Friday, July 31, 2009

Any reason for rapid weight gain in dogs other than pregnancy?

My female Maltepoo will be 1 year in August. She had her first heat beginning in early March. We do have a male dog who was not neutered at the time, but anytime they were together she was wearing a doggy diaper. The only time they would be unsupervised together without her diaper on is when they were outside, but that was never for more than 5 minutes at a time. The day she went into the "mating" stage of heat, we separated the dogs for 2 weeks. In the past week or so, my female dog has gone up in weight from around 7 pounds to almost 10 pounds! She has always eaten a lot, but has never gained weight like this. She now seems to play less and breathes harder. Could this be a false pregnancy or is there another medical problem that could cause weight gain? How early can the vet determine if she really is pregnant? Is there any chance she is really pregnant, and, if so, what are the complications for being so young?
Answers:
A vet can ultrasound for pregnancy as early as 24 days after breeding, and they can see puppies on x-rays 45 days after breeding. The gestation period for dogs is only about 63 days, so if she is pregnant she will be giving birth soon. 5 minutes is more than enough time for mating to occur, and male dogs know much better than humans when a female is ready to breed. Also, I've seen puppies born to a female bred by a male on the other side of a chain link fence, so a doggie diaper may not have been enough of a deterrent.

As long as your male isn't much large than she is, she should be ok giving birth this early, but I'd check with your vet to make sure there aren't any special precautions you need to take.

If she's not pregnant, there are a several things that can cause weight gain, but most are uncommon in a dog this young. I would make an appointment to see your vet as soon as possible. If she is pregnant you'll need to know so you can get things ready. If she's not, they can run labwork and look for other causes for the weight gain.

Good luck!
Besides pregnancy, could be cancer or congestive heart failure. See a vet!
water retainment organ problems, maybe diet take to vet asap could be serious
yes theres always a chance he some how got to her and shes expecting. an ultra sound can determine fairly early pregnancy but sometimes its not always accurate. wait a week or so and see how shes doing. its unlikely that she would have an complications unless the puppy is too big to birth in this case a simple c section can be done or the vet may also be able to pull it out if its stuck in the birth canal. ive seen dogs have perfectly normal puppies at 8 months. both puppies and mother were fine.
Could be a thyroid condition.
It only takes 5 minutes for a dog to get pregnant. The "mating stage of heat" is actually after a dog is finished bleeding. They can be ready to breed for up to 2 weeks after the bleeding has stopped. There is definately the possibility of a false prengancy. They are most common after a heat cycle. They don't usually cause that much of a weight gain, though. I would bet she's pregnant. Gestation is ~63 days, give or take a few days. She's young, and if she is pregnant, those puppies are taking vital nutrients from her that should be helping her to develop her own body. Pregnancy can be determined at about 45 or so days by a vet. good luck!
see a vet a dog will go to any length to breed even with the diaper on he will try!they can get fat with all sorts like worms mine was fat when he had cancer of hs liver so you see you need to see a vet to rule things out
you know it only takes 5 minutes for a dog to get pregnant, she could be. take her to the vet and they should be able to tell now.

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