Cautionary Tale
One thing that never ceases to break my heart is when a
bitch dies due to complications of any kind due to pyometra. I
had never heard of it prior to getting a Stafford. Since then I have heard of a lot of cases and
many of them with sad outcomes. I always wanted to think that pyometra was in certain
lines, but that is not always the case.
I am sure for as many cases I
have heard about there are many more behind the scenes. I had
talked to vets about it and they gave me some indicators, like usually is
happens a couple weeks after a heat.
The bitch tends to drink a lot of water. Temp may be higher than normal. I want to tell you my very personal story which I did not discuss on Facebook publicly but I think it is worthy of sharing now that time has gone by and it was a happy ending.
At Daphne's last heat she had some thick white
discharge about day 9/10. I did not
worry too much as she was acting normal.
We were also on the road so it was hard to worry too much. On the way home, a day later, she was not well, or appeared to
be not well. In fact I freaked out when we got home
because she appeared to be unresponsive.
I got her out of the truck and she stumbled off and half ran to go potty. She then ran to the house and went in her
crate. Something was not right so I
called emergency to say I was coming and made a hour drive to have her checked out. It was Sunday night at 10pm. I must have been worried to not wait till
the morning. I got there and they took
a culture from the inside of her vulva and everything looked fine. We did an ultrasound of her uterus and it
was fine. We looked at previous xrays and talked a bit about some degenerative disc
issues (too much jumping around in the
show ring and at home). So we decided
that perhaps she was in some pain due to the height of jumping on the bed in
the RV being straight up from a standstill rather than making a running
jump. So I put her on some pain meds for
a few days. I was worried that my ole
girl was just showing her age and starting to slow down and wear out. Over the next week I did not see the pain killers doing a lot
but she did not have me as concerned and she seemd to be improving. We had also ruled out pyometra,
which was the big deal. About a week later
I was still thinking she was not right so I started taking her temp 2 times a
day. Finally about 13 days after the emergency
clinic visit I decided to take her to the vet again. I brought her in and they took her temp which
was normal and another culture, also normal.
We talked some about Pyo and her back and her age and so I was a bit
defeated and ready to leave when the doctor said how about we do an ultrasound
and double check. I said YES. We took her back and held her for the
ultrasound and she was full up of pyometra!!
She had an emergency spay that day.
Daphne's signs were subtle. Here are my unconfirmed suspicions:
- Her discharge at 9/10 days into her heat was actually an open pyometra.
- The 1st vet did not find anything in the culture because by that time it became closed. She was also not bleeding anymore which could indicate the she was closed and her heat was over, but she was only on day 11.
- The 1st ultrasound did not show anything because she had just closed, nothing has built up yet.
- Then she cooked that pyo for almost 2 weeks which puts it closer to text books cases (but who wants to to treat it as an emergency.
- I suspect that pyo actually starts much earlier in the middle of a heat and only shows up a couple weeks after the heat which varies depending on when the pyometra became closed.
I am extremely alert to differences in my dogs activity
levels, condition, general appearance and health. Everything about Daphne's case was very subtle
and she really had none of the clinical signs when it became an emergency. I knew something was wrong and pyometra was
on my mind but ruled out. I still
could not shake my intuition.
The reason I am telling this to you all is
because everyone should know about this silent killer and how subtle it can be. My guess is that everyone in Staffords has
had a pyo death touch them, perhaps not their own dog but one they knew
well. There is only one thing you can do and that
is to pay close attention to your dogs every day. This is all we can ever do. All signs mean something. I am not advocating going to the vet for
every little thing because I do not. You
should however know your dog. The most important sign in Daphne was that she was
ADR, "Ain't Doin Right". I
would not recognize ADR in my dogs if I did not keep a close eye on them at all
times.
Please watch your dogs like a mother hen and especially your intact bitches when they are in heat and right after. Trust your intuition better to be wrong than devastated.
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