Accidental Inbreeding

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One visitor is very concerned about an accidental inbreeding between littermates. Will her nearly one-year-old dog come through the pregnancy alright?

Springer Spaniel

Accidental Inbreeding Between Young Dogs

My dog will be one year old on August 1, and she accidentally got bred by her litter brother on Memorial Day. We aren't sure what to do. Will she and the puppies be okay? Do you think she might die since she's so young?

We had big issues with Lucy, their mom, so we can't afford to get the puppies spayed. We are not sure if we should go ahead and just treat her as if she's a normal pregnant dog, or if there is anything else we should do. We need help!

~~ Marissa

Expert Reply

Hi Marissa,

Although this is certainly not an ideal situation, your dog may still come out of this fine. What kind of dog is she? This will give me an idea of her size, and how close she would be to her mature size at one year of age.

Make sure she is receiving very good nutrition. She is in the home stretch of this pregnancy, so try to keep her from too much strenuous activity. Definitely keep her from rough housing with her brother, or she could easily be injured.

Someone definitely needs to be present at the whelping in case there are complications.

I highly advise you to search for a low cost spaying and neutering program to help you cover the cost of having one or both of the dogs fixed. Unless you take care of this, you are only in for more reckless breedings. If you're not able to do this, then I'd advise you to find a home for the brother to eliminate the possibility altogether.

Please take my advice to heart~~ Kelly.

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Comments

Hi Kelsey,

Although inbreedings should be avoided as a rule, accidents do happen. Having your male neutered will prevent a repeat from happening down the road.

I can't be certain your female is pregnant, but it sounds like she could be. You can compare her development to the signs listed in our article on Dog Pregnancy Symptoms to try to determine if that's the case.

As for any pups that might result from this breeding, there is a chance for abnormalities, but if there haven't been any inbreedings in previous generations, they might turn out alright. The best thing you can do is take the litter to the vet for thorough examination before you try to place them in new homes.

Thanks for sharing your situation, and let us know how things turn out. Good luck.

-- Contributed by: Kelly

My 5 year old female pomeranian had a litter of puppies over a year ago, we kept the male puppy and my mother is looking after them as I live in a non-pet house and unable to keep them. My mom came home one day to find them "stuck" as my female pom was in heat this was about 3 weeks ago. I am now worried my female pom is pregnant, and scared if the puppies will have abnormal features, if any. This is the only time its happened, and we are getting the male spayed asap to prevent from happening again. The only thing I noticed happening with my female pom is enlarged nimples, drinking fair amounts of water, and sleeping a lot (no weight gain, and she is a usually sleepy, lazy dog for atleast a year and a half ago) can someone please help me out with any kind of info. Thank you!!!

-- Contributed by: kelsey sutherland

Hi Rhiannon,

There's no way to predict what the health of these puppies will be, but if this is the only time an inbreeding has occured in your dog's family, chance are that everyone will be fine. Right now, the biggest hurdle is going to be the delivery. We have a great article on this topic that I think you'll find very helpful. Check out Delivering Puppies. The article lists what you should have on hand, what to do, and how to tell if your dog may need a C-section. Be sure to bookmark it in case you need it in a hurry, and don't hesitate to come back if you have more questions. We also have a Breeders Corner on our Dogs Forum where you may get more responses. Feel free to visit us there.

Best wishes that all goes well. Keep in touch.

-- Contributed by: Kelly
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