When a dog owner noticed his rescue pup displaying unusual signs, he decided to get her checked out by the vet, who suggested it was a phantom pregnancy. But two days later, they discovered there was nothing phantom about it.
When dog owner Christian Pautsch had an equine vet visit his home in Germany to tend to his horses, he asked him to check on his rescue dog, Bonnie. He had noticed that Bonnie, a border collie, was acting out of character and thought she could be pregnant because she hadn’t been neutered.
Pautsch, 42, told Newsweek that the vet gave Bonnie a physical examination and said it “must be a phantom pregnancy.” Also known as a false pregnancy, this is when a dog starts showing maternal behavior and physical signs of pregnancy when not actually pregnant.
The signs of a phantom pregnancy usually include vomiting, fluid retention, decreased appetite, restlessness and nesting, according to VCA Animal Hospitals, and some might show signs of false labor. Most cases don’t require treatment, and the symptoms usually subside after about 14 to 21 days.
Friedrich and Karl are among the puppies born to a border collie in Germany, according to a Reddit post. A vet suggested that the mother was experiencing a phantom pregnancy, but that wasn’t the case.
Christian Pautsch / u/MathematicianOk4341
But Bonnie’s symptoms didn’t go away after a few days, and she went into labor and surprised her owners with a litter of 11 healthy puppies and a 12th that was stillborn.
“Two days after the vet was here, she went into labor during the night,” he said. “My wife, Stefani Jacoby, was awake with her the whole night until all the puppies had arrived.
“They’re all doing fine. From the beginning, we started helping Bonnie to feed them, and now they’re a really happy and chaotic bunch of pups,” he said.
Shortly after Pautsch and Jacoby, 37, rescued Bonnie, they planned on having her neutered, but she was in heat and they had to delay. While they tried to keep her separate from their German shepherd and Australian shepherd mix, named Heinz, the dogs clearly managed to spend time together unsupervised.
Pautsch jokingly told Newsweek that he thought they “did a good job” at keeping the dogs apart, but evidently there was room for improvement.
Bonnie the border collie and Heinz the German shepherd mix were kept separate most of the time but evidently not the whole time because Bonnie got pregnant.
Christian Pautsch / u/MathematicianOk4341
“Bonnie is a very good mum and takes care of all her puppies, and Heinz is doing great as well, as he likes to clean them and play with the puppies,” he continued.
The 11 puppies were named after German emperors or their wives and daughters, such as Otto, Wilhelm, Friedrich, Charles, Amalia, Adelheid and Maria. A couple of the pups have found forever homes already, but Pautsch and his wife are still looking to rehome the majority of the litter.
On October 4, he posted several pictures of the pups on Reddit (as user u/MathematicianOk4341), and this has rapidly boosted interest from potential owners. The post went viral, with over 42,000 votes and more than 2,000 comments in just a number of days.
“The reaction was totally crazy, and we’ve had inquiries from all over the world from people wanting a puppy,” Pautsch said. “We’re going to try to find homes for them in January onwards because we don’t want the puppies to be given as Christmas gifts.”
The Reddit post joked that the “vet said our dog [had] a phantom pregnancy” before the surprise discovery of 11 puppies. This left plenty of users laughing, and some said that Pautsch should have asked another vet for advice.
Pautsch did point out that his vet specializes in horses, so he doesn’t blame him for the mix-up.
One comment reads: “Just curious how much that vet charged you for that wisdom.”
Another Redditor wrote: “I think you should find a new vet.”
“That’s a lot of phantoms! Your dog might be haunted,” a commenter responded.
Another person joked: “The disappointment that none of them are named Phantom is so real.”
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