QuestionI took my 5 yr old female Yorkie to be spayed today. I also have a male Yorkie that was neutered about 2 years ago. They had 2 years to try and never tied. She has never had a litter. I did try to breed her last Nov, but by Christmas she wasn't showing at all and never had any puppies.
Everything was fine until they called and said she WAS pregnant with one puppy. It broke my heart and I automatically became hysterical.
Bella is now home safe and sound. I am still at a loss on how it happened and have been racking my brain since I found out. When I got there I talked to the vet tech some more about it and they just made me cry more. They probably see it all the time and think that all pet owners that let this happen are naive, irresponsible pet owners. However, I am not. My pets are children to me and I am very paranoid about anything happening to them. They insisted then that another dog jumped my fence and got her. However, my fences are 7 ft high all around. Only one neighbor next to me has a dog (50 lb neutered male). So, if another dog "got her" then they had to jump one of my neighbor's front fence, then my fence, somehow elude my not so nice 75 lb Irish Setter, "get her", then jump my fence again and they jump my neighbor's front fence again. Seems VERY unlikely. Or I guess jump our front fence ( that my cat has a difficult time jumping) then elude my not so friendly Setter, etc... Either way unlikely. Dakota would not sit there and let a BIG dog get her. Bella would have been screaming. Anyhow, the only non-neutered dog in my area is a 15-20 lb lapso apso (sp) but there is no way he could jump any fence and there are no holes under my fence. Then she asked well did both your male's testicles get removed and that sometimes one is stuck up there. Yes, they both got removed. I used to make fun of both of them because they looked liked eggplants...so I know. The only way my male could have done it was if he had 3 testicles and the third one was way up there....again very unlikely. So, my last scenerio (that she said WASN'T possible) is that when we did try to breed her last Nov she got pregnant and the baby stopped growing and she never passed it. Her last heat cycle there wasn't ever really any bright blood nor were her nipples enlarged.
I asked to see it (gross I know) because I still just can't comprehend it. She showed my her ovaries and her uterus which looked like a bulb that was no more than an inch in diameter. My question now is how do they KNOW that that baby was from this heat cycle or that it wasnt a cyst? They didn't even open it up! I asked if I could take it home and bury it but they wouldn't let me.
So, I am really wondering if she maybe did get pregnant and didnt pass it? Her heat cycles normally go from watery pink to bright red to cloudy pink. This time I really didn't see any bright red. No male dogs were around Bella except for Pico that has been fixed for at least 2 years. And no dog got into my yard. Thank you in advance.
AnswerRachel,
Wow, what a strange situation. The first thing that comes to mind is that I also find it strange that they would tell you there was a puppy when they didn't open the sack to actually see it. They also could have opened up the sack when you were there and showed it to you. I think they were being insensitive to your feelings and I would have insisted on speaking to the vet until I was given satisfactory answers to my questions.
Putting that aside, I would like to address the other concerns you mentioned. As far as her getting pregnant from another dog, it is possible. A male dog who smells a female in heat can become like superman and do unbelievable things. A female in heat will also do whatever it takes to breed. You didn't say if there were any gaps or holes in your fence, but if there are (like a chain link fence) it is entirely possible that the mating took place between the gaps. I have seen dogs mate through a fence when they couldn't get inside it. Dogs also jump, climb, squeeze through or go under fencing if that is what it takes to get to a female. A male dog can smell a female in heat from at least two miles away. So it is possible that there was a male that you did not know about.
As far as your Irish Setter, it is possible that she did allow another dog to enter the yard or get close to the fence. A dogs instinct will tell them that nature must take its course. While she may not normally allow anyone or anything in the yard, she may have been ruled by nature and allowed it to happen this time. Also, the size of the male and female does not have to be relevant. An example of this would be like my brother who had a male basset hound and a female lab. He didn't think that the basset hound would be able to mate with the lab because of the huge size difference. (The female would have had to almost laid down for him to reach, or he would have had to stand on something. This would have had to have taken both of their cooperation to accomplish.) He was wrong. They somehow found a way and the lab got pregnant. Needless to say the puppies were the strangest thing I had ever seen. They had basset hound bodies with lab heads!
The possibility of her having been pregnant and the puppy dying and still being in the womb is pretty slim. There are a couple of things that can happen when a puppy dies in the womb. It is usually expelled (like a miscarriage) within a few days of dying. If for some reason it is not expelled the female can contract an infection and become very ill because the body would reject the dead tissue. If this occurred you would have know because she would have gotten sick.
Now, I have to tell you that you should stop freaking out. If your female was pregnant with one puppy, and you didn't know what size the male was, it is probably a good thing that you had her fixed and aborted the puppy. Having just one puppy for a Yorkie is never a good thing because the puppy can grow to large for the female to deliver. When this happens the puppy can get stuck and die in the birth canal or the female may have to have an emergency c-section which can be dangerous. The mother, puppy, or both can die during this procedure.
You will probably never know what actually happened. If it were me I would be glad that my baby girl was fine and try to put the horrible ordeal behind me. The fact that they thought she was pregnant (and even if she wasn't) is not a reflection of you as a parent. You obviously are a responsible, caring, compassionate person and I wouldn't let anyone make you feel otherwise. I would suggest that you speak to your vet or perhaps you write him a letter explaining how his assistant handled things. Having poor communication with your vet and his staff contributed to your stress and that should not have happened. If your vet does not respond in a manner that is satisfactory I would consider finding a more compassionate vet.
