A Manchester office worker was surprised to find that a colleague’s dog was able to detect her pregnancy during a meeting, suggesting there may be some credence to the research that four legged friends are able to spot pregnancy ahead of their human owners.
Freya McNally, senior content manager at Pets at Home, was able to successfully conceal her pregnancy from all of her colleagues, except for one nosey office dog.
Freya said: “When I was about eight weeks pregnant – and long before I told anyone – I was in a meeting with a colleague, senior designer, Angie Keay and her dog, Chesney, a a Yorkshire Terrier, Jack Russel, Chihuahua cross.
“Although our pets often come to meetings with us, I had never spent much time around Chesney, so I was quite surprised when he snuggled up to me. Angie was a bit embarrassed and kept trying to remove Chesney, but he would just cuddle up again!”
When the meeting was over, Freya forgot all about it. But Angie told a mutual colleague that Chesney had a history of snuggling up to pregnant women, despite normally being very shy. Experts agree that both cats and dogs can detect when a woman’s pregnant, although they’re not sure exactly how. Some dogs detect very early hormonal changes using their sense of smell – and its thought this may be why Chesney reacted as he did.
So, when Freya announced her pregnancy at work a few weeks later, Angie wasn’t the least bit surprised. She said: “In fact, Angie said she was so glad she had told our colleague about Chesney’s super-sense because otherwise no one would have believed her!” says Freya.
“The hormonal changes must have made me smell different to Chesney, but it’s not something that can be detected by the human nose.
“I couldn’t wait to tell my friends and family; it’s now my favourite work story!”
More information on pets and pregnancy can be found in the latest issue of Pets at Home’s My VIP magazine. The magazine is free to VIP club members and available at Pets at Home stores throughout the UK.
For more information about Pets at Home’s VIP club, please visit: vip.petsathome.com.