Why is my dog lactating?

Question

I have a 6 year old chiuawa mutt who has never been pregnant, although she did take in an abandoned kitten and nursed him when she was about 3 years old. All of a sudded she has begun lactating again and licking her nipples constantly, any idea why she would begin doing this again, and should i be worried?

Answer 1

It is common and happens quite a lot. Your female dog will even show signs of nesting. She'll want to make a bed thinking she will soon whelp. Don't worry, it will pass. You might want to think of spaying her though. Sometimes when a false pregnancy occurs, they are at risk for infection.

Answer 2

My teacup chihuahua has done this several times. Poor thing experiences false pregnancies. Here is what I do to make her comfortable. She doesn't really understand what is going on, she thinks she really IS pregnant. I give her extra milk and food, and treat her like a princess, she deals with this for a couple weeks, then begins her nesting, I usually let her have a heating pad to rest on when I am home. She has these little "pound preemie puppies" that I place with her when she starts panting and pulling the hair from her bottom. She experiences a false labor of sorts. Then, when it's all over, if I don't put the toy puppies in there, she'll spend a few days looking around the house for her puppies. The toy puppies should be wrapped in her things (out of her sight of course) so they take on some of her smell. She'll preen on them a little and then she'll move on as if nothing happened. I won't go into to detail, but I haven't spayed her under advise from my vet, we deal with these situations as they come up. She will never be bred or anything, she is just physically not able to have the surgery. Your little darlin will be okay in a month or so. The only sort of pain med you can give her without a vet's ok is baby aspirin, and just one a day. If she begins to get really anxious, a little benadryl powder sprinkled in some cheese will help her sleep. That's really all you can do for her without getting her to the vet. Good luck!

Answer 3

Once in a while a dog will do this.. but those females that can are far and few inbetween.

She would become the serogate mother if needed.. if another female were to die or have too many in her litter.. your little gal would step up to the plate and offer dinner..

In Germany if a female had more than 8 in a litter they would have to turn the excess over to a surogate OR cull them. I don't know if this is still practiced over there or not.

There is nothing wrong with her... she is very special.

Hope This Helps

Answer 4

I would also be concerned about mammary tumors. Older female dogs who have never been pregnant are more at risk than females who have had a litter. As others have said...see a vet.

Answer 5

feels like she has had a miscarriage and has an infection Does the release scent ? Does she have a temperature? If it have been My female i might Take her to the vet asap. whether that's an infection it may desire to alter into very serous very at as quickly as you may desire to loose her. in case you dont plan on breeding together with her i might have her de- sexed ASAP.

Answer 6

Maybe a false pregnancy? Check with your Vet.

Answer 7

It would be she is pregnant , experiencing a false pregnancy or has an mammary infection. Only your vet can answer this for you.

Answer 8

She's likely going through a false pregnancy - this wouldn't be happening if she were spayed.

Answer 9

Take her to the vet. She might have an infection in her mammary glands.

Answer 10

She's either pregnant or she's having a false pregnancy.
Have her spayed, and this will never happen again.