pyometra

[cazboldy]

my lovely Border collie woke me in the night - just for a snuggle.

when I got up this morning, she was clearly not herself and was losing a little blood at the back end, but due in season next week so not too concerned.

then realised she was clearly starting to feel worse, and could detecta faint smell, quite unpleasant.

rang vets, they said bring her straight in - cue emergency op (speying)

they said had I not noticed, or maybe gone out for the day she could have died within hours

thankfully she is home now, though very groggy, but will be fine in a couple of weeks

my pocket might take longer to recover though

basically i just think more people should be aware of this horrible illness, and unless you are planning to breed, perhaps consider speying when young to prevent this.

I really had no idea!

Bloody hell! How scary, I bet you were terrified! I'm so glad she's okay though, bless her.

Caz, it's good of you to share the story and warn others. Pyometra is awful. I'm glad you got her to the vet on time and hope she makes a good recovery.

Caz, so sorry to hear this. Hope your lovely girl recovers very soon.

My goodness that is scary. Poor you and poor Collie. Hope she is better soon.

I knew it was bad, but didn't realise it was so fast! hope your dog is feeling much better soon

she is already much better thanks all

just had to spend all evening sitting on the floor to stop her climbing onto the chair to snuggle up

feel very blessed to still have her

My border collie had that too - I think she was about 8. I realised something was wrong in the evening and had to slither down the to vet (thankfully only a couple of miles away) in driving snow at 10 o'clock at night. They said it was the worst case they had seen. Luckily though they managed to treat it and she had another good few years.

I hope she recovers quickly.

Oh no! Poor baby! One of our family dogs years back, got this when she was just a year or so old - poor darling. I remember they had to give her loads of antibiotics to get the infection in check before they went in to operate. Quite traumatic. Sending your little friend lots of get well cuddles!

throckenholt - mine will be 8 in september, more common in older dogs apparantly, especially if they have never had pups

Caz, mine had never had pups. I was also clueless - it took a few hours to realise that it really was a problem. It was scary at the time (and as you say expensive :(). In retrospect the scariest bit was realising if I had left it until the next day it would have been too late. It was one of the worst nights of the year and the road was awful, the 5-10 minutes it took to drive to the vets was nasty. I had spent the evening googling and was beginning to realise it might be too late by then.

If it helps, ours made a full recovery, and quite quickly. Give her a stroke for me :)

How scary and well done you for acting so quickly. I am glad she is on the mend and thank you for posting. If this can help other people too.

throckenholt - other than the weather, it was exactly the same, and as you say so scary to think that the outcome could have easily been so very different. has eaten this morning, and has twice gone and brought her lead to me so definitely feeling much better

and mine has never had pups either...... we would have liked to but the time was never really quite right, even though we had at least 4 people who would have loved one just like her.

Cuebill (and any others) thanks so much for your good wishes

What a good job the two of you are so in tune with each other - hope she's making a quick recovery. And that you're over the shock!

When we got our first dog, an experienced dog-owner friend told me to get a copy of The Book of the Bitch and Doglopaedia, and to memorise the symptoms of both pyo and bloat, as those are the two conditions that really need fast action from the owner. I've had a few scary moments with both dogs since and having a reference book at close hand has been reassuring although this never stops me rushing to the vets at the drop of a squishy poo.

I am glad she is OK.

Pyo is indeed extremely serious, especially if not caught quickly and as the owner of lots of entire bitches over the years it is something I am very aware of. I always discuss it with new puppy owners and also give them a copy of 'Book of The Bitch' in their puppy packs, which is quite an old book now, but fantastic for bitch owners.

It is thought to be more common in older bitches who are unfit and overweight. Most vets I have spoken to seem to think there's a definite 'profile' of a bitch likely to get pyo.

Our oldest girl, who had had a litter and was very fit and never overweight, possibly had a pyo. No evidence of it, but we were going to spay her anyway and I wouldn't have taken any risks, so we got her spayed at the time.

Sadly, having been on the lean side all her life, she is now a fat heifer and we are struggling to keep the weight off her.

my girl is fit - runs around on the farm all day, and on the lean side, but the vet did say that it is possible she could pile on weight now, and also that she might get a scruffy/curly coat.