I am completely lost and confused. We adopted our 11mon old mini daschund on october 2nd from another family. We assumed she was in her heat cycle, she bled for about a wk after we got her, after that stopped her glands began to swell, and then later her abdomen thickened. She hasn't really shown any difference in her character except maybe a little more demanding for closeness. She has not had a scan. I have been taking her temperature. Today, at 11:15am it was 99.0, 1 hr later it had dropped to 98.3. I decided to retake it again an hr later and it had gone back up to 99.6. Is this normal. And what are the chances of this being a false pregnancy and what can I expect. Thank you

Temp flucuations like that are normal. Did the people you got her from mention if she had been exposed to a male? I've never had a girl have a false pregnancy that got a huge belly. Also if she's pregnant you can usually feel the babies moving starting a few weeks before she's due. If you put your hands on her belly long enough you should be able to feel them move.

A vet can usually tell you if she's pregnant without an ultrasound or xray if she's this far along. That will save you some worrying.

I did talk to previous owners and they also have two males. They said they kenneled her at night to prevent breeding, but you never know what happens the rest of the time. I have tried to feel her belly, and have been unsuccessful in feeling any movement. Her belly seems to be "hanging" lower to the ground then before, but she's not really expanding in her sides anymore. I have everything set up for her just in case, but was just wondering since we are in the blind here. If she is infact prego, with her temp changes, what am I looking at for a time frame for start of labor? Thank you

I don't take temps anymore with my girls, but I think they say when the temp drops and stays down labor is within 12-24 hours. When she goes into labor she'll whine, and dig, some will growl with a contraction. You can feel their belly tighten as they start having contractions.

If she's pushing hard on a puppy for very long at all without a puppy coming out she needs to see a vet right away. I won't let one push for more than 15-30 minutes on a puppy.