[The treatment of pseudopregnancy in the bitch with prolactin inhibitors metergoline and bromocriptine].

In the present study, the prolactin inhibitor Metergoline was compared with Bromocriptine and tested against a placebo in 63 pseudogravid bitches. Bromocriptine has already been tested successfully in numerous investigations on the therapy of canine pseudogravidity, but--probably because of its high price and vomitus as a frequent side effect--it has not been really introduced as a therapeutical device in canine practice. It can be deduced from the results presented herein that prolactin is essential for maintaining the pseudogravidity, but keeping up the lactation process--especially galactopoiesis--can probably not be ascribed solely to prolactin. However, prolactin definitely plays an essential role in the hormonal scenario, the detailed regulating mechanisms of which are not known until today. Thus, no statistically convincing therapy outcome could be achieved by the prolactin inhibitors compared to the placebo group. A tendency towards earlier regression of the symptoms "mammogenesis", "behavioural change" and "galactorrhea" was however present in the treated animals. A striking difference was the much more lively behaviour of the bitches with 53% being more lively in the Metergoline group, 37% in the Bromocriptine and 10% in the placebo group. There were also clear differences in the compatibility of the drugs; in the Bromocriptine group, 30% of the animals vomited, in the Metergoline only 6.3%. This however did not lead to termination of the therapy in any case. In two cases of the Metergoline group (6.3%), the medication was ended due to extreme restlessness.