Thursday, October 16, 2008

Poster child for Why to Spay Your Dog


This is a radiograph of what my friends are calling "The coolest pyo ever!" This is a lateral abdominal radiograph of a dog that had a pyometra, or pyo for short. A pyo is a uterine infection. A dog that has not been spayed and has gone through several heat cycles is predisposed, through repeated levels of high estrogen, to a condition called endometrial hyperplasia. This causes lots of exaggerated folds to develop in the uterine lining. This condition further predisposes a patient to pyometra.
A pyo is a life threatening emergency. The uterus builds up bacteria and white cells and junk until it, 1) threatens to rupture the uterus, especially if it's a "closed" pyo where the cervix is not open allowing fluid to drain, 2) the bacteria emerges into the bloodstream, and 3) makes the dog very sick. Common signs of pyo include vomiting, fever, lethargy, anorexia, and a vaginal discharge if it is an "open" pyo with the cervix open. Often it occurs two to four months after the last heat cycle. Treatment includes stabilization with shock rate fluids, antibiotics, and emergency surgery to remove both the source of infection and avoid a possible rupture of the uterus. Antibiotics to not penetrate well into the uterus of dogs and just putting the dog on antibiotics, however strong, DOES NOT WORK.
This was not my case, nor my radiograph. They both belong to Dr. May B. Insane, who posted a true and pithy comment on my Wild Rodeo post. She kindly sent this rad to me and let me tell the story.
This dog came into Dr. Insane's emergency room after NINE, count 'em, NINE days of symptoms, after a referring vet TOLD THE OWNERS IT WAS A PYO AND GAVE THEM ANTIBIOTICS. Sometimes the stupidity of my colleges astounds me. Needless to say, she was still not feeling well. Lucky for her it was an open pyo and had been draining.
The tubule structure filling the caudal and ventral abdomen is this dog's uterus. It was kind of a big dog, too. Needless to say, an emergency surgery was lots of fun with a uterus that big, and the dog is having an excellent recovery.
SPAY YOUR DOGS, IDIOTS !!!!!@#$%^&^%$#@#$%^&^%$#@!!!!

9 comments:

Evil Transport Lady said...

Oh God! That poor doggie! Maybe they need to find her a new owner!

P.S. I can only imagine the smell.....

Can'tSpell, DVM said...

If you do the surgery right, you can't smell it during the surgery. Though the strawberry milkshake colored fluid with chunks that the dog was leaking was an olfactory delight.

Anonymous said...

There are some crayzees out there that will try to treat an open pyo with antibiotics - assuming the dog hasn't gone into septic shock yet. Y'know, so the owners can breed her later. Blech.

After the dog is sewn up and still alive, I love to indulge in the guilty pleasure of poking the uterus and watching all that awesome goo pour out....ahhhhh...

Can'tSpell, DVM said...

I have delayed cutting an open pyo overnight before so my fluids and antibiotics could pull a dog back from the brink from septic shock, but I wouldn't dream of doing that with a closed!!!! I love watching the goo pour out... it's almost as good as a good gooey abcess or an aural hematoma!!!

Anonymous said...

This. Is. Hilarious. The St Elsewhere clinics are, apparently, everywhere.....
From one crazy vet to another,thanks for making me laugh :)

The Ethical Miss said...

Hot damn, that's huge!

Anonymous said...

I had no idea.

As a responsible pet owner [so I THOUGHT!] we hadn't had our dachshie spayed yet because we thought that since she had NO CHANCE, literally, no chance of getting impregnated we would wait until we could afford it.

Let me explain that-"the afford" part" - we adopted her when she was 20 weeks old and my husband and I were both working full time and knew when she was grown enough to be spayed she would be [I did know that it is important to cut down on cancer and we would never breed her] but the company both my husband and I worked for closed. We both lost our jobs . He has obtained good employment, but I have not.

We no longer have health insurance, we only have one car [with no car payment] and are raising 3 kids in high shcool/middle school. Money is tight, tighter now that our 401Ks have been dimisnished and our savings are running out. There won't be Christmas...but that isn't what is important....

If our vet didnt' want $500 [plus boarding/incidentals]to have her spayed I could try over a period of months to try to save it up, but it just hasn't seemed possible. Now I can't even tap our 401ks or savings....[I am not implying the vet doesn't deserve the money...we just can't afford it NOW.]

There are NO low cost spay or neuter options where I live. Believe me I have tried. The only thing we can get low cost is a rabies shot.

But knowing that she needs this done, what am I supposed to do? Should I give her up? She is the only pet we have and a true love, housetrained, etc. She is everything to all of us.

Do I give her to someone that can afford the spay? The business we work in doesn't hire this time of year [although it is a year round job] so I won't be getting a job until next spring at the earliest....So should I just call DRNA and say hey "We can't afford her"? and hand her over?

I would love an honest answer on this. The idea that we could hurt her while trying to find an affordable measure to make her safe makes me wonder if everyone that says this dog needs a new owner that can afford her are correct.

Can'tSpell, DVM said...

No, you don't have to give her up while waiting to get her spayed... just do it as soon as possible financially. They usually won't get a pyo until later in life- over 4-6 years, and the average age I see is 8 years. So, NO, don't give up your loved pet because you can't spay her RIGHT NOW, but do save up for the spay and do it when practical. I'm sorry about your job- GOOD LUCK!!!

Real cab driver said...

Deal on the dashie is, if the dog gets sick you take it to the vet. Vet says it will cost X to save it. If you would say ok save my dog, you ought to have it done sooner than later, it's cheaper and safer to find a way now.

Kind of like the comparison to maintaining a car earlier. Cars I know something about, it's always cheaper to maintain them than it is to fix them.

About that ham bone Doc..... My dog really loves those raw beef neck bones, and he also likes them roasted too. A pathology prof (Univ Wisc vet college) said roasted is better because all potential pathogens are dead, since he usually consumes all the bone I think raw is beter since roasting hardens the bone. My vet says he has wonderful teeth, why? Because those bones I give him keep them clean. Yes, he farts, ahhh the price of clean teeth.