Hi,
My lab is on day 11 of her first season now. It started off fairly lightly but today I have come down and my son had already let her out. There is a largish puddle outside whcih looks like mostly blood. She is also dripping quite a bit of blood everywhere. It is bright red. Saying all this she seems well in herself so I don't think she is ill. Is this amount of bleeding normal and hwat can I do to minimise mess? I can constantly mopping up after her. She sits on towels in the house but it soaks through very quickly so end up having to scrub the carpet anyway.

Any suggestions please? I'm desperate!

Thanks :rolleyes:

The largish puddle is more than likely a puddle of wee with blood in it. I presume your son saw her wee hopefully it will explain the puddle

All my Labs have been different, some have been very light bleeders and clean themselves up and some have been heavy bleeders and wouldn't even entertain licking themselves up :rolleyes:

That is the key if she is eating and drinking normally and doing wees and poos ok then she should be ok.

Any signs of lethargy, discomfort , not eating or drinking or excess drinking then pop her to the vets to rule out Pyrometra but would be rare at this stage of her season. It is normally about a month or so after a season.

http://www.downlandvets.co.uk/Pages/Clinical/Pages/Pyometra.html

HTH

Lucy
xx

http://www.canineconcepts.co.uk/item--Mikki-Hygiene-Pants--pants

You could also put a pair of childrens pants on to protect your carpet and furniture but if she is really heavy the above item may help.

My girls usually are worse in the morning after lying down when they stand they usually leave a little puddle but through the day they keep themselves clean without the need of pants.

Helo starryeyes... tried the pants idea... she just chewed them off :rolleyes: lol! Thanks anyway

Hi LJS. The puddle was definitely not wee... no liquid around it, just thick oozy blood (good description huh? ... sorry if you just ate!) She is drinking ok but is a little off her food... only eating about half the normal amount. I guess she would eat if she was hungry though. Will keep an eye on that and take her to the vet if she is still not eating properly by Monday. I have seen the vet recently and he did check her then for pyometra and said she seemed fine, but then she wasn't bleeding as much then.

From my experience of bitches every bitch is different, most 1st seasons are light to start with then in the middle get heavy. Some 1st seasons there is no blood at all. Some are very heavy. I don't know if you are male or female but if you are female think periods. Everyone is different. Dogs also suffer PMT aswell this varys from moody, protective, off their food etc. Also on another note are you getting her spayed good idea if you don't plan to breed her due to cancer in later life. Hope this helps.

Hi nugga. i am female and yes, i guess you are right about the everyoner is different thing, it just alarmed me to see so much, but then i guess if we humans didn't use some kind of sanitary protection tha would alarm me too I guess the being a little off her food could be a bit of PMt as you suggest. Maybe she will improve soon - hope so Not plannig on spaying... at least no just yet. would like to have one of her puppies eventually (when she is old enough). Also, read downsides of spaying are that they can become severely incontinent in later life. Have you heard much about that?

I've never heard of anyone having any of the downsides of speying, I've never experienced it either and i've had bitches all my life. Also have a look at pampers bed mats these help with the loss. Let us know how she gets on.

>I've never heard of anyone having any of the downsides of speying,

You have now! I have a bitch who has urinary incontinence and is on lifetime medication to control it, because it distresses her so much (and floods the furniture as well). Studies have reported that about 20% of spayed bitches will suffer from this.

OMG i'm sorry to hear that, it must be terrible for you and the bitch. I know I'm going of the subject here but what would you say now with regards to the speying, would you rather risk the cancer or risk the incontinence? I'm interested in this as I've had bitches all my life I do have a dog and a bitch at the moment. Bitch has been speyed but in all the bitches I've had i can honestly say the vets have never mentioned the downside they've all mentioned the cancer. Thanks

We only had her (and her mum) spayed because we were keeping two dog puppies (not through choice!) and wanted to avoid problems during the girls' seasons. Neither would be having any more litters (mum was 7, and the daughter wasn't suitable to breed from anyway). Otherwise I expect we'd have kept them entire - cancer doesn't really hold any terrors for me, for some reason, so for me that's no reason to spay.

I have so far owned 7 bitches (all but one of the same breed) who are 11 months to the oldest at her death 13 1/2.

The youngest age at spaying was 3 so none had the oft quoted protection against mammary tumours of pre pubertal spaying.  Only 1 had mammary tumours (though to be fair I should remove the 11 months pup and only count the 6).  the one with the tumour, which turned out to be Carcinoma had a pea size lump removed at age five (after which she was payed) and then had one return to the same spot at 8 1/2, this time she had a partial mastectomy removing that and the adjacent gland.  She lived a happy and from then on trouble free life another five years, until her kidneys packed up at 13 1/2 and I had her put to sleep.

Statistics quoted would have it that at least half of the girls should have had tumours and half of those be cancerous.  A straw poll of breeders in my breed find very few have had bitches with mammary tumours, yet a friend in a spaniel breed had them in every bitch and by 10 years old most had full mammary strips, but lived to a ripe old age.

None of the others have had or got tumours and at present I have a 4, 8 and 10 year old as well as the 11 month old.  As said before the oldest two were spayed at around 7 years of age.

I think the risks of not spaying and the advantages are overplayed.  the only thing that it does ensure is the inability to reproduce.

