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Is accidental pregnancy harmful for a young dog in her first heat?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Golden Retriever | Female | unspayed | 9 months and 21 days old | 60 lbs

My female is in her first heat (9 months). We have been keeping her and our male separated because we didn't want her pregnant while she is still a baby herself. My male who has never been bred realized he could jump the gate and got to her last night. I know it's not recommended for her to get pregnant at such a young age, but if she did get pregnant on that 1 tie, could it seriously harm her?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Kevin Sanada, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on February 25th, 2018

Pregnancy always carries a certain risk of complications and in a growing puppy they are more at risk of getting low blood sugar, or low blood calcium. These can both cause serious problems and be life-threatening in certain circumstances. This could also cause some orthopedic problems in Wrigley.

My best recommendation would be to have Wrigley spayed to prevent a possible pregnancy. There are also other ways for a vet to terminate a pregnancy if you don't want her spayed, but don't want to risk the pregnancy.

If you are interested in having her carry the puppies (assuming she did get pregnant) to term, then I highly recommend you consult a veterinarian to implement measures to prevent some of the complications I mentioned above.

I hope that helps and all is well with Wrigley.

3Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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