Heat cycle 3 months after last cycle - Page 1

I have a 2 1/2 yr old bitch who had a complete and normal heat cycle in mid-late November 2005. Now it seems she is starting again. She is acting normal, eating and very active. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thanks, Theresa

It happens. Some females come into heat 3 times per year, and also change in food, introduction of new dogs (either male or females who are in heat), change in climate or housing, etc, can sometimes trigger a heat to start. As with humans, dogs do not always start or end their cycle exactly when expected. Nothing to worry about, so long as she's healthy.

VomFelsenHof is most likly correct. If it were my dog however, I would take it to the vet and verify VomFelsenHof's deduction. Three months is a quick turn around. Stephen

Sometime some bitches have a pseudoheat, or incomplete heat and come back to proper heat in a few months I have had a few bitches go through this. I even mated them the first time but did not concieve but on the heat the second time a few months they conceived and went on to litter and there after the cycle normalized.

Athreya: I had that happen a year ago. The blood started, and I started counting the days on the calander. The female was bred, but it was not a routine breeding. The vulva was not AS swollen as it usually was. She was not AS receptive as usual, but the mating occured. Three weeks later she came in heat AGAIN, and all was normal, swollen vulva and she was extremely receptive. Puppies resulted from the second breeding. Discussing this with my vet, he gave me an explaination of, as the female approaches her cycle, the eggs ripen in the ovaries and that triggers the whole heat cycle. In some cases before the whole batch is ready, one egg may ripen ahead of schedule(for lack of a better term) pop out of the ovary and trigger a mini, or as you said a pseudoheat cycle. That was my reason for suggesting the dog be taken to the vet to verify all is well.

You can never count on the bitches to be exact. As VonfelsenHof states, what is happening in the enviroment has to do with it.

Thank you all for the info! I did change her diet (gradually) starting about 5 weeks ago, but everything else is the same routine as usual. As I said, the heat in November was textbook, about 3 weeks total, she sarted flagging on about the 9th-10th day, lasted about 4 days and then the last week she came out of it. Do you have any idea how they tell a psuedo-heat from the regular one? Progesterone maybe or a vaginal smear? Also, I have heard that if the heat cycles are less than 4 months apart, the uterus doesn't have enough time to recooperate and the fetus' will not survive. Has anyone else heard this? I am planning on taking her this weekend (hopefully), to NY to be bred, so I am trying to gather as much info as possible. Thanks guys! Theresa