First heat... Now what

[NoVA Lab Mama]

Just weeks shy of her first birthday, Stella out of nowhere appears to have gone into heat tonight. Her vulva is slightly swollen but not crazy, and I haven't seen any noticeable behavioral change. Talked to the vet tonight but would really welcome any advice. How long for bleeding? Any words of wisdom for living through this? We are, of course, traveling for thanksgiving. She is suppos d to come with us, but I can't take her to my parents' home if she is bleeding.

Advice please!

[smartrock]

First, I'll admit that Lark was my first female who wasn't spayed before her first heat so I've had just one round. However, it really wasn't too bad. I think you expect bleeding to last 4 weeks and you need to keep her away from intact males during that entire time, even if the bleeding seems to have ended. The bleeding fluctuates in amount and color. I read some females keep themselves pretty clean but I had Lark wear a diaper and put regular human panty liners inside and changed those out. She didn't mess with her lovely little pants and I think during that whole time only 2-3 little drops of blood actually got onto the floor. She was in her crate overnight with no diaper. I only allowed her to go out into our backyard and went out with her. We didn't have any issue with male "suitors", there are no loose dogs running around our neighborhood and our older guy is neutered. I didn't really notice any behavior changes on her part. It was less difficult than I'd feared.

If your parents' home has hard floors in an area where she can be confined and you take a crate, it may be manageable, as long as there's an OK place to take her outside. The pants can be found at places like Petco or Petsmart. Finding someone to watch her so close to Thanksgiving may be a stretch. I know our kennel has been booked for several weeks now.

[windycanyon]

Figure minimum 21 days. Go buy some chlorophyll from the health food store to knock down the doggy odor and buy some unders (for any bloody discharge). They make some really nice britch pants.

[jacksonsmommy]

For whatever reason, my girl would slip out of her doggie diapers - she is a smaller lab, so I think they just slipped off her waist. So I went to Target and got boy's underwear (Batman themed!) and put them on her backwards so her tail went through the front flap of the undies (I had to cut that a bit so her tail wasn't constricted). As far as size, I basically just measured her waist and got the equivalent waist size in boy underwear. Put in a long thin pantyliner and that worked like a charm. Good luck!

[POPTOP]

Mardi was the first to come into heat that we've experienced in many, many years, about a week after she joined the family. Fortunately, we have a large kitchen with a tile floor so she mainly stayed there. Made sure I was with her all the time when she was outside in the back yard and she slept in a crate in the kitchen at night. I have an ample supply of large cotton blankets and in the evenings she was allowed in the living room when the rug was covered and protected. It really was not as bad as I thought. Yes, there was floor mopping and lots of blanket washing but doable.

Mardi in her panties. Took her all of 5 minutes to get out of them and was never successful in keeping them on.

[Annette47]

My girls’ heat cycles have usually lasted about 3 weeks. We use panties to keep the floors clean, crate when necessary and are careful when taking them out, but we’ve never had hordes of intact males clamoring outside the house (we used to have one in the house, but that’s another story!). It’s really not that hard to manage if you just use common sense.

Oh, and if you have her in panties, don’t forget in an early morning sleepy haze to take them off her before you take her outside .... don’t ask how I know that, LOL.

[Charlotte K.]

I prefer to crate them overnight so that they do not have to wear panties to bed, and so that I don't need to worry about them eating the liner to clean the panties. Moppable floors also help. Sadly, the first season can be either the lightest or the heaviest one of all.

[Annette47]

I prefer to crate them overnight so that they do not have to wear panties to bed

We tried that but they were miserable because they didn’t understand why they couldn’t be in bed with us like usual.

[Dennis Thomas, DVM]

Most Labs are late bloomers and yours falls into that category. She will be in heat for three weeks and even though ovulation is usually during the second week, you never know what an individual dog is going to do. So, to be safe, keep her away from male dogs the entire three weeks. I have seen bitches bred while walking on leashes. Those neighborhood Romeos are pretty good at what they do.

[Shelley]

Most Labs are late bloomers and yours falls into that category. She will be in heat for three weeks and even though ovulation is usually during the second week, you never know what an individual dog is going to do. So, to be safe, keep her away from male dogs the entire three weeks. I have seen bitches bred while walking on leashes. Those neighborhood Romeos are pretty good at what they do.

Three weeks, hehehe... yeah, notsomuch. Tell that to my girl that was ready (based on progesterone timing) to breed on day 27! I tell my families to be prepared to keep them away from intact males for a full month, it is much safer. :-)

I have also told my families not to bother with bitch britches, and just use boys tighty whitey underwear, and pull the tail through the fly, you can put a panty liner inside to help them last longer too. I also crate mine overnight when in season so they can go panty-less in the crate. :-)