female in heat

[americanbulldog]

My female is in heat for the first time and my male is absolutely driving me up the wall. Constantly panting and whining wanting to get to her. I want to wait 'till the next heat to breed but I am going batty. I think it has been a week and a half since she came in but he just started acting this way 2 days ago. How long do I have to endure his behavior. It's unbearable. Any kind of input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[GretaJack]

She is getting to the point where she will be ready to stand to him or any other dog. My simple suggestion, if you can afford it and stand to part with him for a while, is board him at a facility. Or see if a friend or family member could take him until she is out of season. Honestly is nothing you are going to be able to do to change his behavior to her. And if you have no intentions of breeding this heat, you and him are going to be completely stressed out.

I have owned stud dogs, and I know how miserable it can be with a female in season. But they are only following their instinct and their hormones.

I hope it gets better. I really do sympathize with you!

Welcome to this forum, also!

[eXile]

I agree. Never owned a dog in heat, nor have i ever owned an unaltered male. But it does seem that this dog really wants "some": LOL I really suggest you get him out of the house because for one slpit second you turn a blind eye, its over. And seperation while mating could be very dangerous.

[Dax]

Besides the great advice from Greta & Exile, have you talked to your vet about possiblity sedating or medicating the males?

[eXile]

Dax, or Greta, or whoever answers the question first and knows about it...when a female gets spayed...do they still go into heat?

[Dax]

No, Exile there is no cylce changes in a spayed female. No physical or mental changes that I have been able to detect.

Having said that I did some reading a while ago that listed a medical condition where the spay procedure did not remove all of the "female" parts and the dog still exhibited signs of heat. I'll post the link if I can find it again.

[Dax]

Here it is (from vetinfo.com)

There is a condition in female dogs and cats known as "ovarian remnant
syndrome" in which a spayed female continues to exhibit signs of estrus
(heat periods. Usually this occurs because a portion of an ovary was left
in the abdomen during the spay surgery. This can happen several ways --
sometimes the surgeon doesn't have a clear view of the ovary for some
reason (obesity, not having a big enough incision, bleeding, etc.) and a
portion is simply missed, other times it is a piece of the ovary is
accidentally dropped as it is removed and reimplants in the abdomen. I have
had a couple of patients in our practice that appeared to have small pieces
of ovary near the normal ovarian tissue but separate from it. So far we
have seen these pieces and removed them but I tend to think that there are
times when there is just extra ovarian tissue. Dogs that have ovarian
tissue that is not removed during a spay tend to show all the normal signs
of heat -- swelling of the vulva, bleeding, attraction of male dogs and
often false pregnancy signs. These usually occur at the same interval as
other estrus periods, roughly seven months. Cats tend to have normal estrus
behavior for their species, too. This can be crying, rolling on the floor,
overly friendly behavior and attraction of male cats at about 3 week
intervals. The only treatment I know of is to find the ovarian tissue that
remains and to remove it. This is easiest to do when the pet is in estrus
because the ovarian tissue is active and easier to find.

In a dog that has already had exploratory surgery once I think it would be
a good idea to do hormonal testing prior to considering another surgery.
Sometimes it is possible to tell that ovarian tissue remains just by
testing progesterone levels in dogs but only if the progesterone levels are
over 2ng/ml. A hormonal response test that starts with administration of
HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) during estrus behavior and then is
followed by measurement of progesterone is more accurate. This test works
for cats, too.

[eXile]

Do they still bleed quite a bit after theyve been spayed in heat?

[Dax]

There is no discharge bloody or otherwise in a female properly spayed. The dogs with the complications act like they are intact including the bleeding.

In all my dogs (I prefer females) I have never ever had a dog where there was this complication. I would suspect it has a minor incidence rate of occuring.

[BabyElephant]

Originally Posted by americanbulldog

My female is in heat for the first time and my male is absolutely driving me up the wall. Constantly panting and whining wanting to get to her. I want to wait 'till the next heat to breed but I am going batty. I think it has been a week and a half since she came in but he just started acting this way 2 days ago. How long do I have to endure his behavior. It's unbearable. Any kind of input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

I would advise against breeding her at her next heat and wait until her third heat - that way she will be better equiped to cope with the puppies and you have a better idea of how her heat cycles are. You should also keep a diary of how she is during this heat - when did she start, when did she stand, how long did she stand for, when did she finish her heat. That way you will know when is the right day(s) for breeding. You will probably have to endure his behaviour right up to the end of her heat now.

She if she has an "average" season she will be in heat for 22 days - and standing for about 7 days of this period. Having said this not all dogs are average and my lab has just had her first heat and she was in season for 17 days and only stood for 4 days.