Yikes! First heat and concerned!

After reading all the research about the health pros/cons of spaying early, I decided to wait until my girl, Aimee, was a year old before getting her fixed. She is 8 months old now and I just realized she's having her first heat. What's worse is, after reading more, I think she may have come into heat 7-10 days ago and I didn't know it until now. I have no experience with dogs in heat! Our previous lab was fixed at 6 months old. (That was 14 years ago and that's just what everyone did back then and no one knew any better.) My big concern is, she has been going to doggie daycare as recently as yesterday, where there are typically up to 30-40 dogs playing. The daycare attendants had previously assured me they would know if she came into heat because the other dogs would show interest, so they would warn me to keep her away for a while. But they didn't mention anything to me. Now I'm worried. If she really has been in heat for a week I'm really concerned there's been some unnoticed hanky panky at daycare! Some people have told me she cannot be pregnant because dogs have to "tie" for 10-20 minutes and there's no way that would go unnoticed at daycare. But then I read this is a myth. Male dogs CAN ejaculate before and without tying! Ugh. I do NOT want puppies! What do I do? Is there an early pregnancy test for dogs?

 

Oh goodness! What a worry. I'm sorry, I don't know anything about the actual act of puppy creation so I can't be of any help.

Are there definitely entire boys at her daycare? I'm amazed that the daycare workers didn't notice. Surely at least one dog would have been noticeably nuts around her?

Hopefully some of the more knowledgeable members will be waking up soon and will be able to help.

 

I'm definitely going to ask the daycare people on Monday if there have been any intact males there in the past week. Why do these things always happen before a weekend!? But don't even neutered males take notice of a female in heat, even if they can't actually do anything about it? I'm told even females are curious of another female in heat. So there should have been some noticeable activity. I certainly would not have let her go to daycare if I'd realized she was in heat. But they assured me they'd seen it many times and would know. I thought they knew more than I did about it so I trusted them. Grrr.

 

I'm on the west coast of the US. It's still Saturday night here. I have long wait for Monday morning when the facility opens and I can ask someone. Ugh.

 

I'm on the east coast of Australia so it's 4.20pm on Sunday. It's funny to think that we're nearly a day ahead!

 

It’s 7.40am here on Sunday morning!

 

I would speak to your vet they will help you understand what stage she is in her season. If no one at day care noticed anything it maybe possible that the dogs did not respond to her either. You can ring a vet and ask advice about this if you can say you think she mated there are drugs available to stop any pregnancy but they can only used in the first few hours of mating. These may not be an option for you but you can get advice from your vet and find out if she is pregnant and what you can do if she is, you may well be worrying unnecessarily. I'm sorry this has happened but sometimes seasons can be unnoticedable at first.

 

Hi @cdwarrior , I just wondered, as a starting point to be of any help, what signs have you noticed that makes you think she may have been in season for 7-10 days?

 

Is she showing any signs of being receptive? Flagging her tail to the side if you stroke her back?
During Luna’s first season, none of my other dogs became more interested in her, and she never flagged at all.

I was also wondering what signs you had seen?

Squidge is back in season again right now and is nowhere near as swollen as she was last time and there’s not quite as much blood, but it’s still pretty obvious and would be hard to miss.

 

In my experience there is always some noticeable blood loss at the start of a season so i think it’s unlikely she’s been in season without you knowing. I believe the fertile period is nearer the end of the season, so fingers crossed you’re safe.

 

Yes this is my understanding. Hopefully all is ok.

 

What I read online, "At first, the discharge is very bloody, but as the days pass, it changes to a watery, pinkish-red discharge, usually about 7-10 days into the cycle."
She is having the watery pinkish red discharge now. I also noticed she hasn't been quite herself for the past week or so but didn't know why. I thought maybe she was sick but she had no obvious signs of illness like coughing or vomiting. She just seemed "off" like wanting to go sleep in places she doesn't normally, not playing as much as usual and such. Now I think her changes in behavior are hormonal. Do dogs get the equivalent of PMS?

 

No, I haven't noticed any sort of response when I stroke her back.

 

They definitely have some behavioural changes around being in season, in my experience much like you describe. They are thought to be in the receptive phase when the bloody discharge lessens/ceases. The tail flagging usually corresponds with this.
Really I think you need to talk to your vets, as I'm sure you will as soon as you can.

 

Don't worry! I would prepare yourself though for a few days of heavier discharge. I suspect she isn't quite into the full swing of her season yet. Oh, and I think doggy care would have to be blind not to notice other dogs interest! Benson was reasonably mellow at the beginning of Brambles season, so we had no problem with them being together, but boy did things get intense later on! They were separated for a week or so..

 

Well, Aimee hurt her eye so I took her to the vet this morning to make sure it was nothing serious (it wasn't) and while I was there I asked about her being in heat. The vet thinks she's still in the first week so unlikely she would have accepted a male last week. I also talked to the daycare and they said they don't think any intact males have attended recently. Unaltered dogs (male or female) are not allowed after 1 year old so intact dogs are rare there, and still pretty young. They didn't see any funny business last week. Whew!

 

k

 

How long does the bleeding continue? From what I read they bleed a little the first week, then stop for a bit, then bleed a little at the end. Aimee's been bleeding for 2 weeks straight and getting worse! Ugh.

 

Red bled for nearly 3 weeks - it seemed to go on for ages I was mopping up after her - seemed a lot at times as well.

 

Plum bled for about 3 weeks and just when I thought she'd stopped, she'd start again!
I think it's pretty usual for them to bleed all the way through.