Silly me... (question re. heat) - Page 1

So, Star's been licking her hind end a lot the last two days. Since she has an anal gland that tends to get impacted, I figured it was time to get the ol' glove on, and give her bottom a squeeze. She was hanging out in the bedroom, and I managed to grab her tail, and take a quick look. Yep, she looked a bit swollen back there. Then I checked her vulva...oops! Where'd all the BLOOD come from?

Heh...silly me! I thought she wasn't due in season until August!

Hmmm...first heat was in January...I guess I can't count! 

Since she was bleeding a lot, after cleaning two large blood spots off the bedroom rug, I made an emergency trip to the 24 hours drug store. She's now wearing a bitch panty (Seasonals) which I bought for Ranger when I had him castrated, so he'd leave the incision alone, and a Poise pad. Given this gal's love of chewing, I'm just wondering how long this arrangement is going to last!

This is my first intact bitch. Any of you have bitches that will destroy a bitch panty and pad? What do you do? My dogs are house dogs, though I do have a crate for her.

Any advice welcome! I did have a rescue that went through a heat before being spayed, but she left the panty alone. Fortunately, Star's first heat was light enough that she didn't need to wear anything to protect the rugs and hardwood floor.

My girls have always worn a belt and pad.. I just use the store brand pads with wings. Some  are more interestee in licking and cleaning than others but they learn to leave it alone or they can stay in their crates!

Thru the years I've had a couple that were messier than others and I would put a towel at  the front of their crate and they learned ot stop and wait to have the belt put on before they went charging thru the house

They really shouldn't wear the belt andpad all the time.. thngs need to "air out" so to speak so some time outside or at night she should stay in her crate without the belt on....

Luckly I have a lot of tile floors, between the tile and crate the only time I put Bitches Britches on is when we went some place like the Vet or to Agility or OB Class. 

Okay, the panty did not survive the night, as expected. It's still usable, though. She tore the lining out, but the exterior is still intact.  Maybe the trick will be to have her wear it  and a pad when I'm around to supervise, and crate her when I'm not. I have very few rugs in the house, due to the dogs, and the only one I really value is in the living room. But I do worry about the hardwood floor possibly getting stained, and impregnated with her odour, which might cause any male dogs visiting my home to scent mark, and go a bit squirrely!

i don't mean to be nasty or unkind, but the thought of putting panties on a bitch in heat nearly turns my stomach.  a normal heat will last around 3 wks.  that's not so awful long to keep her crated, blocked off in the kitchen or outdoors in a secure kennel.  my bitches have always been very clean about themselves so my biggest worry is keeping the males away from them.  life around here goes on pretty much like normal except for extra precautions when i don't want a breeding.  my hubby has a male that goes completely off feed when the girls are in heat.  this is a much bigger concern to me than a few spots on the floor.  after you've had bitches for a number of years you will understand where i'm coming from.  heats just become a normal part of life - routine.  no big deal.

pjp

Sasha has her "Daisy Dukes" as we like to call them!  She is a very clean dog, so I dont' even put a pad in there anymore.  Used to put daily liners, but she just pulled those out.

I have several pair of these denim shorts, and they keep the house from being dripped on.  I leave them just tight enough to stay on, but she can still get her nose in the side to clean herself.  During the day when I am at work, I use a baby gate to keep her in one area of the hallway (tile flooring) and keep the shorts off of her.  She really just wears them when I get home so she can have run of the house, and at night so I don't have to put her in a crate.  She is a spoied little girl!

If you get a couple of pair and wash them every day, they work really well.  At first she wanted to take them, off, but I told her no a couple fo times and then she just realized they had to stay on!

This heat cycle and the last I was able to have her hand in the house with Jager when I was home.  He is just now 22 months old, and he began to show signs of attention, he had a couple of time outs in his kennel, and of course they were never left alone, but this convinced me it is now time to have Sasha spayed.  Thanksfully my vet does it laproscopically that makes me feel a bit better at least!

Good luck to you!!

Kali wears panties only during the really heavy part of her heat, she keeps herself very clean, so other than that couple of days of very heavy flow, they're not needed---thank goodness, 'cause she hates them, & will destroy them the minute my back is turned! And I worry about fungal infections & the like, if she wears the pads too much, so..........she has never stained any of our hardwood floors-- once she messed up  a car seat, when she was first coming into heat, & caught me unawares; but even that cleaned up nicely with a little hydrogen peroxide. jh

Ziegenfarm, when I went outside today, I found she'd dripped blood all the way up the sidewalk and patio to the back deck, where there were several large bloodstains. Hordes of blue bottle flies were clustered around the stains.

And you're talking about a bitch panty turning your stomach??

Maybe after I'd run a kennel for 20 years or so, I'd see things the way you do, but for now, we'll have to agree to disagree.

(bets Ziegenfarm is a guy...no woman would see anything odd about using a pad!)

I use kids size underwear and always pad lol :) Works like a charm never had a problem with it.

We found an easy solution that has worked well for us.  We keep our females indoors during heat so the mess can obviously be problem.  All females are different  and some accepted this more easily than others but they all accepted wearing the pants.  We use boy's/men's cotton boxer shorts (depending on the size of the dog, measure around their waist for fit)  with the easy access opening in the front. The opening is a perfect size to put the bitches tail through and then they wear their little boxers.  Because the boxers have loose leg openings it still allows the female to get in there and satisfy her urge to clean herself.  Sometimes we use pads depending on the flow and the dog but usually just keep numerous pairs to change throughout the day and it works great for us.  You just toss them in the washer to clean.  They get so used to them they wait when coming back in from outside to have them put back on.  The only time we had trouble was when the opening was too small for a particular females anatomy so we just cut a larger opening for her tail to go through.