In season?

[Grouse]

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Hi, this is my first post, sorry for leaping straight in here but I have a question...

I have a nearly 7 year old unspayed lab bitch who has never had a little. She normally has a season every 6 months although she did once come one after a 4 month gap because she mixed closely with another I season bitch...

Her last season was in April. I had had her booked in to be spayed this week as I was sure she wouldn't be due in season until November. She hasn't mixed with other bitches as far as I know but she is currently spotting and has been since late August. She is hungry, happy and fine, a little odd at times but nothing being in season wouldn't produce. She has no other discharge. Sorry if TMI but she is not normally spotter and today she dripped on the floor two dots at once. She normally excessively licks when is season but she isn't so much at the moment, she is licking a bit but not OTT.

Am I unduly worrying? Is it common for bitches to come into season early? I have read before about Pyo but thought it came with discharge and general unwellness?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

 

[eingana]

Hi Grouse, and welcome to Dog Forum

In your position I'd be really worried about pyometra too, and the only thing that I can say here (since I'm not able to see and test your girl) is that you know what is normal for her, and if this is not normal then she really does need to be seen by a vet.

At her age there are other things than pyometra which could be causing this. She could be heading to a doggy menopause which is interrupting her cycle, but other things which can cause this sort of oddness in cycle are the hormone related gynaecological cancers, and the survival rate for this sort of thing is hugely affected by how early they are diagnosed. For that reason I'd say that it's worth getting her checked out with your vet, telling him/her why you're concerned.

Once examined your vet may be able to allay your fears, or be able to swab the blood and check it for bacteria and the start of pyometra. If s/he feels that the risk of the season being caused by either an infection or a tumour are sufficiently large then she could be spayed immediately, regardless of her being in season. The rules about only spaying when not in season are there for times when the risks of spaying do not outweigh the risks of more bleeding than normal.

I hope that this is nothing and that she's hale and hearty, but in your position I think I'd be happy to pay for a consultation.

Please give her a scritch from me

EDIT TO ADD- the image of pyometra being unwellness and discharge are of a more advanced infection. All infections start somewhere and they may not look very severe when they first appear.

 

[Grouse]

Thank you very much for your reply...

We went to the vet today and she did a blood test. She came back ok but the vet wondered about a cyst, as it's now 3 weeks since it started. She doesn't think it's a major emergency so she's not spaying today but she is going to spay on Monday.

Thanks again

 

[eingana]

I think that's quite a prudent move on your vet's part. If there's any risk of pyo, or of cysts, tumours or other things going wrong then the simplest solution is to spay and take that risk away. A ruptured cyst could cause a really quite big bleed (as well as lots of pain for your dog) so that makes the decision to spay somewhat easier.

I hope that it turns out that there was nothing really sinister going on in there and that she's over the spay really quickly