heat question - Page 1

I got the first red blood today from a female I plan to breed this heat. When should I do the progesterone testing? I'm getting conflicting info from different vets.

I would start with the progestrone tests on about day 10. It is my experience that my bitches are ready for breeding from about day 13 to 17. Vickie

You should start on the 6th or 7th day to get a base line there are a fair amount of female that are ready on day 7 8 or 9.

While they can varry from 7 days to 14 days, I think the "rule of thumb" or general census is that day 12 is about the "norm" LOL if you can call any dogs heat Norm. :-) I know that's not much help, but that is why dogs are such individuals, It might be prudent to start on day 7 and go from there to get an idea of this female as her most productive days should not change "much" in the future not to say they won't but this time round would be a good way for you to get a "baseline" for her. Best of Luck and Congradulations !!

If u havaent gotten her brucellosis test, u need to take her today....it takes a few days to get her result and the males results.......a must have to breed......

There are female that come in after 20 days. So 7-14 is not correct. 7-28 days would be the correct time line.

Johnsk9, Then I stand Corrected, Thank You. And you are right I have seen and heard of those "late" breeders too.

I would do an initial progesterone now with a smear. It may appear to be the first day to you but very well could be later. Some females are very clean with little spotting. I diligently check my females daily when nearing season. Even so, with one of my females, I just bred her today to Olex de Valsory on "day six" of her heat by my count but her initial progesterone on her "first day" was 1.6 and two days later rose to 2.9. Karla Calderon

I agree with Karla, I ususally get a progesterone test as soon as I see blood and all the while I'm watching for the slightest amount of swelling. I too have some very clean females, but mine have gone the other way.. By the time their progesterone levels are where they should be, they are at what I'd be counting as day 16 or so.... And I do numerous tests, the vet is an hour away and it costs $$ but its better to be safe than sorry and plus you see how your bitch tracks so you know the next time.. I have seen them hover in the 2 - 4 range and then shoot up to 8+ in 1 day.. lucky for me, my vet has her own machine so the wait for results is 45 minutes or so!

The progesterone tests do not follow a "linear" upward progression, from my experience(just take that into account when you start doing the tests). Because you got a .98 today, you may get a .80 in two days, and 3 days later get a 1.25. you should get an upward trend, each time you take the test however. If you have much traveling to do to get to the stud, once I got a 2.0 or higher, I would be on the road traveling to the studs's residence. For dogs that ovulate on day 26 or so, this could get relatively expensive as the Progesterone test run between 45 and 50 bucks a pop. They have to be sent off from the vet's office that took them, to determine the harmone levels so add 12-24 hours from the time you took them and the time you get the results, back from your vet. The 2.0 should get you on the road to the stud and shortly there afterward, she should be flagging her tail for the acceptance phase of the mating. I have a friend that does the test to a 4.0 or something and if it is not over 8.0 still breed if he is late getting the female into position to be bred. I personally like to use the test as a guideline, to get the female, "in position", for the mating and then let nature take over with the flagging of the tail, breeding every 24 hours that the female will accept the male, ect. Just another opinion. Stephen