Hello- my 1 year old English Lab had shown signs of heat....a few drops of blood were on the carpet. I confined her to the crate, and she was fine with that. We let her out at night in the kitchen and kept an eye on her- only a few drops. At night there was a small (quarter size) spot in her crate. Today- nothing. Is this normal? I've never owned a dog in heat. We planned on spaying her after the first heat. Thanks
A very warm welcome to the forum! Most female dogs will keep themselves clean when in season, but some do drip a little. You can find out lots more information about what to expect during this time in this article: Your Female Dog's Season.
It's not really necessary to confine a dog to her crate all day just because she is in heat. Unless you have carpets on the floor, drops of blood can very easily be cleaned up and the majority of dogs keep themselves very clean. Even if you have carpets, dogs can wear 'season pants' to stop the blood from getting on them and to enable the dog to have free range of the house.
I am learning how to handle this as I've never had a dog in heat.....we will be spaying her soon after. She has been out of the crate after that first day, as I didn't know what to expect. Occasionally, I have to clean up the kitchen floor, but it hasn't been much. We've kept her in the kitchen as usual, as my dogs are not out of that area of the house.
Our Bella is 10 days into her first heat...what a mess! We're using doggie diapers to help contain it. Hopefully it stops soon. We're also looking into getting her spayed in a few months, but I'd like to try to find a place that does the laproscopic procedure for a faster recovery.
I found the first season to be messy and subsequent seasons to be no bother at all. I didn't get my last dog spayed until she was about 13, under pressure from my vet who convinced me she would inevitably get pyo if I didn't. She immediately had a false pregnancy then breast cancer and died 8 weeks after the op. We'll never know what would have happened if I hadnt had her spayed but it seems like it was the wrong decision to me.
