In heat question....
 

:(:confused: Hello! As you all probably read my other post, Fiona was due to get spayed tomorrow, and of course she came into heat on saturday, so now the vet is telling me to bring her in on the 25th of this month, which i'm hoping will be otay, and that she will be done bleeding.....I'm very upset about this whole situation, ( only beacuse the vet told me to wait to get her fixed at this time, and she just turned 7 months old on the 29th of oct)
She is wearing a diaper and is fine with it, however, do you think it is ok for me to leave it on her while i'm away? my boyfriend will be home with her until wed, but if I have to leave at night and put her in the crate, you think it would be ok to leave it on her?

and, is it bad that she is having a first heat before getting fixed!? i'm so ignorant with this all, even as a vet tech, i didnt have to deal with this....

Sometimes they will keep themselves so clean a pantie isn't even necessary and the people I know that use panties...don't make the dog wear them while crated.

It would've been preferrable to have her spayed before the heat...but it's a moot point now.

The vet told me to hold her off until the first week of Nov. Even when I said to him, thats going to make her 7 months, and thats a bit late, since your supposed to get it at 6 months. and he kept saying, since she is a smaller dog, it is ok to wait. so thats what i did. When i called to make the apt i tried to get it done last week so i wouldnt have had to do this- trust me, im not a happy camper now, and i feel like she is gonna be high risk now.......

I didn't leave Daisy in a diaper when I was gone. She does not like them at all and I didn't want to leave her in misery while I was gone. I put her in my bathroom while I was gone to work. She has kept herself very clean though. Even when I left her in my bathroom, there was nothing on my floor, only in her bed where she had been laying.

I had a somewhat similar situation. My old vet told me to wait until she was at least 6 months before getting her spayed. A week or two before she turned 6 months, I went and scheduled the appointment so she'd be ready. A few days before her spay surgery, the vet office called and told me they would have to reschedule my spay appointment because the doctor's wife had to go to jury duty. So now the surgery was put off for almost 3 more weeks because they didn't have anything sooner. So when the new scheduled date came around, she ended up going into heat, which I then again had to postpone her surgery because of that. Once she got out of heat, I went ahead and scheduled the surgery....again. The day of her surgery, I went in and they did a physical check of her and he told me she couldn't get spayed because her temperature was too high. He gave me some medicine to give her to lower her temperature. 2 weeks later, I went back again for another check-up and the doctor didn't even look at her, only the physician did and once again said her temperature was too high. She prescribed me another medication. Something that really irratated me was the receptionist came in the room and squeezed her nipples saying "oh maybe she's having a false pregnancy" I tried to explain to them that Sasha gets worked up and overly excited in the car, which's probably why her temperature likely rises. They didn't believe me. So I decided to get a 2nd opinion. I explained the situation at a different vet and when they took her temperature, they said that it wouldn't affect the surgery at all and she was good to go. Plus, they completely understood about her getting worked up in the car. They also caught that she has a slight heart murmur, which the other vet didn't. I just figured I would share this with everyone because I was extremely upset, disappointed and angry with the other vet. My current one is amazing.....and cheaper :D

Getting to your question about the diaper, since they're such small dogs, she might actually be fine with the diaper off being alone. Like others have said, mine did a pretty good job with keeping herself clean. The only time it bleed a bit was when she got excited. But for the most part, she did very well.

:)

well, its good to know im not alone in this situation. She does keep herself clean, so maybe she will be ok in her crate for about an hour or so tonight. thanks again!!!! I am just upset that she has to go through this! :eek:

I really don't think it can increase her risk very much. I know they say that doing it before their first heat significantly reduces their chances, but the vet told me that after the first heat, their risk is just a little bit more. And again, we're talking risks, as in chances of things happening--it's like, every time you walk across the street, there is a chance you'll get hit by a car! I know it does happen, but how many people do you know that have a dog with mammary cancer?? I don't know any. And think of all the dogs who breed....if it were really common for that to happen, I would think breeders would be having it happen to their dogs all the time.

Here's an article I found online: Reproduction - When to Spay

It says the risk of getting mammary cancer in a dog spayed before her first heat is 1% (that's 1 in 100 dogs will get it even if they were spayed before their first heat), and it increases to 8% if done after their first heat but before their 2nd (that's 8 in 100)...still pretty slim odds. If done anytime after the 2nd heat, it increases to 25% (1 in 4), which is the same chances as a dog who is never spayed.

I really think she'll be just fine!! Don't worry!! (I know, I know, that's like saying don't breathe....it's like that for me too!) Seriously, though, as tiny as our Yorkies are, and as much as we hold them, etc..., you would notice anything WAY before most dog owners do, so even if you fell into one of those 8, she would be just fine anyway!!

Here are a couple more sites...
 

spays under construction

Canine Spay

....they both say the same thing!

thank you so much! i'm sure she will be just fine! i'm just more so upset that the vet said something, and now its making me worry more about getting her spayed. but i know she will be just fine! ;)