female dogs in heat

[Skratikans]

someone is insisting that when a female dog comes into heat...she has a period (blood and the works)....is this true?

[Sasami]

Yup, it's true. But it depends on the dog, I'm pretty sure. Some never bleed and some only do a little on one of the days. Others bleed heavily.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong . Our girls are spayed.

[tarita2004]

yep. i agree. our female pom (before we got her fixed) would 'spot' or bleed a little or have some sort of discharge that was reddish in color.

[candyraver]

Yes,my dog used to spot like crazy when she was in heat :|
She's spayed now though of course
& My aunt who refuses to spay her dog is always complaining about blood stains on her couch :\

[Dragonrain]

Yup it's true - before my parents got their dog spayed she would have to wear doggie underpants with a pad on the inside because she would bleed pretty bad.

[Mel]

Yep. My Dane had trouble with her last heat and bled FOREVER. >.<

[geegeorge]

My friends pup went into her first heat a while back and started bleeding. It was unexpected and they were not prepared, so she had to put pull ups, with a hole cut for the tail on her. It was cute.

[Vanilla_Rat]

It is true.As mentioned some dogs bleed more then others.You can get little doggy pads tho.

One of my foster dogs didn't bleed at all when she went into heat.She had a disharge for the first day and then that was it.She was spayed shortly after.But I had another foster who bled not alot,but she left stains on the floor.

[sara8]

One of the foster frenchies the rescue got in was in heat and discharging all over the place. It was actually the dog I was supposed to take, but with a 2 year old running around I have enough diapers to change, let alone on a dog So we took Jewel instead!!

[Mygala]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skratikans someone is insisting that when a female dog comes into heat...she has a period (blood and the works)....is this true?

Actually, this is not true. In humans, the "period" is the sloughing off of the lining of the uterus.

In dogs, the little bit of bleeding we see is part of the "estrus", or heat cycle.

The first thing you notice about a female dog (profanity filters won't let me say *****) going into heat is a swelling of the vulva, some bloody discharge and a lot of interest from neighborhood dogs. This is called the Proestrus or "follicular stage", and the ovarian follicles are increasing in size and changing shape. A female won't be interested in breeding at this point, because she still hasn't released her eggs. This will last between one and two weeks, depending on many factors.

The next stage is the actual Estrus. You can tell when this has started, as she will be receptive to breeding. If you were checking her blood, you'd notice that progesterone levels had suddenly shot up, triggering ovulation. Many breeders use progesterone levels to approximate the very best time for breeding. This lasts for another week or so, depending on several variables like the body weight of the dog.

At no point will a dog (or most animals for that matter) have a "period" that is analogous to that of humans and other large primates.

It's possible that because, in nature, these animals virtually always become pregnant after every heat cycle, that the actual pregnancy/birth cycle is intended to clean out the lining of the uterus as the menstrual cycle does in primates. No one knows for sure.

bob

[storminstaffs]

yes, tara was a very heavy bleeder im pleased that she's sprayed now it stopped all the mess and phatnom pregnancies

[Scarlette]

Mirra and Sydnee came into heat within a week of each other and we had them wear underwear with pads because they were bleeding all over the place.

Sydnee is going to be spayed this Thursday.