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Question about her first season!

kmatt

kmatt

Well-known member
So Anna is approaching her 6th month of age and I know that sometime soon she will enter her first season. I do not plan on spaying her till she is older, closer to 3 years of age to let her coat grow in. What should I do? She has started to 'hump things' and I've noticed that she is licking her vulva alot more.

Advice?
 
Lois had her first season at 8 months. The first I knew about it was when I saw two tiny spots of blood on our wooden floor one morning. It lasted about 3 weeks in total and during that time I rolled up the lounge rug and put all soft furnishings away so they didn't get ruined. We bathed her half way through her season and at the end to take away the scent and also washed her bedding regularly. We will be getting Lois spayed in September but I do worry that Lois will lose that lovely shiny coat and it'll go woollly.
 
Both of my girls are spayed and they both have long silky coats. I think it depends a lot on their parents how the coat turns out. I think the health benefits of spaying out way the beauty aspects of a dog anytime, and I don’t think I be the only one on here to say this.
 
Sabby said:
Both of my girls are spayed and they both have long silky coats. I think it depends a lot on their parents how the coat turns out. I think the health benefits of spaying out way the beauty aspects of a dog anytime, and I don’t think I be the only one on here to say this.
Click to expand...

The time to spay can be pretty controversial ... but while people do worry about the coat, I never heard of delaying spaying for 3 years just to make sure you get the coat. Even if the lovely coat grew in for the first three years, after spay you are losing those hormones anyway ... I'd think you are just delaying the inevitable. Most often spaying is delayed to make sure their growth plates have closed ( a little after a year).

That said, are you planning to breed Anna? I'd be worried about an accidental mating in an unspayed dog, and there are health concerns like breast cancer and Pyometria that affect females who are not spayed. I'm not sure I would want to risk all that purely for a lovely coat that you may get anyway.

That said, I am no expert & I have boy dogs. :D

Have you researched this decision? If you have and are happy with it, it's of course your decision. Just be sure you understand the risks. ;)

Good luck with Anna's first season. :)
 
If you plan to spay later then you need to concentrate on security! When she needs to go out,only take her into your own enclosed garden, for as short a time as possible and keep her on a leash.Keep your eyes open for anything large and male than might jump over a wall. Just because she can't get out,doesn't mean that something can't get in. Definitely keep her in lockdown for at least 21 days.
I have an unspayed 2.8 year old bitch and because my home is all tiles and wooden floors it's easy to maintain good hygiene.Cavaliers are small and don't create nearly as much mess as you'd imagine.
She'll be very grumpy and almost depressed for a few days before it happens and you'll soon see the little spots of blood.
Just wash her bedding frequently.
I think the decision to spay depends on the environment as well as medical concerns.If I lived in an urban environment,I would have spayed Daisy three months after her first season.As for the coat, Daisy still hasn't got very much of a coat and likely never will.
I'll probably get around to having her spayed eventually :eek:
Sins
 
sins said:
If you plan to spay later then you need to concentrate on security! When she needs to go out,only take her into your own enclosed garden, for as short a time as possible and keep her on a leash.Keep your eyes open for anything large and male than might jump over a wall. Just because she can't get out,doesn't mean that something can't get in. Definitely keep her in lockdown for at least 21 days.
I have an unspayed 2.8 year old bitch and because my home is all tiles and wooden floors it's easy to maintain good hygiene.Cavaliers are small and don't create nearly as much mess as you'd imagine.
She'll be very grumpy and almost depressed for a few days before it happens and you'll soon see the little spots of blood.
Just wash her bedding frequently.
I think the decision to spay depends on the environment as well as medical concerns.If I lived in an urban environment,I would have spayed Daisy three months after her first season.As for the coat, Daisy still hasn't got very much of a coat and likely never will.
I'll probably get around to having her spayed eventually :eek:
Sins
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Luckily I have two large female black labs and a 8 foot fence to keep out intruders. I'm lucky in that aspect. I do worry about her coat as she has very little coat as it is.

Lani said:
The time to spay can be pretty controversial ... but while people do worry about the coat, I never heard of delaying spaying for 3 years just to make sure you get the coat. Even if the lovely coat grew in for the first three years, after spay you are losing those hormones anyway ... I'd think you are just delaying the inevitable. Most often spaying is delayed to make sure their growth plates have closed ( a little after a year).

That said, are you planning to breed Anna? I'd be worried about an accidental mating in an unspayed dog, and there are health concerns like breast cancer and Pyometria that affect females who are not spayed. I'm not sure I would want to risk all that purely for a lovely coat that you may get anyway.

That said, I am no expert & I have boy dogs. :D

Have you researched this decision? If you have and are happy with it, it's of course your decision. Just be sure you understand the risks. ;)

Good luck with Anna's first season. :)
Click to expand...

I'm talking with my vet currently and once she is a year old I'll have her go in for her certificates. I've already found a stud with a great background. And I'd love to breed her. I'm talking with my vet right now though on the best course of action, so I guess in the end, if she does get spayed, it won't be till after she is a year old.
 
Vivian is just winding up her first season, started at a little over 7 months, she just turned 8 months lasting about 3 weeks. As far as how she did, the first week or so I thought she had forgotten everything she had been trained, (was finally 100% successful), jumping so much she hurt her elbow, was uncomfortable lots of licking and dribbling urine had to rinse her backside frequently.

Doing much better now, housetraing much improved, can leave the dog door open for them to use, no more diaper when we go out.

My breeder suggest that I hold of spay for about 3 months mainly to let all the organs shrink down to normal size (she feels that the risk of blood loss and hypovolemia is to high till they are this far out of estrus). So we will be going in early October to have the op. Good luck.
 
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