she won't have complications but it sounds as if she already is. Instead of $200 surgery to spay her, this could run into the thousands and you might still lose her.

I agree 100%!!! spending the money to spay her would have saved you more money in the long run, and not be as risky! You are in a huge risk, of loosing your dog. If you couldnt afford to pay for these things why did you get the dog?????????????????

[MajesticCollies]

Aarg!!! Victoria I don't even know where to begin. I would listen very carefully to WolfSoul. Sweetie I am not angry with you but after this event is over PLEASE read up on caring and raising dogs. This will probably be a very unwanted, eye opening, Bad experience for you. I wish you all the luck in the world. I'll be praying for your little Angel. I don't want to say what I'm thinking so I won't.

Little_Angel
We didn't have enough money to buy a new one so she didn't wear one, we thought it was harmless, but we didn't think about DUKE!!! A couple of days later my mom found Angel and Duke "Doin' It". We didn't have enough money to spay her, so we had to just go on with her pregnancy.

Just so you know when I have a litter, counting tests and vaccinations and food and special dietary needs for momma and other factors it can cost me up to $1500 to have a litter vs. the expense of a spay. You really need to study caring for your dogs.
Just telling it like it is sweetie. Don't take offense. Life and health with dogs can't be ignored when it comes to thier wellbeing!!!
I'll be thinking and praying for you.

[Jessika]

Guys what is important now is that the dog IS pregnant, you can't change the past. What is important is there is a dog and her puppies who's health is at risk. That should be the main concern here.

After the mom is ok, the puppies have been born, then we can stop worrying about the pregnancy and start teaching or preaching about spay and neutering. We all know that it is MUCH cheaper to spay/neuter than to have to pay for a litter of puppies (if you are responsible and take them for regular vet checkup and visits, that is) but we can't change the past. This post sickens me to no end, but nothing I say will change the fact that she has an expecting mother and that needs to be our main concern here.

Please, take your dog to the vet immediately.

[critter crazy]

I think everyone has told her what to do! take her to the vet and get her checked!! there is nothing wrong with trying to teach her something at the same time. we are just trying to help her understand all the risks she has to worry about now. Also for future reference, if she ever gets anther dog. We are all tying to help here. there is nothing wrong with that!