no heat cycle

I've got a female that is 17 months old and hasn't had her first heat yet. All her other siblings have already had their first heat, the last one had her's almost three months ago. My ususal experience has been that they go in the first time at about a year, but it's getting pretty close to a year and a half now and nothing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking forward to three weeks of keeping my dog away from everything but I'm worried that there might be something wrong with her. Should I take her up to the vet to get checked out?

 

Lilbit is over 2 yrs old now and only been in once, there first heat is usually at 6 to 8 months old so I wouldn't worry about it

 

Well, if man could figure out how women worked in the first place...LOL

But seriously, like Marty said, some dogs are just different. There may be something wrong with her reproductive system or she may just mature at a slower than normal rate. When she gets her next checkup mention it to the vet so that they can check to make sure. I once had a B* that only bled for 2 days when she was nine months old. She didn't come into heat for another year. Honestly, I don't count that first one because it only lasted a short while and didn't really require a diaper (I still used one for safety). Good luck!

 

Thanks guys

 

The only thing that I can add to what was mentioned was that the a females heat cycle is based upon a certain percentage of body fat. For example, if a female dog has not grown to a certain percentage of body fat the body knows they can not support a pregnancy and no heat cycle will occur. That is the reason that female dogs usually have their first heat at about 9 months.

This is also the reason that alot of the extremely small human dwarfs (I cant think of the exact strain right now) can not reproduce. They never grow to the size/body fat percentage where genetics "turns on", so to speak, ovulation.

Just ask the vet at her next check up as was suggested above, and go from there.


This does lead me to a question that is on topic, but a bit of a stretch. I am curious if a bitch with Canine Brucellosis will still experience normal heat cycles and just become sterile, or the heat cycle will cease?
I know that there are issues with late term spontaneous abortions, and early issues that make the breeding appear not to have taken, but I didn't know if there are cases where it effects the heat cycle?

 

I was going to mention something like that. Its been said that human females who have a low body fat -- like marathon runners and whatnot -- will have their cycles be irregular. And I've heard the same thing for dogs who are kept highly conditioned.