Anyone Ever Heard of Pyometra in a Bitch @ 10 months? - Page 3

Yes, I know, Blitzen. That's what my friend had done with her dog, the prostaglandin treatment.

Even with that, there's a high re-occurence rate. Read my first post to see what happened wiith my friend's Shiloh shepherd. :(

This morning, I let the dogs out, then when they came back in, I shut Eska in her crate to eat. I let her out about 20 minutes later, and right away noticed a string of discharge about an inch long hanging from her vulva. She sat down and licked it off before I could investigate.

Sooo, glad I made a vet appointment!

My veterinary practise has 3 doctors. The one who told me 'not to worry' is a man. The one on duty this morning is my 'go to' doctor, and the head of the practise. I like her and trust her. She did a smear of the discharge, and the findings were pretty normal: 70% normal epithelial cells, with the other cells showing inflammation. Bacteria were present, of course, but in what seemed to be normal amounts.

To be on the safe side, I asked her to also take a swab for C&S. We should have the results back by Monday or Tuesday.

[crosses fingers for normal findings]

I had taken my bitch in to be spayed at 3 yrs old but she threw up a massive reaction to the anaesthetic, so operation was immediatately aborted. So it was a case of wait and watch for the rest of her life. Each season I was paranoid for a while after it. Sure enough at 8 years old about 7 weeks after beginning of her last season, she showed all the symptoms of pyo [closed] distended belly, not wanting to eat and drinking loads and incredibly lethargic. Rushed her to the vets, had an x-ray taken and her uterus was so enlarged and full of pus, there was no option but to spay.

Spooks, glad she came through it okay! Not all females are so lucky.

SS, I waited until Chitina's 3rd season after she pyo'd to breed her. She was around 28 months old. She had a number of "normal" seasons after that but when she hit 5 I didn't think it was worth taking the risk of an emergency spay, so had her spayed.

SS, nothing more to add save for my mantra: keep a check on her temp; as long as it remains WNL, I wouldn't worry overmuch while you're waiting for the C&S.

Given the lack of good emergency vet care available in your area, it wouldn't be a bad idea to invest in a decent used microscope and some supplies, so at the very least you could do some basic lab work yourself, since you've got the nursing experience...that might save you a whole lot of worrying, instead of leaving you to the mercy of spinning the wheel to see if your go-to vet is on when you have an emergency instead of the guy who just says, 'Probably nothing. Don't worry.'

 

Hexe, I already have one. It's an antique, and so old the frame is made of cast iron, but it works just as well as the modern ones!

I just hauled it out and blew the dust off it the other day to check and see if a dog with diarrhea had any visible parasites or parasite eggs...

My go-to vet has actually made a house call here when I had a boarder's dog that was pissing blood clots on a Friday afternoon, and the dog's regular vet said to leave it 'til Monday, and bring it in then if it wasn't any better. Neither the dog's owner nor I were happy with that vet, either, especially when the dog had just finished a course of antibiotics for a U.T.I!  

And since the nail-biter with the delivery of the puppies, one of the owners at the pet-food store we deal with (he breeds Great Pyrenees) has given us the name of a vet that will do after-hours emergency care, and is not nearly as expensive as the emergency clinic K. had to go to.

The vet called me last night with the results of the C and S. The swab grew streptococcus, E. coli and one other type of bacteria (forget what). She says the E. coli could be a concern, but it could be from either a U.T.I., a vaginal infection, or a uterine infection. She wants to check a urine sample to be sure, because the antibiotic treatment has to be longer for an infection of the uterus. I guess there really is no easy way to distinguish between a vaginal infection and a uterine infection, unless it's a closed pyometra, and the female is showing all the classic signs of thirst, fever and a swollen, painful abodmen.

Meanwhile, I was starting to wonder if I was worrying over nothing, so I bent down to check Eska's female bits. I didn't see any discharge right away, so I gently squeezed her vulva. Within a couple of seconds, I had a long string of sllightly cloudy mucus draining from her vagina.

Nope. Definitely NOT normal!

Sooo, I boiled up a small dog bowl to get it as clean as possible, and spent 15 very frustrating minutes trying to collect a sample this morning...

To say Eska was uncooperative is putting it mildly!   She wanted to play with the leash, play with her toys, scratch herself, dig the excavation the dogs have been working on beside the door deeper (they're half-way to China already...) bury a toy in the excavation, etc. The one time she squatted to pee, she bolted as soon as I tried to approach her with the dish, and refused to squat again.

Will try again later!  Apparently the bacteria from a U.T.I. can also cause vaginitis, so the discharge doesn't rule out a bladder infection.

SS other than the length of time you would give her antibiotics is there any difference in treatments?  What was the antibiotic most sensitive to this bacteria?  Is she on that particular antibiotic or something else?  Those would be my questions and when she comes in her next season, just to be on the safe side I would either do another C&S or just put her on antibiotics the whole time she is in season and  maybe even a while after she comes out of season.  That worked with my bitch that did have an open Pyo, BUT after her second litter at 7 years I did have to spay her, it was not an emergency spay as I did plan it after pups were weaned, but for her sake I scheduled a spay before she came in her next season after puppies;  although successful was still very worrisome.  And each season I would keep checking her for any ugly discharge other than the normal colors of seasons, all seemed normal even though I was told she would probably never conceive which was not true, some don't though, so treatments can vary depending on the bitch.  My point being once trouble is a'brew'in; probably always need to assume it is going to come back with each season.  Although my girls trouble really did not start until about 4 years old.  Sooooo??  All are a bit different as to when and why they brewed up pyo...  Good luck though,  Nan

Try a very clean pie pan and a mid stream catch. It's really difficult to get a clean urine sample without using a catheter. Same for the vaginal swabs. Those results might not be accurate, but it won't hurt to give her the anitibiotics I guess. Many breeders in the US used to require them prior to breeding, but most don't use them anymore since they are almost always positive with e-coli and strep contamination. Did your vet do a white count? It will be elevated if she has pyo, open or closed. All the bitches with open pyos I've seen have a very heavy sticky, smelly discharge, often blood tinged, that sticks to their fur, you don't need to look for it. They are constantly licking their vulvas, drinking a lot of water and not eating much.

Good luck, let us know how it all turns out.

If there is a vaginal infection, the urine stream is passing through, so will be contaminated. That is why cathiterization or better, direct collection from the bladder, is the only way to get a sterile urine sample for tests. If your vet directed you to 'collect' for lab purpose by catching the stream, get a different vet.
BTW, when collecting urine from racing dogs after a race for drug testing, a long stick with a small collection cup on the end is discreetly placed into the stream without distracting the dog while it voids.:-)