# First heat and bleeding



## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

Caeda started her first heat yesterday, or at least she started bleeding yesterday. I originally thought it was our recently injured cat that was the source of the blood, but I learned otherwise when Caeda decided to sit on my leg (ewwwww!)

So, how long does the bleeding last? I know that the heat often lasts beyond the end of the bleeding, so for at least a couple weeks beyond that we'll have to keep her away from the boys....but its the bleeding I'm really wondering about. Is it long enough to consider investing in those doggy underwear I've seen? How much of a pain are those to deal with? Do many dogs get used to them before they're unnecessary. We luckily have tile floor, so no stains yet! We will be getting her fixed, but we wanted to wait for a heat or two to go by.


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## Binkalette (Dec 16, 2008)

Zoey bled for around 1 1/2 to 2 weeks when she went into heat (A WEEK before she was supposed to be spayed!! and then they made us wait until several weeks after her heat was over to spay). I just took a pair of my old underwear, cut a tail hole in them, put a panty liner in them and used a safety pin to fasten them on.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

If you don't want to cut holes, boys'/mens' underwear has a ready-made hole . Just turn them backward and put her tail through the fly hole, with a maxi pad stuck in the proper location.


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

Willowy said:


> If you don't want to cut holes, boys'/mens' underwear has a ready-made hole . Just turn them backward and put her tail through the fly hole, with a maxi pad stuck in the proper location.


AH HAH!!!!! Going to do this tomorrow! I'd do it tonight but I don't think leaving her relatively unattended while we sleep is the best time to try it out.....we'd be listening to the tearing all night. 

AWESOME!


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Make sure to post pics of her in her skivvies. . .


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## Bordermom (Apr 28, 2010)

Expect her to be in heat for about 25 days, just to be safe. I have one student and his vet told him that dogs are only in heat for seven days after they first bleed (I corrected him on that!). Drive her to a quiet location for an on leash walk, then drive back, and don't let her pee outside of the yard near the house so she's attracting the boys. She may get moody or sucky for a while too. They are 'fertile' usually from day 10-20 or something like that, depends on the breed, but usually I give about five days after Storee stops flagging before I put her together with Ticket (flagging is where they'll put their tail out to the side if you touch near their butt).

We did boxer shorts with the pins in them once, very cute! LOL


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## wvasko (Dec 15, 2007)

21 days or so, 1st week coming in, sometime during 2nd week is when they get bred, 3rd week going out.


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

Bordermom said:


> Expect her to be in heat for about 25 days, just to be safe. I have one student and his vet told him that dogs are only in heat for seven days after they first bleed (I corrected him on that!). Drive her to a quiet location for an on leash walk, then drive back, and don't let her pee outside of the yard near the house so she's attracting the boys. She may get moody or sucky for a while too. They are 'fertile' usually from day 10-20 or something like that, depends on the breed, but usually I give about five days after Storee stops flagging before I put her together with Ticket (flagging is where they'll put their tail out to the side if you touch near their butt).
> 
> We did boxer shorts with the pins in them once, very cute! LOL


Moody and sucky.....check! I noticed that the day before I realized the blood was her and not the cat. She's alternating between being the female dog that she is and a complete cuddler, and the occasional random whining (do they get cramping like we do?). We are going to be extra cautious with her being around the boys....her dam was exposed to the good ol doggy daddy before heat was completely over, which is how Caeda happened a heat earlier than intended. We have one male on the property and he is fixed and HATES her, I think the next nearest male dog is kilometres away (we're still going to be super cautious though!!! no doggy daycare for at least a month! and we'll take her down the back trail on the property for her walks). The flagging is REALLY good to know about too. 









I put them on right after I brought her inside from a potty break and forgot to take her harness off. I gave her a snack to distract her while I got the camera and some pins. She looks very cute, but she only kept them on long enough to eat then she squirmed out before the pins were in. My DH went into town for groceries and he's probably getting actual doggy diapers, he's pretty grossed out I think lol.


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

My DH just had an interesting question about Caeda in heat.....are there any nutritional supplements we should be considering for her? We had a look at her puppy "pad" and I'm just surprised how much she is bleeding!


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## 5 s corral (Dec 31, 2007)

Love the undies


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Greater Swiss said:


> My DH just had an interesting question about Caeda in heat.....are there any nutritional supplements we should be considering for her? We had a look at her puppy "pad" and I'm just surprised how much she is bleeding!


I've never heard that a dog in heat needs anything extra. But if it makes you feel better, I'm sure she wouldn't mind some hamburger. . .lots of iron, and yummy!


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

Did you notice anything about her vulva? Is it very swollen? Sorry for hijacking... My pup is 6 months, so I think she'll be going into heat in the next month or so... need to know what it looks like before I find blood everywhere, lol.


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

I'd meant to reply to this ages ago...yes, her vulva is REALLY swollen. It has gone down a fair bit but several days ago it was almost obscene to even watch her walk. I've read somewhere that not all dogs show that quite so extreme, so you may not really notice any at all.


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