Mia is a 6 year old Retriever Lab mix who presented on April 11, 2016 for blood in her urine. Her owner was very worried as he was preparing to leave for China the next day and would be gone for 3 weeks. During the initial exam, it became apparent that she was bleeding extensively. When she stood up from where she sat, there were clumps of clotting blood on the floor which are not typical in a urinary tract infection. We ran a blood panel which showed that her white blood cells were elevated, indicating an infection. Radiographs showed a very enlarged uterus, which should not normally be seen on x-rays. All of these findings led to a diagnosis of pyometra. A pyometra is an infection of the uterus and can occur in any unaltered female dog and is life-threatening. We decided to rush her into emergency surgery.
The safest and preferred method of treating a pyometra is to surgically remove the uterus via an ovariohysterectomy, or spay. Most pyometras occur 4-6 weeks after the female’s last heat cycle due to the hormonal and physical changes occurring at that time. Older females are at a greater risk but a pyometra can occur at any age and after any heat cycle. If bacteria find its way into the uterus during or directly following the cycle, a pyometra may occur. Symptoms may not be as severe as the blood coming out of Mia, but may range from excessive licking of the hind end, vaginal pus or discharge, swollen abdomen, vomiting, lethargy, dehydration and eventually collapse or death via septic shock (infection affecting multiple organs or parts of the body).
After putting Mia under anesthesia, we began surgery to carefully remove her uterus. Throughout the procedure, we made sure that there were no tears or openings in the uterine wall where infection could have leaked into her abdomen from the infected uterus. After her uterus was carefully removed, we examined her abdomen and determined that there were no signs of peritonitis, (infection of the abdominal cavity) and then carefully stitched her up. After she awoke from surgery, we placed her on broad spectrum antibiotics to kill any residual infection in her body and she was given pain medication to help her recover from surgery. The next few days we struggled to get her to eat much of anything until we found out she liked canned tuna with some baby food on top. We continued to administer her antibiotics and pain medications while she stayed with us for the following two weeks. After her stay with us, she went to be with a family friend until her owner returned from China. We were updated on her a couple weeks ago and she is doing great with no residual problems and no sign of infection. We are so happy she was brought in quickly and we were able to get her fixed up without additional complications.
Written by Emily
