Questions about female labrador?

Question

I have a 10 months old female dog. Please tell me about following things:-
1) When will she start her periods?
2) When will she be in first heat and what I should do about it?
3) Her body hairs are falling a lot, how to stop it?
4) She starts smelling bad just after two days of bath. I am giving her only vegetarian Pedigree brand food.

Answer 1

1) Dogs don't have periods, they have heat cycles. If you don't know this, you should spay her.
2) This shouldn't happen, since you should spay her.
3) Feed a better food (see #4).
4) Pedigree is s***. Bad food = bad smell and coat quality. www.dogfoodanalysis.com has ratings, reviews, and comparisons of different foods.

Answer 2

Female Labrador Dog

Answer 3

1. She could have her first heat cycle anytime. - You may not notice it (there may or may not be any spotting).
2. The only thing you can do is to make sure she isn't allowed access to "male attention" during her heat cycle. If she spots, then you can use diapers or something to keep her from messing up your house... if you don't plan on breeding her you should spay her immediately. The chance of breast cancer can be decreased significantly with spaying, but the benifits deminish with each heat cycle she is allowed to experience.
3. My first guess for hair loss would be an allergy to the food... your dog is a carnivour and to feed her a vegetarian diet is unnatural for her. There are probably some fillers and dyes in the food that are causing hair loss. Another possibility could be a hormonal problem associated with her first heat cycle (once again spay if you aren't going to breed). Also if she has fleas - the flea bites can introduce a staph-infection that will cause hair loss. Check her for fleas, feed her a diet with as little preservatives, fillers, and dyes as possible, and get her spayed. Either way I would get the vet to check the skin because an infection can be so itchy and uncomfortable for her.
4. Anything from #3 will cause odor because the skin is irritated.

Answer 4

1) Dogs do not have "periods" She will come into season any time now. If you have her spayed, you can avoid this.

2) When she comes in heat, keep her supervised at all times and away from other dogs for the full three weeks. Or have her spayed.

3) She's shedding. Labs shed. A lot. Twice a year they shed more. You can minimize it by feeding a quality diet and brushing her regularly.

4) Start giving her some decent food. Dogs are NOT vegetarians, they are non-obligate carnivores. She needs a diet high in meat to be healthy.

Diets high in corn often lead to offensive odors in dogs.

Answer 5

1. They go into cycles 6-14 months of age
2. You should get her spayed before her first cycle. This will help to cut down on certain health problems such as cancer later on in life.
3. You can do a few things. You can use a product called Linetone (found at Petsmart or Petco). There are different formulas such as allergies, itchiness, etc. It's an oil that goes on their food that promotes healthy skin and coat. Also start brushing her. Though she has a short fur brushing will help to get rid of dead skin, hair and promote the spreading of her natural oils. (talk to your local groomer for a suggestion on brushes) Also you can change her dog food. Make sure to feed her a Premium dog food such as Nutro Ultra (or Natural Choice), INova, Royal Canin. Look online to find out which is best for you. Bathe her w/ an oatmeal based shampoo and conditioner once a month. If you bathe her to often you'll dry out her skin.
4. Refer to #3. Health (including the way she smells) starts from the inside out. Just like eating garlic.. if you eat to much you'll start smelling funny.

Good Luck

Answer 6

1) Dogs do not have periods, they have 'seasons'. Human periods occur at the end of ovulation when the egg is being flushed out, there is a lot of blood involved. Dog's 'seasons' occur during ovulation, when they are willing to mate, there is not much blood involved.

2) Dogs typically come in to heat from 6 months, but it depends what breed she is, could be earlier or later. However, PLEASE get your dog spayed before she has her first heat, so from 5 months of age. This is crucial for her future health - 1 in 10 unspayed dogs develop pyometra when older, which is a life threatening womb infection - they then have to be spayed anyway, but it's about 4 times as costly as a routine spay and about 4 times as risky. 1 in 4 unspayed female dogs also get mammary cancer, which is also life threatening. Spay your dog before her first heat to give her maximum protection against mammary cancer, also protection against cervical and ovarian cancer. It is also very important not to let her add to the overpopulation of dogs - there are far too many already in shelters that need homes.

3) and 4) I strongly advise a change of diet to maintain overall health. Pedigree is very low quality and frequently makes dogs fat, even if they don't eat much of it. Dogs are also carnivores; while it is technically possible for them to be on a vegetarian diet they will not be healthy, they are supposed to eat meat. If you are a vegetarian, please consider what is natural for a species and don't force your views on an animal that has no choice, because you're endangering its health. Shame on Pedigree for promoting this absurdity. You can add a teaspoon of vegetable oil to each feed to help with coat condition, but dogs do need to shed, there's nothing you can do about that - if it's excess shedding again, look to her general health including diet.

Most importantly: PLEASE spay your dog!!

Chalice

Answer 7

Her stink is due to her diet-'vegetarian Pedigree brand food.'. Dogs eat meat- find her a quality, meat based food and her smell will improve. Our first dog was originally fed iams, as suggested by his breeder, and he always STUNK. Educated ourselves on dog food, switched to high quality, smell went away.

Have you ever heard the 'joke' about shepherds? they shed only once a year- for 365 days!

They always shed some, but in my eperience, they shed TONS (losing chunks and tufts of fur at a time, but no bald spots) right before they have their heat.

Answer 8

she should have already gone into heat by now, and you should get her spayed. she could be shedding a lot from lack on nutrition. possibly a better diet is in order? as for smelling bad, try some doggie freshener. it's a spray, just spritz some on between baths.

Answer 9

Please spay your dog now. Your dog should never even go into heat. Please be a responsible pet owner and do not breed your dog, especially since you are obviously not too familiar with the breed.

Also, Pedigree is very low quality food. Go to dogfoodanalysis.com and do some research. Some high quality foods are:

Canidae
Wellness
Innova
Solid Gold
Merrick