montana wildhack wrote:

So we've had this new dog for a couple of days and she finally felt
comfortable enough for me to rub her belly. She's got fairly good sized
nipples. One of them is bigger than the others. And while she doesn't
weigh very much, she seems pretty big.

We know she isn't spayed, but we had to wait until after she got her
shots before we could go ahead with that. Her former owners told us she
has never been in heat! She's about 3!

So we couldn't give the vet any good information.

Now I'm beginning to wonder...

Uh oh.

You'll know one way or the other soon enough.

I suspect her former owners weren't observant enough to recognize
estrus, especially if she's a tidy dog. I had a female BC who kept
herself immaculate and never needed to wear pads or panties. If I
hadn't been told that her litter sister had just come into heat and if I
hadn't been watching her like a hawk I might have missed it entirely.

I mistakenly believed she was typical so the next one, who was actually
quite normal, came as a real shock. GoodNites - disposal absorbent
nighttime underpants for larger kids - worked well. I went up a size or
two from the weight recommendation on the sizing charts to allow for
anatomical disparities, then used a sharp scissors to cut an x-shaped
opening to pull her tail through (mark this with a pen with the pants on
the dog then take them off to do the cutting). Obviously they have to
be removed for potty trips but they're easy enough to take on and off a
couple of times and when they need to be changed you can just tear them
down the side seam(s) for quick removal.

If her nipples are developed she's at least been through one or more
estrus cycles, and she may, in fact, be knocked up.

Kathleen

montana wildhack wrote:

On 2006-11-28 19:50:28 -0500, Kathleen said:

If her nipples are developed she's at least been through one or more
estrus cycles, and she may, in fact, be knocked up.


We know she's around three because her humans had her before they had
their 2.5 year old twins. So she had to have had some cycles.

But I haven't seen enough unspayed or spayed-later females to know the
difference between developed and "I'm going to be a Mom" nipples.


Hard to tell. If she's had false pregnancies, her nipples may be
permanently enlarged just from that. If she's pregnant and "pretty big"
your vet should be able to help you. She may need an ultrasound...

on Wed, 29 Nov 2006 02:31:59 GMT, montana wildhack
wrote:

But I haven't seen enough unspayed or spayed-later females to know the
difference between developed and "I'm going to be a Mom" nipples.

I don't know if this will make you feel any better, but Roxy's nipples have
gotten huge since she started on DES. So may your new girl just has
spayed-later nips? Here's hoping!!

--
Lynne

http://picasaweb.google.com/what.the.hell.is.it/