Friday, October 30, 2015

False pregnancy

That was an adventure. Keeper produced milk, and gathered up shoes and wash cloths to be her "puppies" and licked anyone that didn't get up and run away. I had to reconfigure the rear girth strap on her pack and cut away most her belly hair because the second strap rode over a couple nipples and encouraged the milk production. Then the milk would mat in her belly hair, and she'd lick to clean herself, thus stimulating even more milk to be made.

She also was spooky for about 5 days there, right smack in the middle of a nasty head cold for me, so I was pretty miserable. Keeper seemed mostly happy through it, other than spooking at noises. (The more I deal with bitch issues, the more I'm planning to get a male dog next. Watch as the next candidate I find is also female...)

The one serious complication of a false pregnancy I know of is pyometra, and since Keeper has no uterus, that can't happen. Therefor, I don't think this (or the likely future cases) are too huge an issue, but it was an annoyance. I hope this will be like her heat cycles, where once she's had one and knows what to expect, we both handle the next round better.

As of today, her mammaries are no longer udders full of milk, she's no longer sound-sensitive, and she hasn't tried to hold me down for a tongue bath in three days, so I think I can officially declare this one over.

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