strange heat cycle - Page 1

just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience, my 2 year old female came into heat 9 days ago - I only noticed because the male started to be interested, and with a tissue I detected a little blood in the vulva, however, since then she has had virtually no bleeding. Before coming into heat I had her checked for infections, as last heat she was bred and did not get pregnant. No infection apparently. Yesterday she had a cytological exam whcih showed that she is in heat and should be ovulating in the next couple of days - but the vulva is not swollen at all, still very small so I doubt she'll be able to mate. The male wants to. Anyone had anyting similar happen, if so did the female mate and did she have puppies? She has not had puppies before by the way.

How long between heat cycles? If she cycles too fast, 4 months or less between cycles, she may release the eggs (ovulation), but the eggs are actually not mature enough to be fertilized and no pregnancy will result from a mating. She could have a cyst or tumor or scar tissue that could prevent her from conceiving properly.

Thanks for your reply D.H. This is her fourth heat, her cycles have always been regular, just under 6 months apart each time, previous heats have been normal, though never with huge amouts of blood as in some females... How can we test to see if she has a cyst or anything?

An ultrasound might show enlargements or obstructions. Other than that we have usually discovered it after the fact, ie when a brood bitch was retired after not taking any more from several breedings, and was subsequently spayed at which time some of the above were discovered. Some females bleed a lot, others not so much. The amount of blood is no indication of a good heat so to speak. I recommend proper ovulation testing and try to get this female covered several times. Go back to your records if you kept any. As a rule of thumb ovulation usually occurrs around the same time during a heat cycle in a female. Meaning that one female regularly ovulates around the 12th day, yet another might regularly ovulate around the 16th, etc. Lets say she was bred at her first two heats and ovulation/conception was around the 12th day. At the third heat maybe you did not breed her until the 13th day, then most likely that would have been too late. I have seen a wide range of ovulation dates in females from 6th day of heat, all the way of 27th!!! day of the heat cycle. That last particular female had been bred 4 times to 4 different males without any success. Proper screening then revealed that though she was standing for the male early on and allowed the breeding, it was not time yet. A bit nerve wrecking when the vet tells you to wait this long. The last two cycles she has been bred successfully, both times on the 27th day.

D.H. thank you for your thorough reply. This female has only been mated once before on her third heat and was covered several times over a period of nearly a week I think but did not get pregnant. This time I had planned to breed her with my own male, and avoid the stress of travelling, being somewhere strange etc. so it will be no problem to do several matings over an extended period. But so far she will not accept the male and what about the vulva, is it strange that it is not at all enlarged yet? A friend of mine has a female who has been bred about 6 times, but only had one litter, this was when she was bred after the 20th day, when according to the cytology exam it was too late, and she will accept the male from the 12th day.... I am not sure if I can get the blood progesterone test done here, but will look into this. again many thanks.

Few years back I had a female do a split heat. Would bleed for a few days very light. Stop then come back in again about 3 wks later, able to be bred and came up pregnant. I've spoken to others that have had the same thing happen.

There is one particular line that I know to have very little swelling of the vulva during heat cycles. This doesn't seem to affect fertility or breeding. One can do progeterone testing at home with a kit from Camelot Farms. If your male is overly accustomed to the female he sometimes can be intimidated or even bullied enough that he will not breed. When I breed a bitch to a male she is familiar with, I keep them totally seperated until it's time for the breeding.

interesting replies.. I have been keeping the male and female separate since she came into heat, just letting them together a little time each day, for the last few days to see what happens. I am not in the US so can't get the progesterone kit quickly, will consider this next time. Many thanks...

Had an English Mastiff that had these same odd heats she never did concieve. No exams, ultrasounds, or bloodwork,swabs ever showed any indications of why. She was gorgeous and had no other issues just never could have a correct cycle and concieve even though she allowed the male to breed her with these symptoms if you find out more about what is going on with her i would love to hear about it.