Reducing the Risk of Pregnancy in your Dog… CAAT Community Corner

What can I do to make sure my female dog doesn’t become pregnant?

We were asked this early last year and did a post about it but this question is popping back up.  The permanent solution is to spay her but obviously, that is just not possible if you don’t have access to a veterinarian.   We decided, since it is on a lot of peoples minds with spring coming, we would do another post about it to help out those owners of female dogs that DO NOT want another litter.

Reasons to avoid pregnancy:

• The owners do not want to have to care for a litter and find homes for them
• With so many puppies, some end up being strays because there are not enough homes for them
• The mother dog that keeps raising litter after litter has more health issues, she often loses a lot of weight trying to feed the puppies, she has higher needs for food, she can be vulnerable to predators when trying to care for her pups, etc.
• Being in heat can be a dangerous time for your female dog.   While she is in heat, if she is around male dogs, they may fight over her and also injure her during the fighting.   Other female dogs will sometimes fight with the dog in heat as well so it can be a dangerous time.
• She is in danger of having an infected uterus (called pyometra) that is life threatening

SIGNS OF HEAT (when they can get pregnant):

Dogs come into heat (the time they can become pregnant) twice a year on average. This starts to happen anytime from about 6 months of age on and each full heat cycle lasts 7-21 days long, each dog is different but the average is about 9 days.   During this period, female dogs produce a pheromone that male dogs can smell from miles away.   Watch for signs of the heat cycle starting to be prepared:

• At the very beginning you may see lightly blood-tinged fluid coming from her vulva.
• Sometimes you will see that her vulva is a little more swollen (not always seen with very young dogs)
• She may urinate more frequently than normal.
• She may want to be outside more than normal, following her instinct to breed
• You may not notice the fluid but you may notice that she is licking her vulva area a lot.

KEEPING MALES AWAY FROM A FEMALE IN HEAT:

Once you see any of these signs, you need to keep your dog isolated from the male dogs in the community.   We know this can be very difficult since the male dogs will smell that she is in heat and will be very determined to get to her. If your dog lives outside, and dogs are allowed to roam in the community, it will be almost impossible to keep the males away from her. However, if your dog can come into the house, you have a chance of avoiding a pregnancy.   Here are some suggestions:

• Keep her indoors except to out to the bathroom (make sure she is always supervised and preferably on leash or a rope to keep her with you). Before taking her out to go to the bathroom, check there are no males waiting around, then take her out, let her go pee and poop and get her back inside.
• Do not leave your property with her during her heat cycle (for a couple of weeks to be safe)

Ideally, you should not let her out around males for at least 2-3 weeks around her heat cycle. It is only twice a year, thank goodness, so if you want to reduce the risk of another pregnancy for your dog, keep her away from them during this time.

If your female dog lives with an un-neutered male dog it will be almost impossible to have them not breed during this time.   In this circumstance, all you can do is either have someone else take your male for the period of time or keep them completely separated. NOTE: The male will be VERY determined to get to her so a doorway won’t stop him if he is not supervised.