Pyometra

A septic infection of the womb.

Yesterday a friend of my son (let's call him Bert) called on me early in the morning for help. His nearly 8 year old Staffy bitch (let's call her Sally), at the end of her season, had pus coming out of her overnight.

I took them to the vet and Sally was admitted for an immediate operation. In the evening I brought her home again and settled her as best I could. I am taking them back to the vet tomorrow for a post-op check.

Bert was scared she would die, and I was glad to help as far as I could. But here is what makes me cross:-

18 months/2 years ago he was offered by the RSPCA to spay Sally at no cost to himself. And he did nothing. And this after having two previous bitches develop pyo.

Bert is on benefits and so obviously has no insurance for Sally. RSPCA has generously paid a little towards the cost of Sally's treatment, and PDSA have also seemingly promised to do so too. Dogs Trust has also been contacted in hopes of a contribution.

But here's the thing. Spaying a bitch costs about what - £350?

The cost of Sally's emergency op and treatment is apparently around £1,000

I'd be cross too. How is 'Sally'? It's a huge op to have.

I took them back to the vet this afternoon. Although Bert said she hadn't drunk anything since the op she managed to wee all over (and I mean ALL over) the back seat of my car.

She's doing OK although a bit miserable because of the cone, and not having eaten for two days (she apparently refused her rogan josh last night! )

I showed Bert how to take her cone off so she can eat and drink, and put it back on again, and how to put her pills down her, and will take them back again next week for the stitches to come out.

Good grief!

I don't routinely spay/castrate my dogs, but this seems to be a case where it should have been done when suggested! Poor Sally, I hope she recovers quickly.

Rogan Josh? You're kidding.....aren't you????

Rogan josh - unfortunately I am not kidding. He showed me the food bowl with it in from the previous night, with the intention of offering it to her again.

The only consolation is that Sally has been accustomed to being fed all sorts of rubbish throughout her life and apparently loves it (she's certainly more than fat enough). I'd take her into my own home for convalescence and nursing except that she is apparently DA.

Today has been hectic for me and tomorrow will be too as it's my mother's 90th birthday and my sister has organised a Big Do. But after that I'll check up on her.

Update - apparently Sally is doing well and is now eating (best not to ask what). Hopefully Bert is now being able to smuggle her painkillers and antibiotics into her.

As long as it's Rogan Josh and not Vindaloo, she'll be ok

So glad to hear that she's doing well. I really can't understand why anyone would want to feed a dog curry, though!

Lorraine wrote:As long as it's Rogan Josh and not Vindaloo, she'll be ok

The vet advised Bert strongly not to give Sally curry, especially the next day or so after a major op and septic infection, but when I took them home he showed me the refused rogan josh in a bowl and said he'd give it to her again that evening. I gave up because there's none so deaf that don't want to hear. I suspect that Sally is very used to take-away leftovers.

I'm taking them back to the vet on Friday morning for her stitches to be removed.

Some people just won't be told.

It's very good of you to run them back & forth!

Well done to you for helping!

It's a shame that he seems quite misguided. In his position, unable to pay for insurance, I really think he should have at least considered spaying her. I'm not a fan of neutering for the sake of neutering, but it seems like it would have been the best thing to do.

Well, she's certainly spayed now.

I'd be interested to know though - does anyone know of a bitch who never had puppies and reached a good old age without developing pyometra at some stage?

I do, yes. There are a few people on my course who've owned (or still own) unspayed bitches. I also know of people who own bitches who've been spayed and still developed stump pyometra. Spaying does greatly reduce the risk, though, so I think it's a decision to be made on an individual basis.

I've never heard of stump pyometra. I tried to look it up on Google, but it refused to co-operate.

I don't know much about it, to be honest, except that it's very rare.

LyndaW wrote:Well, she's certainly spayed now.

I'd be interested to know though - does anyone know of a bitch who never had puppies and reached a good old age without developing pyometra at some stage?

Absolutely! Yes, it's a risk, but not quite as high a risk as many people will tell you.

Only my first bitch was spayed, and that was due to constant phantom pregnancies.

Both the Dobermanns I had were bitches and they were spayed because they had phantom pregnancies after every single season, which was so distressing for them. Maybe it's a Dobie thing! My sister's English Springer has not been spayed and she has had no problems with her seasons, not even unwanted male attention!

Phantom pregnancies are actually more common than pyo. Distressing sometimes, but otherwise not too bad - the worse thing is the risk of mammary infection.

I can believe that. Unless I'm mistaken, a bitch will only get pyo once and they either die from it or are spayed and (hopefully) recover.

A phantom pregnancy can happen twice a year and goes on for ages, until treatment from the vet (hormone jab? I must admit I can't remember even though I and my poor bitches must have gone through it about 8 times).

'Bert' (whose story started this thread) has, over the years, had 3 Staffy bitches. To the best of my knowledge none of them had phantoms, but I know that all 3 developed pyo at around 8 years old and were spayed as an emergency. Sally has now recovered well, btw.

Poor man, he's been really unlucky! I've known relatively few bitches with pyo.