Doggy Rags

[GLAMACHIC]

hi everyone

electras mummy is back!!!

i havent been online for a while, but ive been learning lots and lots about my baby girl who doesnt look like a baby no more!

she has grown so much i just hope she stops...

she is now 6 months old and i wanted to know when will she get her period? how will i know she will have her period?

what things do i have to change around about the house? how long do doggy periods last? are they messy? is there

such a thing as doggy libra's?..hehe!!

do i have to change her food in any way?..oh speaking of food..she no longer wants to eat her own doggy food..she wants

our food...shes become a WOG DOG eating all our garlic & herbs!!!!!

here are 2 pics i took yesterday....shes the biggest bed hog too!!!

[Staff'n'Toller]

Why don't you just have her desexed now? You can avoid her seasons altogether!!

Do a google seach on dog oestrus - because it's a little different to a period.

Mel.

[Rozzie]

What a cute little scruffmuffin... she is old enough to be desexed... why go through seasons if you don't have to?

[Livi]

I think desexing would be a smart move, without getting on my soapbox about why you should, do you really want a bleeding bed hog ??

Also if she gets an infection (quite common in entire females) the discharge is disgusting and requires pretty heavy antibiotic treatment to clear up.

[t-time]

Yep - nearly 6 months is the perfect time for desexing

And ummm...by the look of those growth plates, she still has a fair bit of growing to do :D

[Livi]

What are growth plates ?

Oh GLAMACHIC I don't want to freak you out or anything but my sisters dog recently got fed a bowl of very rich lasagne by a kindly neighbour (sister was having a party) now they don't know if this is what caused it yet but the poor little thing had four seizures over a 6 hrs period and ended up in the emergency vet.

They haven't ruled out epilepsy yet but it is either that or a reaction from toxins which could have been caused by the food (as it was a party it is also possible someone slipped her some Mud Cake :D ) as they have tested for all sorts of other things but to go any further at this stage will cost $1300 so they are going to 'wait and see' if she has any more seizures before proceeding.

Anyway point of that rambling is while little bits of good quality table scraps are fine and dogs love em mixed in with their dinner, don't go overboard on human food, especially those rich in Tomato/Onion/Spices

[Nekhbet]

Yup avoid the whole thing and get her desexed now. Wont affect her adversely but if she goes into season its not wise to have it done till its over. I dont beleive a dog has to go through one season or have a litter. Not really necessary, maybe if she was a giant breed like a mastiff I would reccomend leaving it longer because of the delayed maturity but its better now, before all the fun starts hehehe.

We humans get our 'period' when we have completed a cycle. We shed the uterine lining that built up to make the womb ready for implanting a fertalised egg. When the dog starts to 'bleed' per say they are ready to mate and have eggs ready. Completely opposite.

Well there is doggy nappies but bitches keep themselves clean. They start chainging, you will notice she seems 'off', her vulva will start to swell, there will be a little discharge that changes to a blood colour.

Unfortunately some bitches do not have extremely swolen vulvas or are very very clean, you dont realise they are in season and you end up with puppies. Also some bitches are like clockwork, others are more irregular. But they get cranky, go off their food, sook, fight, become complete BITCHES in other words.

As for the eating... Tough titties. Dont want your food go hungry. If you are cooking the dogs food and she is enjoying it thats great, do NOT feed her from your own plates or while you are eating or she will begin to be fussy and refuse food. Dogs eat after the humans have finished and dont get 'tid bits' from the plates. Tempting I know, especially when they stare at you but unless you are going to spend the rest of your life pandering to a dogs fussyness and stressing out when they chuck a tantrum and wont eat for days then stay strong. She has 15 minutes to eat her tea or it gets taken away till the next meal time.

She really is turning into a gorgeous little scruff! But yep I agree she has quite a bit more growing to do before she's an adult size.\

ETA: At the end of the dogs long bones are plates of active, growing bone cells called 'growth plates'. Its part of what causes the knobbly look in growing pups. From these ends the bones lengthen, the mid sections do not. If pups damage these areas you see the bones grow wonky or stop growing all together.

Edited October 10, 2006 by Nekhbet

[t-time]

If you look at her front legs - growth plates are essentially, the knee/foreleg area. :D That area still looks "big" to me - it could be the angle of the photo - as the dog becomes full-grown, that area kind-of evens out to look more in proportion to the dog Very amateur explanation but I hope you understand it :D Her feet also still look big compared to her body size ;)

Sunny 70 - I hope your sister's dog is ok Onion and chocolate are both poisonous to dogs

[curlyking]

To answer the question about when and what is likely to happen and not to preach about desexing your dog, which while a worthwhile proceedure is a personal decision.

At almost 6 months of age your girl my soon come into season HOWEVER, nothing is a given and she may not come in until much later. As a rle mine come in the first time between 12 and 18 months of age.

You will know when she comes into season as there will be a bloody discharge from her vulva. There will probably be signs before this which you may or may nt recognize. These may include, swelling of the vulva, her licking herself (which can make the sighting of a discharge delayed as she cleens the area) she may change a little in personality, ie think PMT and may even go off her food.

You do not need to change anything in the way of food or things around the house other than being aware that there will most likely be some blood dripping and you may wish to avoid her lying on the bed or carpet etc. And of course you will need to make 200% sure she cannot get out of your sight unsupervised or that a male cannot get in to her. They may become very very determinged and sneaky or they may just be perfectly happy in their normal routine and behaviour.

The season might be messy but to be honest I don't find them unacceptably so. You can get doggy pants to help stop the drips. Have never used them on my girls so don't know how effective they are.

I would make her eat her correct food (which in my opinion is a raw diet but each to their own) rather than human food and while a little garlic is good too much spicy human food is not.