Alfonso Fernandez, a Barcelona veterinarian, explains the heat cycle in female dogs: its phases, how long it lasts, and what symptoms to watch for. He covers reproductive health and why spaying prevents unwanted pregnancies and certain health problems.
Hi everyone, I'm Alfonso Fernandez, a veterinarian specializing in small animals. I work in Barcelona at San Jose Veterinaris. And today we're going to talk about heat in female dogs. It's very common for owners of female dogs to ask, especially when it's the first time they've had a dog with a pet. When does a female dog get their period? Foreign. Let's see. To start with, here's the first difference. Female dogs don't have periods. In women, their period is at the end of their cycle. While in female dogs, what we have is a heat phase, which is right when ovulation occurs, that is halfway through the cycle. That's the first difference. Heat in female dogs can be divided into different phases. As I was saying, there are basically four phases. The first would be the proestrus phase. This proestrus phase is a phase in which we begin to see that the vulva begins to increase in size. It begins to become more swollen, redder, and the female attracts the males but does not allow them to mount her. We can begin to see a discharge of an intense red color. There are even females that urinate more frequently and mark their territory with urine, just like males. The duration of this phase is between 9 and 11 days, although the normal duration is between 2 and 29 days, which is a bit long. Although, as I was saying, in most female dogs, this first Phase lasts between 9 and 11 days. This phase is when the follicles begin to grow in the ovary, which is where the eggs will come from. These follicles produce estrogen, which is what will cause all these signs that we see from the outside. After this comes a second phase, which is the estrus phase. This is the phase where ovulation occurs. What we see here is that the vulva is still swollen, perhaps a little harder. This bloody discharge that we saw before is starting to decrease a little. It is not as bloody. It may be a little lighter, a little more brown. What we also see is that in this phase the would accept us to mount her. If we have a that is in this phase and we squeeze her in the lumbar or sacral area, we would see that she would throw her tail to the side. This would indicate that she would allow us to mount her. And it lasts between five and nine days on average. As I was saying, ovulation occurs in this phase. And once this phase ends, the diastrus phase begins. The diastrus phase is a phase in which the would again reject being mounted. In this phase we will see that the vulva gradually decreases in size until it returns to its normal size. This discharge that we had decreases until it disappears. Sometimes there may be a little mucus. And this phase lasts between 60 and 90 days. How does it coincide with the duration of pregnancy and lactation? It is due to the hormones that are produced in this phase that in some dogs, when they do not get pregnant, what people call a psychological pregnancy or pseudo pregnancy can occur. Something that we will talk about in another video. Once this phase ends, the anestrus phase begins. Anestrus is the period of rest for the ovaries between each of these heat periods. How long does the anestrus period last? In most dogs it lasts six months. But the normal range goes from having heat once every three months to having it once a year. How often it will happen depends on each dog. As I was saying, most have their heat every six months. That's why it's important to write down the date of the next heat in our dog's record. Let's see the interval and from there we can start to more or less predict when the next heat will come. Why am I telling you this? Because are very regular animals. In other words, a that has heat every four months will have it every four months or whole life, and a that has it every eight months will have it every eight months or whole life. If we see a that has heat every six months and this heat came every eight months instead of every six months, or it came every four months instead of every six months, this is an indication that we have some kind of problem with the ovary. Go to your vet quickly to see what's happening. It is very common for you to ask us about all these phases because you intend for your dog to have puppies. Of course, when you ask us this, it is because what we want to know is when we can mount the dog so that she can get pregnant. There are many myths about this. People who tell you, or if you look for information on the Internet, you will see that you say, no, no. When the leg starts to bleed, then count 11, or count five, or count nine, or count 20 days and that is when you have to mount. Or there are people who tell you, no, no. When you see that the bleeding stops, that is when you have to mount. Quote, let's see. There are things that can work if you do it this way. And there are times when they will not work for us. Why? Because large breed dogs bleed much more than small breed dogs. There are even small breed that bleed very little. And we can't see when they stop bleed, so we can take them to the male. Or we can't see when the flow decreases so we can take them to the male. Sometimes we also miss the due date for a reason. As I mentioned before, ovulation occurs during the estrus phase, but the egg emerges immature. In other words, 48 hours must pass from the moment ovulation occurs until the egg is able to receive sperm. If we also take into account that the male's sperm can live for seven days in the female's uterus, well, that's what causes people to say, no, no, when my dog stops bleedin', we mount, wait two days, mount again, and it always works for me. And then we see people who do this, and it never works for them. The best way to know when to mate is to find out when ovulation occurs. How are we going to do that? By going to your vet or a veterinarian who specializes in reproduction. The vet can do different tests. They can do ultrasounds to see how the ovary is doing. They can do an ovulation detection test. And once ovulation is detected, then we know that within 48 hours, the egg will be ready. And that will be when mating will be necessary. If your intention is for your dog to never have puppies, then it is best to spay her. Why? First, a spay dog will never go into heat again, so there will be no risk of unwanted pregnancies. We will not have a dog that can run away to look for the male. We will not have a dog that will stain the house when she has it, or that will urinate on us marking the territory when she is in heat. Furthermore, if we spay between the first and second heat, studies have shown that the incidence of breast tumors decreases by about 89%. Therefore, spaying helps prevent problems later on. I hope I have been helpful to you and that you have found the information I have given you interesting. See you in another video. Thank you very much. Oh.
