Embarazo psicológico en perros - Síntomas y tratamiento

Hello, my name is Susanna Gonzalez. I am a veterinarian specializing in small animal clinics and behavioral pathologies. And I work at a clinic in Barcelona, San Jose Veterinaris. In today's video we are going to talk about psychological pregnancy in dogs. Well, today we are going to talk about psychological pregnancy in dogs or pseudo pregnancy. In fact, it is a very common disorder in dogs, but not in cats. And it has very little to do with pregnancy and very little psychological. You will see why. It turns out that when the dog is in heat and it ends, her body does not know that she has not become pregnant. It assumes it takes for granted that the dog is pregnant and continues to produce high levels of progesterone in her ovaries, exactly the same as if she were carrying puppies. So when two months have passed and the hypothetical moment of delivery arrives, that is where we have the problem. That is when the psychological pregnancy appears. That is why I was telling you that it does not have anything to do with pregnancy, because it is really the moment of delivery. When this moment approaches, our dog may experience two types of a more physical condition in which there is a thickening of the mammary gland in which milk is produced. That is, the body prepares to feed the puppies. And we can have a behavioral condition, a psychological condition. In this condition, the dog adopts a doll, a sock, anything. It can be any object and interprets that it is her puppy. She may also become anxious. She may search for the owner with restlessness, nervousness. She may try to make a nest, dig up her bed. In short, exhibit behavior that is completely absurd. For what is normal in this dog, the dog that is sensitive to these changes in progesterone that occur in all dogs will always be so. Therefore, we are going to have a psychological pregnancy after each heat. Therefore, the only way to prevent this situation is to sterilize our dog. But if it has already happened, two months have passed since the heat and our dog presents the disorders associated with a psychological pregnancy. We will have to act in different ways to address the physical condition, the clinical picture, this increase in the breasts and this milk production. There are dogs that require medication to stop this situation. The veterinarian will prescribe the medication that he she considers appropriate. And the owners can also help at home by doing some quick rubbing with alcohol on the collar. This will reduce the sensation of inflammation, pain, tightness and will refresh the dog. But the key is to do quick rubbing, not vigorous and exhaustive massages. Why? Because if we stimulate the mammary gland with A good massage so that the alcohol penetrates. Well, what will we do? Stimulate the mammary gland and therefore increase milk production. In other words, we do a quick rubbing and continue to address the psychological condition. Well, here we have different situations. If it is something that happens continuously in our dog, we already know that it is going to happen. We should hide this doll, this sock, this object that is associated with the puppy, before the psychological pregnancy appears. But if it has already happened, and we are already at this point, the psychological pregnancy has already occurred and has presented itself well, we will hide it anyway. Why? Because in dogs that have real puppies, the sight of the puppy stimulates and enhances maternal behavior. Therefore, it is essential to eliminate the subject that acts as a puppy for our dog. On the other hand, if the dog seeks attention from the owner in an insistent, anxious, restless way, we should ignore this behavior, because if we attend to her in this situation, we run the risk that once the psychological pregnancy is over, the dog will continue this type of behavior. And what do we do if the dog asks us for attention and she is our beloved dog and we do not want to hurt her feelings? Well, the best way to do this is to ask her for an obedience command, which in clinical ethology is known as counter conditioning. That is, your dog is pawing at you, asking for attention, is nervous, restless and squirming. What do I do? Well, Luna, sit. When you ask your dog or your in this case, to obey this command of obedience, he changes his mindset. Then he stops behaving in an anxious manner, executes the command of obedience, and you are cutting off this sequence of behavior that can lead to unwanted behaviors. Also, in extreme cases, what we can do, if the dog licks the area a lot and milk production is stimulated by the measure, it may be necessary to put on a bell or an Elizabethan collar. We already know that this is the most hated measure among owners. But sometimes there's no other choice. Let's think that it has a double effect. On the one hand, it prevents the animal from licking itself and stimulates milk production in the mammary glands. But on the other hand, it will produce temporary stress that will also help to stop the milk from flowing so well. It can also be a useful tool in these cases. Well, friends, I hope you found this video interesting that we have understood a little better the how and why of the appearance of this disorder that is so common in dogs. And that, by the way, we will not see in cats. And that's it. See you next time. Oh.