Phantom pregnancy? Advice please!

Last night Lily started pestering by tapping me with her nose which is something she does when she wants attention. I tried picking her up, stroking her, letting her out but she kept on tapping me. After about half an hour she walked into the dining room with one of her cuddly toys in her mouth. She was shaking and whining and when I stood up, she ran upstairs with the toy.

She very gently put it on the bed and started to lick it. She was still whining and shaking. I took it off her as she seemed distressed and she then went to sleep. She had a restless night but wasn't crying or shaking anymore. This morning she picked up the toy and started the same behaviour again. I've taken it away from her and now she seems calmer.

So could this be a phantom pregnancy? It was 9 weeks last Saturday since she finished her first season. She's now playing happily with Dylan so should I not give her the toy back and upset her again?

Yes, she could very well be phantoming.

Providing there is no chance she was caught by a male and definately isn't in whelp then I would remove all her toys, up her exercise, drop her food slightly and more importantly keep her mind busy - lots of games and training.

Watch her teats to ensure she's not producing milk - if she is and it doesn't go down then she might need to see a vet for some galastop.

If there is even the slightest possibility that she could have been caught and given that she's shaking and panting, you need to get her to a vets for a scan asap - a friend nearly lost her bitch when she hadn't realised that she'd been caught and was carrying just one pup. A week after what would have been her due date she tried to expell the dead pup and couldn't resulting in an emergency trip to the vets for emergency c-section/spay and treatment for toxic shock.

Thanks for your reply Kate. There is no chance that Lily could be pregnant as she was never out of my sight. She hasn't been panting at all, it was very similar to the shivering that she does when she's cold or excited. As soon as I took the toy from her she stopped. I will watch her closely and I did hide all her cuddly toys before I left for work this morning as I didn't want her getting stressed while I wasn't there.

Thanks for your advice.

It sounds a lot like Bella was when she had her phantom pregnancy. She was carrying around a toy ( a squeeky plastic hamburger in her case LOL) and whining and liking it etc....
We also noticed she was a lot more grumpy is anyone so much as went near her bed
We took the hamburger off her , but she then took to carrying a tennis ball round...very unusual cause she normally detroys tennis balls in 2 mins LOL
Definitely a lot of walks, and keep her busy. That helped Bella. She was fine when out,but very whiney and sad when in if not occupied .
Bella's passed in a couple of weeks without any meds.
HTH

Great advice from Kate - Poor girl.