[banzai555]

Hi everyone,
I just adopted a (supposedly) purebred GSD on Monday. She's 3 years old and intact. I have an appointment to get her spayed in two weeks.

So, to give you a little bit of her backstory, according to the previous owners: she was accidentally bred on her first heat cycle and had a very difficult birth to two puppies, but since then has not been bred. (This is all hearsay from the previous owners, and who knows if they're telling me the truth.)

Like I said, I adopted her on Monday, and was told her last heat cycle was approximately 2 months ago ("a couple of months back" is what the previous owners said). So imagine my surprise when I fed her on Friday morning and saw little blood drops on the kitchen floor.

Other than the blood, she seems perfectly normal: not lethargic, finishes her meals, plays with me and other dogs, doesn't seem to have any other issues, and her abdomen is not distended. We did go on a sort of difficult hike on Thursday night (the night before I saw the blood) in which she was hopping over rocks and had a few close calls jumping over logs or slipping on rocks where I was worried she'd get hurt. Well, she never yelped or showed any pain, is not limping, seems perfectly fine.

So I guess...assuming what the previous owners told me is true, should I be worried that my GSD is bleeding 2 months after her last heat? A friend told me about pyometra which got me really freaked out, but other than the blood, she seems fine. It's just blood, sometimes kind brownish but, as best as I can tell, there's no pus.

Any thoughts??? Is she just in heat, do you think? Her vulva seems more swollen than I'm used to seeing in female dogs, but I'm not very experienced with dog vulvas...

 

[Jchrest]

No advice, sorry, just bumping your thread so maybe members with more experience can chime in.

 

[middleofnowhere]

Heat cycles can be irregular or can come as often as 4 x a year in a healthy bitch. "A couple of months" could mean 4 months, 2 months, 6 months... To me it seems like a heat cycle. You might want to talk to your vet if you don't get more definitive answers here. You might just monitor her temperature over .... ok well if it is a heat cycle, it's going to last 3 weeks. If it is a heat cycle, you will want to post pone spaying.



Anyway, congrats on your new dog.

 

[LeoRose]

Some bitches also do what's called a split heat, where they have what looks to be normal, if shorter than usual cycle, go out, only to come in again in another month or so.

 

[Sunsilver]

Last time I thought my bitch was having a split heat, it was pyometra (uterine infection)!! GET HER TO THE VET ASAP!!

Most cases of pyo happen about 6 to 8 weeks after a heat. And blood from a heat should NOT be brownish!

 

[banzai555]

Thanks everyone! Yeah it's been about a week now and it's still going strong, and other than some nervousness she is acting pretty normal (no lethargy, strong appetite, etc.).

Man, I've learned a LOT about the heat cycle over the past few days. She's still bleeding so assume proestrus, then once the bleeding stops I get to spend our walks fending off every male in the neighborhood....

I know there's also some info that says I should wait until the heat is fully done before I spay her--but that it can be done during heat anyway. I'm honestly tempted to just do it anyway (keep my appointment on the 17th) to get this charade over and done with, even though it costs more money, but if there's serious risk to her health then I'll postpone. I'll ask the vet about it.

Thanks for the replies.