Hi everyone,

I hope I can get some help to this so here goes my small breed bitch who had a litter in december so that's about 6 months ago she usually goes every 5 to 6 months like clock work just not this time I have seen the usual 'pre season signs' like the way she changes in behaviour and marking everywhere on her walk and yes I seen the swelling of her lady bits just seemed to swell no bleeding then just went back to normal a little while later it started to swell again same thing happened and now it's back to normal ie no swelling I kept 2 puppies from her last litter could this affect her coming in to season and is there something the vet can give her to bring her in to season I'm hoping to breed from her again on her next season after this expected season as I know you've to wait at least 12 months before breeding from the bitch again and I understand you've to miss a season out after the bitch has a litter I'm wondering if she misses this season and does come in to season the next time when I plan to breed her can I still breed from her or do I miss that season and breed her on the next season hope this makes sense I need my bed :)

If she had pups 6 months ago then her last season will have been 8 months ago and hence she's 2-3 months later than usual. Some bitches do tend to be a bit later in their next season after a litter, others have theirs at exactly the same time they would have done normally. I wouldn't worry and there is nothing a vet can do. It doesn't really matter if she has a season or not in between (as long as the amount of TIME in between litters is long enough, i.e. a year or more) although if she isn't a tiny toybreed which has to finish having litters earlier than most, I'd wonder why the rush with litters? One of my toy bitches currently has a litter, that was born 15 months after her previous one which I felt was about right. My bigger bitches go 2 years between litters.