This is a late answer but for someone who might read this in the future we will post it anyway. The risk is much higher to the animal and it certainly raises the risk the animal bleeding out. There is also more swelling. We were going to have our Show Basenji spayed this year. She went into heat slightly early and our vet said that we should wait until after the heat was over before he felt comfortable doing the spay for the reasons mentioned.
Heat cycles
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Ellie is almost 12 months old, having been born out of the usual season for the northern hemisphere; she then had her first heat cycle at Christmas when she was 7 months old.
Recently (Srring in UK) she has been licking a lot and the area looks darker than usual from the back, but there is no sign of blood or discharge.
Is it possible that these are signs of her experiencing a second hormonal change without having a full heat cycle? She has recently (2nd dose 2 weeks ago) been treated for worms, so could he some residual irritation from that).
Jane
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yes, it is
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@jkent - Would In my opinion have nothing to do with being wormed and being in season again.... period. But that might explain the licking....if there is irritation ...... check for a UTI, in my opinion
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Perfectly possible.
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check also anal glands
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@tuts thanks, they were checked when she went to the vet for worming tablets.
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@jkent I don't know when you did check it, but it may change every day.
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@tuts checked it 4 weeks ago as she was scooting, but that has now stopped since the worming tablets.
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some dogs need to get it cleaned every month. And if they start licking, biting their vulva or tail, I highly recommend to check their anal glands first. You don't need to get her to Vet for it.
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Update - seen blood this afternoon so looks like she is in season. However, I have also realised that she appears to have a recessed vulva so am hoping this corrects itself after this (second) season and will look out for UTI signs as I understand this makes them more prone. We did think her anatomy looked a bit odd when we first got her but the vet thought normal.
For those who have had dogs with two cycles per year - are they shorter or still around 30 days?
Jane
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@jkent - NOPE.... not shorter.... sorry to say, still around 30 days...
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@tanza had better cancel the meet up with her intact brother then
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Update - 16 days of bleeding and then nothing at all for the past 4 days. On day 16 I there was a really tiny amount of straw colour (seen on toilet paper when I wiped to check) in the morning and then red bleeding in the afternoon. She's still a bit grumpy with other dogs, but seems to have dried up already.
Last time (first cycle) she had 18 days of bleeding, at least a couple days of straw colour, followed by more of bleeding before drying up.
Any thoughts? Thanks
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She's very young. It does take some bitches a couple of years (cycles) before they settle into a routine - which is another reason not to neuter them until everything has really settled down !) I wouldn't worry too much, just keep a close eye on her.
She was born 'out of season' - but will probably revert to one proper season a year in time.
