Possible Phantom Pregnancy

I'm hoping someone can give me some advice. Please bear with me as it's quite a long story......

My girl was mated on 28th & 30th March. Lots of activity, but no 'Tie'. Maiden B*tch & Proven Stud. We've had lots of pregnancy signs, sickness, appetite decreased so much between weeks 3 & 5 I was getting worried & had to tempt her with titbits, just to get food into her. We've had odourless, clear vaginal discharge on a few occasions & it looks like breast tissue is forming in readiness. I've been getting phone calls from people who are waiting for pups, so I decided to have her scanned, just to confirm pregnancy. Off we went yesterday for the scan & they took my girl into the scanning room first. After what seemed like ages, they called us in to calm her down! When I walked in, I was mortified! She had been forced onto a table, on her side & was being pinned down by 2 nurses. It took a few minutes to get her settled. The man doing the scan got hold of her skin (where it had been shaved) between his thumb & forefinger & pulled the skin away from her abdomen before applying gel & putting the scan probe on her skin. By this time I wanted to punch him. I'll cut this saga short....he said.... 'I see she has a full bladder' 'I see lots of intestines, but I can't see her uterus' 'Sorry no puppies' That was it....scan over. He walked out of the room without saying another word. Needless to say, we couldn't wait to get out & there's no way I'll ever go back there.

What I really would like to know is this....do you think the scan was accurate? He only scanned one side. She's still showing all the signs of pregnancy & I'm also thinking that if the scan was right & there are no pups in there, I'm going to have a very hormonal girl to look after if this is a Phantom. Any advice would be greatly appreciated & thanks for making it to the end of my first post. xxx

I always scan my girls either lying down (on their backs, legs in the air like they are having a tummy tickle) or standing, which ever they feel most comfortable with, don't understand why he pulled the skin away though?? If there are any pups, you should start feeling movement soon, so when she's relaxing just gently put you hand on her tum, even loud gurgling sounds can be pups moving around inside. Has she gained any weight, or grown around her tummy?

I would treat her as if she was and when whelping day has come and gone, get her back to normal asap.

I once had a bitch that went huge shortly after mating, we were so sure she was pregnant that the scan was just by the by...our vet couldn't believe it when it revealed she wasn't in whelp and nor could we

She continued to grow right up until she was due to give birth, and we kept thinking the scan was wrong...but she never had pups, just suddenly started to go back down to her normal size. Whilst we/she thought she was in whelp she was picky with her food etc., I just don't know what happened there

She hadn't been bred from previously and didn't get mated again...I don't like anything like that, if it doesn't seem normal then I don't take a risk. She was speyed shortly afterwards and hasn't looked back.

One observation though, it does seem rather a callous way for your vet to perform the scan, my girls were always allowed to remain standing with me talking gently into their faces whilst the vet scanned them underneath, there was no need for restraint, it was always a happy and exciting event...I do hope it hasn't put your girl off the vets, and I hope you get to the bottom of what is going on with her.

[QUOTE=Trinny;1950703]I'm hoping someone can give me some advice. Please bear with me as it's quite a long story......

My girl was mated on 28th & 30th March. Lots of activity, but no 'Tie'. Maiden B*tch & Proven Stud. We've had lots of pregnancy signs, sickness, appetite decreased so much between weeks 3 & 5 I was getting worried & had to tempt her with titbits, just to get food into her. We've had odourless, clear vaginal discharge on a few occasions & it looks like breast tissue is forming in readiness. I've been getting phone calls from people who are waiting for pups, so I decided to have her scanned, just to confirm pregnancy. Off we went yesterday for the scan & they took my girl into the scanning room first. After what seemed like ages, they called us in to calm her down! When I walked in, I was mortified! She had been forced onto a table, on her side & was being pinned down by 2 nurses. It took a few minutes to get her settled. The man doing the scan got hold of her skin (where it had been shaved) between his thumb & forefinger & pulled the skin away from her abdomen before applying gel & putting the scan probe on her skin. By this time I wanted to punch him. I'll cut this saga short....he said.... 'I see she has a full bladder' 'I see lots of intestines, but I can't see her uterus' 'Sorry no puppies' That was it....scan over. He walked out of the room without saying another word. Needless to say, we couldn't wait to get out & there's no way I'll ever go back there.

What I really would like to know is this....do you think the scan was accurate? He only scanned one side. She's still showing all the signs of pregnancy & I'm also thinking that if the scan was right & there are no pups in there, I'm going to have a very hormonal girl to look after if this is a Phantom. Any advice would be greatly appreciated & thanks for making it to the end of my first post. xxx[/QUOTE
i would take her somewhere else to be scanned or to get a home scanner to come to your home less stress for your dog that way ive been told the best way is for the dog to be standing how true that is i'm not sure from reading about phantoms in bitches i'm afraid its just a waiting game unless you have her rescanned or xrayed at about day 55 as then the pups cannot hide some vets sometimes miss pups as they are not used to scanning for pregnancy as they mainly scan for illness. i bred my bitch on the 27th and 29th march i had her scanned on her 28th day by a vet who said he couldn't see any signs of pregnancy i then had her rescanned by someone who came to my home and scans small animals cats and dogs ect for a living she also told me no pups just seems my bitch is having a phantom a good one as well putting weight on nipples enlarged all the common signs, but like you i'm thinking perhaps they have scanned wrong as only scanned her on one side and both times she was quite agetated my advice would be to have her rescanned by someone else just to put your mind at rest let me know how you get on

I have known many dogs have phantoms after being mated, even producing milk. However I have also had bitches scanned with statement that there were no puppies only to have a litter arrive.
I'd ask around to see who in your area is good at scanning for pregnancy & get a second opinion

Just to let you all know that this thread is a year old