Why wouldn’t they?
My six month old JRT pup is in heat. (Don’t worry pet lovers, she’s headed for the vet for the works as soon as she’s done with her first cycle as per the vets advice.) She seems a bit slowed down to me, but I could be anthropomorphizing, as I have a tendency to do. I was wondering if she really DOES have similar symptoms to a human female. She appears to be noticeably more lethargic, which is quite unusual for her breed.
Should I go get some puppy Midol from the vet?
L
She’s in heat, not having her period. If you really want to stimulate her a male dog is the answer. 
What’s the difference? I thought since she was bleeding that it was…you know…similar to a woman having a period. Now I feel pretty stupid. Guess I’d better do some research!
L
Well, I believe the difference is that when a woman is having her period she is rarely if ever fertile. On the other hand when a dog is in heat that means she is fertile. That is the extent of my knowledge and it will probably be good idea to do research. 
I don’t know if they get cramps, but they do get PMS. Dogs can be real bitches.
A friend with a female Akita claimed it would seem to suffer from mentrual cramps. Of course, it’s not always easy to know why a dog is suffering, and she may have been completely wrong.
I can’t find anything in my research that explains why the dog is bleeding during estrus. I am still assuming it’s the uterine lining. Doesn’t this mean potentially the same cramping as a human female.
Of course, my dog has been in pain before (teething, etc.) and not made a noise about it. She just goes about her business. I don’t expect that it’s severe. I’m just curious.
Dogs can’t get menstrual cramps because they don’t menstruate.
Dogs do have hormonal fluctuations that could cause changes in behavior, I guess.
But why does that make you want to drug her into your definition of normal to make you feel more comfortable?
Pisses the shit out of me (I love that phrase) when people want to do that to me.
I don’t really want to drug my dog. I was only kidding about “doggie Midol.” I figure, if she isn’t complaining, why would I medicate her? I’m just curious about what she’s feeling and why she might be more lethargic right now than she ordinarily is.
And while you’re being sarcastic, can’t you answer my question? If she’s not “menstruating” what does the bleeding constitute? It’s not her uterine lining? It doesn’t take muscle spasms to move it out of her body? Someone answer me!!!
Sexy Writer, I forget what the blood spotting is exactly, but I don’t think it’s unusual. Her uterus is preparing itself for implanted eggs, just like ours, with lots of extra blood vessel, so it probably is just extra tissue.
This could be why she’s lethargic; her body is real busy with the uterus, and she doesn’t have as much extra energy for tormenting squirrels.
And I wasn’t being sarcastic.
I was being mean.
And I bet we could find Doggie Midol out there somewhere, probably an herbal dietary supplement for $24.50 a bottle.
I have no doubt there is doggie viagra
and doggie anti-depressants
and my dog will need them if I don’t get out from behind this computer and take him for a walk soon …
Doggie midol is called Phenylbutazone (“bute”). Another NSAID is called Rimadyl (carprofen). Dogs can also take Celebrex.
I don’t know about dogs, but horses can get cranky when they go into heat. They actually have hormonal control for horses called Regumate which is used for mares that have really bad mood swings making them difficult to work with when in heat.
For God’s sake where in the hell is the human equivalent of that?
One of our dogs is on antidepressants. I forget which one, and the bottle is downstairs, but it’s one of the drugs that gets prescribed for humans. The drugs combined with a good bit of work on the part of us humans has helped his anxiety problems a lot. He still freaks when there’s a thunderstorm, though.
Before anybody jumps me about drugging the dog, this is a creature who has taken out doors in a terrified state. He’s really much better now, and much happier in general.
O.k., the dog has been walked and I am researching the ‘serosanguineous discharge’.
I suspect it may be due to the ‘diapedesis of erythrocytes from uterine capillaries’, but I am not certain what diapedesis is.
Ah, it is the passage of blood cells through capillary walls into the tissues [then isn’t ‘the diapedesis of erythrocytes’ tautological? hmm]
On, BTW, the little sweetie is in proestrus, the first stage of the cycle, not estrus.
I’m not surprised a lot of things drugs have been developed for horses; very expensive horses can turn shy about breeding, can’t they?
Where was I?
vaginal walls to take-on a distinctive shape, a process known as cornification
the increase in estrogen causes an increased turnover rate of vaginal epithelial cells
Serum concentrations of estrogen rise during proestrus, leading to capillary breakage and leakage of red blood cells through uterine epithelium
This is getting to be way more than anyone want to know, right?
So, her vaginal and uterine walls are filing up with blood, that is leaking out of the tissue AND the type of cells lining them are changing; I suspect that means that they are being replaced with new ones (as opposed to the existing cells changing).
So, although no one is saying this outright, it seems to me that the serosanguineous discharge is a sloughing off of the uterine and vaginal lining.
What a surprise.
But the lethargy seems to be unusual; I only found references to increased activity.
And I trust you all to drug your pets appropriately; I just get unsympathetic at times because I have been blessed with perfect pets. (I never really like that couch anyhow.)
http://www.labbies.com/reproduction1.htm#Normal
http://www.amrottclub.org/ovultime.htm
http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/reprod/vc/cycle.html
Well, it may be just a mis-perception on my part. It could also be because we are keeping her more confined, due to the obvious mess issues. Laying around all day begets more laying around, no? Also, seeing your pet bleeding and thinking “aww, poor puppy!” leads to a lot of assumptions about their behavior. So who knows if she’s really acting any differently.
That actually wasn’t more information that necessary…I was truly curious about what was going on with my puppy’s body. She’s perfectly healthy and I DO understand a little skepticism about medicating things that don’t need medicated. Heck, I don’t take drugs for MY hormonal cycles, so why should I feed them to my dog? If she needed them to make her life, or even mine more comfortable, like Whiterabbit’s pet, that would be different.
Only the female ones.
Seriously. If they go into heat, they also menstruate a relevant, umm, period (sorry) of time later. People who keep 'em with their repro parts intact for breeding purposes even buy them silly pants things you can buy in the pet store to protect furniture etc.
I considered the doggie panties, but then reality set in. My puppy would tear those things up in a heart beat.
Sexywriter you kept asking for it and you finally got it. 