ESTRUS:
Has 4 stages.
1. Anestrusis - this is the rest period
between heat cycles
2. Proestrus - the first days of the cycleswelling
of the vulva start of blood follicles
start to mature, this can take anywhere from a few days to over a week
3.Estrus - this is the time that your
female will accept a malea. blood will become alight pink
b. lifting her tail
c. moving her tail to the side
d. moving her rear sideways when you touch
her next to her tail. (This is called Flagging) This is the time
ovulation occurs.
4. Metestrus - the uterus readies itself for
pregnancy. If fertilization occurs the eggs will attach themselves
to the uterine wall. This might take up to a week. If fertilization
does not occur, it is back to step 1.
One way to keep a check on this
is to visually check her every day for the changes, use a cotton ball to
keep a check on the color of the blood, and be willing to feel her because
this is important. She will start out, when swelling, feeling soft
and full, as she continues in the cycle she will start to feel firm and
hard, when the valva starts to soften is when she is starting into estrus.
You can not be timid about this. It is part of breeding cockers. |
An
old rule of thumb is
1. Start heat 7 days
2. Standing heat 7 days
3. Going out of heat
7 days
Granted not all bitches display this cycle.
Each bitch does her own thing. You need to watch her closely to see
how she has her cycle.
I've had one bitch that had only a three day
cycle
Day 1 coming in
Day 2 standing
Day 3 out.
If you didn't have her in with a male, you missed
her. And I have had one bitch that took three months to go through
her whole heat. This was normal for her.
Also, there is not set month time frame.
Some females cycle regularly every 6 - 7 - 8 months, some females cycle
once a year. Each bitch is different. Learn to know your female.
Keep records.
When the female ovulates,
it takes around 48 hours before the eggs can be fertilized. She can
release hundreds of eggs. Not all will be fertilized but a great
number can be. Nature usually allows for this and absorbs the unhealthy
ones and even the healthy ones when there are too many for the bitch to
carry to term. |