In some breeds the figures are over 50%, certainly most dobe bitches of my acquaintance that are spayed are on medication sooner or later, and the same appears to be the case for Rotts and Boxers.

Spaniel breeds tend to develop a huge undercoat which makes grooming difficult/painful, to the extend that it becomes a welfare issue.

I spay all my girls at around 7 or so, and fortunately they are not a heavy breed and the coat changes are not very noticeable though moulting tends to become a less seasonal and more year round affair and the coats are not so weather resistant.

This is not an unusual amount of bleeding...all bitches are different. A good solution for the mess is a product by PAMPERS called Bed Mats. they are absorbent paper with a plastic backing sheet, and they are big enough for a lab to lie on. They are pretty much like puppy training pads but bigger, and you can buy them in supermarket nappy sections, and Boots.

Hello Pinklilies. I think I will definitely give this idea a try. Got to be better than scrubbing the blooming carpet all day :rolleyes:

Thanks very much to all of you that replied,I really appreciate your time and suggestions. I'll keep you informed of any progress... Gosh, I didn't realise a female would be quite so much hard work! The main reason I didn't want a boy was because I don't like to see their bits dangling Now male dogs should most definitely wear pants, lol!!

That's an entertaining image!! Must say I'm glad my girl (albeit a smaller breed) doesn't bleed like you describe - a few spots if she's been lying in one place is all. A lot of people have told me the first one is the messiest, so hopefully your girl won't be so bad next time.

One of mine also bleeds rather heavily during her seasons - every season and also for at least three weeks.  ...  The best idea which I found was to put a nappy on her.  You may think that she will chew it off but if you use some masking tape and tape it round her body also you will find that she won't manage to get it off.  I also tried with pants and various other things in the past and no they just manage to get rid of them with the teeth.  I found that with the nappies though and the extra masking tape, they get fed up trying to get rid of them and just get on with their normal routine... 

Obviously you cut a hole for the tail and also take it off when she needs to go outside..  Found that I had to change it about twice a day due to the amount of heavy discharge.

>The best idea which I found was to put a nappy on her.  You may think that she will chew it off but if you use some masking tape and tape it round her body also you will find that she won't manage to get it off.  I also tried with pants and various other things in the past and no they just manage to get rid of them with the teeth.  I found that with the nappies though and the extra masking tape, they get fed up trying to get rid of them and just get on with their normal routine... 

Cannot imagine either of my girls(Labs) not even the quieter one, suffering the indignity of wearing pants taped on with masking tape!

Personally, I just put loads of old towels around and let them drip, they usually clean up alot of the mess anyhow..............I wonder if it's something you just get used to it really doesn't bother me at all

I didn't think that mine would suffer it either as she is always getting into such trouble and can manage to open anything you put near to her if she is left alone.  Don't knpow how many times I have come home to fin bags with zips open and all of the contents in the middle of the floor.  Don't even know how she gets near to them either.  Beginning to think she is a magician to be honest !!!!  But the nappies stayed on !!!  Regards infection, I think that as long as you keep them clean and change them often enough then there can't be any danger.  As someone else mentioned on here think of a period.  It's really basically the same thing that women do....

Well I've never done that before, lol, i've just put down newspapers and a pampers bed mat on her bed. She normally cleans up after herself i must admit.

TBH flipflop (although saying that I've never had one excessively messy) I don't agree with using pants, pads or nappies on bitches in case of infection.  A thick padded mat over my bed over night suffices (when they're most likely to leak) and large peices of vet bad if necessary on their favourite spots to lie in the lounge should be sufficient (OK, plus having the bissell / vacs on standy by perhaps!).

I'd rather deal with possible mess than possible infection ...... but each to their own.  Just thought it better to mention there are risks with the "cover up" method

regards, Teri

I have a small breed, and her first heat I couldnt have been more worried about the bleeding either.  She was quite heavy, one morning I woke up (she slept in my bed) and during the night she must have layed up against me, and when I woke, I honestly thought I was the one in "season"!  There was so much, I thought for sure she was bleeding out or something! 

Her heat was excessively long too, lasting 7ish weeks!  I took her to the vet, who checked for Pyo, and didnt find anything. 

My other girl, doesnt show at all!  To breed her, you basically have to look for swelling, and thats all you can go by.  She doesnt bleed one bit!

My spayed girl, who lived to a ripe age of 15 (shy 4 months), got a lot of tumours all over her body.  We had them removed when she was younger, and had them biopsied, but they werent cancerous.  She was fine, until she was about 12, and they started to come back again.  The vet said that if they removed them, and biopsied, she probably wouldnt live through surgery, so we didnt get it done.  She lived another 3 years almost, but we do believe some of them were cancer.  She ended up bleeding (spayed so it couldnt be a heat) so we had her pts.  (the bleeding plus other reasons)

I think there are risks for spaying, and risks for not spaying.  Look at them closely, and then make a decision.  If she becomes lythargic, or in distress, definately take her to the vet.  Honestly, the way I look at it, is if you are worried, then it doesnt hurt to get her checked out.  Whats the worst that could happen?  If its normal, then you put down money to ease your mind.  If its not normal, then you can deal with it, and treat her.