Could Ellie be in season??

Ellie will be 6 months old in a couple of days. This last week she has been ''Humping'' her teddy constantly and today she seems to have a very pale blood discharge. I thought 6 months old was far too early????
Can anyone advise me please. I am wondering if she has a urine infection, although she doesnt seem to be in any discomfort....
As I say, she is ''HUMPING'' a LOT and licking herself too....

No, 6 months is about the time they can first be expected to come into heat though right at 6 months would be on the early side. That's why most vets recommend spaying at 6 months as the most likely window is 6-8 months and thus you can avoid a first heat, which slightly increases risks for mammary cancer over a lifetime (to about 7%) from 0 if spayed before the first heat. If she goes through a second heat, her lifetime risk for mammary cancer rises to 25% so it is strongly advisable to get her spayed after this heat.

She definitely sounds as if she is in heat though if you have any doubts, get her to a vet -- don't wait in doubt with infections as one of the most likely infections with discharge in this area is pyometra, which can quickly be fatal and is always very serious. However as she hasn't been in heat before this is very unlikely to be pyometra. You will need to keep her inside for the next 4 weeks or so (no walks) and be very careful with her, her hormones will make her want to escape and look for males if given the oportunity. You may find male dogs hanging around outside your home for the next while as well. You can get special panties to keep the blood from marking your home.

I would suggest talking to your vet though for advice on keeping her safe during this time and to learn more about what a heat involves, and what to watch for with pyometra, which sometimes will follow a heat (you can also find this information by Googlng; there's plenty on the net about pyometra). At any rate you will need to wait til about three months after her heat ends now to get her spayed.

The earliest any of mine has ever had a first heat was 5 months old, the latest 13 months old, although on average they are between 9 & 11 months. Occassionally a girl can have a dose of "Vagininismuss" (sp?) prior to fully coming into heat, this is a stringy to pale blood coloured discharge but without the vulva becoming swollen, usually they are in heat within a couple of weeks of this. A reliable test for them being in heat is the "white tissue test", wait until they have come back in from going "potty" then dab the vulva with a white tissue, if you find blood and the vulva is looking swollen then they are in heat!! You may be quite surprised by how much they can swell up, when I had my first girl I worried that I would miss her coming into heat, my friends assured me that was not the case and they were right, it is pretty unmistakable! Other signs of being in heat are frequent washing of the vulva, although some can be quite lazy of this, another sign is they may lift or "cock" one of their back legs at the end of their potty "courtsy"!!

As Karlin has pointed out this is a time when your girl is at a higher risk of pyometra, a potentially life threatening illness, so if you have any worries about whether your girl is in heat or has an infection then visit your vet, even if is for nothing more than to put your mind at rest! Hope this is of help?

Thanks for the advise. She is defenetly washing herself a lot. I will do the white tissue test in the morning.... I will take her to see the vet on Monday to get her checked out... I didn't know that if she is in season, I would have to wait 3 months to get her spayed...why is that ??

It is to allow everything inside to "shrink" back down again and make the operation easier. My vet also prefers them to be nearer to a year in age so that their heart and lungs are better developed and can tolerate a general anaesthetic more easily. Different vets have different idea's on this, but that is my vets thinking anyway!

Hope that is of help?

My vets say they prefer dogs to be in a neutral hormonal state when neutered as this is much easier on the dog. Also there is a slightly greater risk to the dog when they are spayed in heat.

The females I have seen in heat are usually pretty unmistakeable once in full heat -- think about those National Geographic shows of chimps or baboons in heat and how swollen their vaginal regions are and that about captures it. Poor Maggie the puppy farm dog I took to Tara is very swollen right now. However I have heard that some are not this extreme and of course at the start of heat they may not be swollen at all. The licking is a typical sign. I think it likely that when a dog goes into first heat is probably highly determined by genes; vets have always told be 7-9 months as typical for dogs but I know some go much later. A lot of people seem to get caught out by their pet cavalier going into heat at 6-7 months though, going from posts to this board.

Her vulva does look swollen, and when I wiped her after she had been for a wee, there was brown on the tissue ( not blood). So it does seem that my wee baby has started her season :yuk:.... I was hoping to get her spayed in a couple of weeks, so that wont happen now....I was also going to have her chipped at the same time, to save her from the pain of the injection...
She screamed so LOUD at her 12 week old jab, that the vet did'nt want to chip her until she was spayed..... Now I dont know what to do about having her chipped

Our Molly (born 30/9/2006) was also in heat aged 6 months. She was licking herself a lot, and we discovered it at "puppy school", where one of the males was trying to get to her! Luckily she was too scared by his size and lay flat on the ground, when he approached her. One week later (beginning of April, when she was a bit more than 6 months), she was in full heat. It was like having a sex maniac in the house! She dug her way into our neighbours garden, to visit his male dog, and she howled at every male dog she met! It was: "I am ready - come and get me!" It sounds fun, but we got the full blast of a heat - except for the bleeding. I only discovered one small blod stain on the floor, once. She kept herself very clean, and now she is "out of heat" she does not lick herself that often.

lady's in heat at the moment she's had a very light flow we didn't need to get the pants. We made sure that she sit's on a blanket that way we haven't had any marks on the furniture. She was off her food for a couple of days but she's back to normal now she gets quite sleepy and grumpy though. I will be so relieved when its over only another 2 weeks then she can go out for walks again.

Don't worry too much about having her micro-chipped right now, it can still be done when she is eventually spayed, I am qualified to micro-chip dogs, and although it is a MUCH bigger needle it is classed as a "Sub-cut" injection. You will find that although they jump when the needle initially goes in there is no real reaction, whereas when they are vaccinated, the serum has to be kept chilled, so when it is initially injected they will make a big fuss!

I can relate to this, I had to have an IV canula unblocked and they flushed it with cold water straight into my vein, OH Boy!! No wonder they yell, it is cold and quite painful initially, but if rubbed soon subsides!!

Different vets have differing idea's as to their own ideal age to spay, some like to spay before the first season, some prefer them to be older, my own vet prefers to wait until they have had one heat so that their heart and lungs are more mature for the anaesthetic, but I know that others have their own opinions!

Sounds like your little girl is now officially a "lady"!!

I took Ellie to the vets today, and the nurse confirmed that Ellie is in heat:lpy: . I also had her chipped today.......I went outside while they did it, but the nurse said she did scream poor baby......

Just a note for those microchipping that may help out with the pain. We microchip all our pups before they go to their new homes, so they are wide awake for that BIG needle. To help out (both them and us, because either Kris or I are there for the chipping!), we have the vet put a little topical anesthetic at the injection site. We still have some that cry, but there are a lot now that just wimper a little or make no sound at all. And like Cathryn said, they don't cry very long.