Post spay lactation?

[dogsbydoug]

Sienna was spayed on December 30th. Her heat ended at the end of November. I noticed she was licking her belly alot, and thinking it was her incision, I took a look for irritation. Well, imagine my surpise when I saw milk! Not alot, just little drips when she is licking herself. She isn't bothering the spay incision at all.

The vet did say she had at least one litter in her lifetime.

Is post spay lactation normal for a female that recently had a heat cycle before the spay?

Any advice is welcomed...thank you!

[BostonRott]

Based on the timing, yes, this sounds normal.

A human's body does not think it is pregnant unless it really is. The embryo and placenta must secrete certain hormones to tell the body "You are pregnant, do these things."

A dog's body assumes it is pregnant after a heat cycle until proven otherwise. Thus, it starts through all the changes, and this is why many bitches get false pregnancies: nesting, enlarged teats, milk in, adoption of fuzzy things. It is also why there was not a specific test for pregnancy in dogs until recently. A bred bitch and a non-bred bitch are hormonely the same after a heat cycle.

The hormone changes that occur in the non-bred bitch (or the bred bitch) include elevated progesterone levels. A sudden drop in progesterone triggers whelping (or in humans, labor/delivery) and also triggers the hormone prolactin. Prolactin is what causes lactation (cleverly named, eh???). In the pregnant bitch, the progesterone drop will occur about 63 days after ovulation. In the non-pregnant bitch, it typically happens 7-8wks after standing heat, when the body finally recognizes that it is not pregnant.

It is this drop in progesterone that causes symptoms of false pregnancy. Your girl was in heat in early-mid November. If we guess that she was in standing heat around Nov 16th, she's now roughly 7 weeks out from that, and the spay helped drop her progesterone levels (by removing the organs that produce the progesterone). So physiologically, what is happening is normal and "safe."

To help her dry up, cut her food for two days and limit her water to minimal amounts. This will tell the body "famine time!" and it will stop producing milk. She may also adopt a spot in your house and seem to not want to leave it, as well as adopting fuzzy things. Just ride it out, it will be over soon.

If you can get her out and walk her a bit, exercise seems to help pass the false pregnancies better also.

[dogsbydoug]

Originally Posted by BostonRott

To help her dry up, cut her food for two days and limit her water to minimal amounts. This will tell the body "famine time!" and it will stop producing milk. She may also adopt a spot in your house and seem to not want to leave it, as well as adopting fuzzy things. Just ride it out, it will be over soon.

If you can get her out and walk her a bit, exercise seems to help pass the false pregnancies better also.

That would explain why she 'kidnapped' two pairs of socks and seems to want to be in her crate instead of out with us (crate is in spare bedroom next to TV room) when we are watching TV or even at bedtime when she ususally sleeps on dog bed in bedroom...

Thanks for the advice - I'll do that...