Minnie and Maisie The phantom curse!

The phantom curse!

I wasn’t overly worried about when Minnie and Maisie were going to come on heat after all I had owned female ( I don’t like to call them bitches!) dogs in the past and never had a problem. But here we go again, these little dogs do everything BIG style!

Minnie came on heat at 8 months old and Maisie followed suit 2 weeks later. I really didn’t want to get them spayed unless the vet said something was drastically wrong and they needed ‘doing’ for medical reasons. I had to have two Old English sheepdogs spayed years ago and they both ended up needing drops in their food twice a day for life to stop them being incontinent. Apparently this is a risk when doing this procedure. Also just the fact of putting them through an operation just for the sake of it, like going for their boosters just doesn’t seem right to me. I am a responsible dog owner, my dogs are kept in a secure garden with bolted high gates and to be honest they are hardly out of sight. So I couldn’t see a problem about not getting them spayed!

I just didn’t factor on Minnie having a phantom pregnancy! This was a new one on me I had never experienced it with any of my dogs before. But then I have never had a Minnie or Maisie before!

She was fine to start with, kept herself clean, ate well, flirted with Maisie and everything was going ok. Then when Maisie joined her in the ‘curse’ Minnie had just about come to the end of hers. Maisie found it a bother, you could almost hear her sigh when she had to keep licking herself! She found the whole thing so tiresome!!

Minnie and Maisie - deanysdesigns.co.uk    Minnie and Maisie - deanysdesigns.co.uk

I thought to myself ‘oh well that all went ok’, then 5 weeks or so later Minnie started carrying her toy around, it was what we call dead duck.  It is a duck with no stuffing in. It didn’t have any stuffing in when she had it, it was meant to be flat!  It amazes me that it costs more to have an unstuffed toy than one with stuffing! but I guess thats the crazy world we live in.  Anyway back to the point, this duck had a squeaky in its head and if it got squeaked, Minnie would go crazy.  She went off her food, her teats filled with milk and she would not move anywhere without dead duck!

She cried constantly day and night (but mainly night when we were trying to get to sleep).  She was totally confused, her hormones were playing cricket and she didn’t know what was happening to herself most of the time.

I took her to the vet because I was convinced she had some terrible disease or something, all this grief could not possibly be just from something that was imaginary!  But it was, the vet confirmed it was a phantom pregnancy (it cost me £21 for that confirmation!) and that it was best to ride with it until it went away.  She could have given her medication but she said it took 5-7 days to take effect and could upset her tummy and anyway by the time it did take effect Minnie would be coming to the end of her phantom.

The vet was right, after 8 more days of carrying the dead duck around she suddenly started to play with it again and after nurturing this precious fluffy thing for so long she forgot it was her baby and tried to rip it’s squeaking head off!

Minnie and Maisie - deanysdesigns.co.uk

Maisie had been keeping clear of her because she was totally confused by the whole situation.  One day she was playing tug with Minnie and dead duck and then the next she wasn’t allowed near it!  She was so happy that normal service had been resumed.

The second time that they came on heat was 10 months later.

Maisie was her usual self …….fed up to the back teeth of all the inconvenience and Minnie decided that one of my t-shirts was going to be her baby this time for her phantom pregnancy. She would drag it round with her and tuck it under herself to feed it. I didn’t dare wash it and was a bit embarrassed about it when we had visitors. She just had to choose that T shirt didn’t she, the tatty XL one that I slept in!

Minnie and maisie - deanysdesigns.co.uk

She would try and get in one of my many bags of scrap fabrics, but she wasn’t as bad or as noisy as the first time. She was just confused, she would climb on top or in the bag and go to sleep then wake up and look at me with a puzzled look as if to say ” why am I in here?”

Minnie and Maisie - deanysdesigns.co.uk  Minnie and Maisie - deanysdesigns.co.uk  Minnie and Maisie - deanysdesigns.co.uk  Minnie and Maisie - deanysdesigns.co.uk

She wasn’t quite as stressed and it didn’t go on for so long, so I was thinking that the next time she may sail through it like Maisie and not be affected at all. Wishful thinking !! It could not have been further from the truth!

The last time they came on heat which was quite recent, Minnie was the worst ever!

Minnie came on heat very soon after we got back from our holiday. I read that stress can do this, bring them into season early, unfortunately for Maisie.  Maisie didn’t want to have the  ‘curse’ any time soon, especially sooner than expected because she found it a real chore! She hated wearing the little panties I had made for them both to catch any drips.  But, I know from experience that having two little girls together if one came into season the other will follow. The body triggers hormones and poor Maisie  was going to join Minnie sooner than she thought! I guess Minnie was punishing us for leaving her behind!

I have vowed to take Minnie and get her spayed very soon. I could not put her or us through the trauma again! My hubby was going to move out of our bed, not just that, but out of the bedroom and on to another floor of the house completely! We couldn’t sleep and she couldn’t sleep and poor Maisie couldn’t sleep either! If Minnie couldn’t see her dead duck she would cry so loud until we scrambled around the bed and the bedroom floor to find it. Sometimes this took longer than we hoped because our eyesight was blurred with lack of sleep!

Minnie and maisie - deanysdesigns.co.uk     Minnie and maisie - deanysdesigns.co.uk

This is what would happen if hubby moved out of the bedroom!

I picked up the phone,  vet number in hand, dialled the number and then promptly put it down again….I’m scared to death because she’s never had anaesthetic before, she may be allergic to it …….. I just can’t do it…..yet.

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