Seasons in an older female dog

[Molotov]

We have a 10.5yo Staffie. She is unspayed and never had a litter. Usually, her season comes every 5-6m and last 3w. The last few days show a sticky discharge that annoys her but is gone after thr last 5 days.

This month's season is different, in that instead of the sticky discharge, she is getting a thick brownish-yellow discharge that has a snotty consistency (sorry if tmi). It's soaking her pad and I'm changing it about 3x a day.

Otherwise she's healthy: eating well, etc.

Is this normal in an older female dog?

Go and see your vet, today - if you tell them what you've told us they'll make room to see you. This sounds worryingly like pyometra, a sinister infection of the womb. Without treatment dogs can become very unwell very quickly.

Oh no Thanks for your reply. My DH will be home soon so I will speak with him about what to do.

When I got home about an hour ago, Dog needed to go out and her pad was again soaked ...

Def possible pyrometra. Take to vets asap, this is one of those canine illness which requires immediate attention, do not delay.

Hopefully it will not be but time is very important if it is. Vets would prefer you to go quickly and it not be a pyo rather than it sadly be too late to operate.

Sorry if doom and gloom but important to go to the vets.

S

Yep, vet asap. My brother's dog had pyometra, she had to have an emergency hysterectomy. The same thing happened to my neighbour's dog too. The vet told my brother their dog would have died without treatment. Don't want to scare you, but it's best to get an emergency appointment right appointment.

Sorry "appointment right away."

Other than the discharge, she's fine: barking at the doorbell; eating easily. She does seem a little more concerned with/aware of her rear end tonight ... maybe I'm noticing it more, I don't know. I'll have to take her in to see a vet tomorrow if it doesn't change asap .

I'm just not ready for her to break my heart yet I've been with a dog before until the sad, bitter end, but he was really old (17). 10 seems no great age to me. And MolotovDog is our baby ... It'll break my heart if there's anything wrong with her. She's such a beautiful, good little girl. Never been any trouble; so loyal and such good company.

I'm a dog rather than a bitch person, but I'm pretty sure pyometra is not a wait till tomorrow kind of thing.

Molotov Please don't wait to see how she is in the morning, she needs seeing as soon as possible. I know you say she seems fine in herself but the discharge can sometimes be the only symptom.

Not to be alarmist, but when we were deciding whether or not to spay our dog, I read a lot about pyometra and it scared the hell out of me. From first symptoms to death can be as little as eight hours.

Please, do not delay taking her to the vet until tomorrow.

Our vet strongly recommended we have her spayed, as the risk of getting pyometra for a 10+ bitch is pretty high. Being unspayed is a form of Russian Roulette, but the gun is not pointing at your head, it's pointing at your dog's.

Wiki on pyometra is pretty clear.

There's a huge spectrum of pyometra - from a chronic open pyo where the dog is unwell but coping, to an acute closed one with rupture, sepsis and death. In between there's peritonitis and kidney failure.

The thing is with pyo, if you scrape by through one season, it will always come back at the next one. It sounds like the previous seasons haven't been normal your dog OP. This won't go away by itself.

I'm a vet, by the way.

Just to be clear, 90%+ of my pyo cases make a full recovery. At some times of year we'll see two or three a week. It's common, treatable, but mustn't be ignored.

My friends 8 year old cocker spaniel died from pyo in less than 5 hours. Get her to the vet TONIGHT.

Better safe than sorry. There's obviously something wrong with her and at the very least I would phone the nearest emergency vet and see what they say. You have nothing to lose by taking action tonight.

I hope you got her seen last night as like crapcrap over 90% of my pyos survive.

I'm at the vets with her now; I got her ib as soon as I could after a telephone assessment earlier. Should be our turn soon. I'll try to keep you posted.

MolotovDog has pyometra. Apparently, it's not too bad yet: the scan showed pockets of pus in her uterine lining. The vet thinks it's prudent to remove the uterus, etc, and so do I.

She's being kept in for the op either tonight or tomorrow.

I've been so upset yesterday and today, but now feel an odd sense of calm, now it's been identified and in hand.

Some positive thoughts, please everyone, for our beloved, beautiful dog x

Staffies are tough dogs she will be fine.

Positive thoughts for you and your staffie x

I'm so glad you took her and also glad that it does sound operable. Poor dog, we will be thinking of her.

Thinking of you and MolotovDog, OP. Best wishes. (WYLIstaffie was operated on at this age, I expected her to be sore and a bit immobile post-op - instead, she bounded up the stairs and into the house like a puppy.)

Fingers are crossed for you. This is always my fear with my bitches

We have just bought MolotovDog home She's quiet and drowsy; making some grunts of discomfort but we have been told the surgery went well and wasn't too complex. She starts both painkillers and antibiotics in the morning.

Obviously I know she isn't out of the woods yet as we need to be sure there aren't any postoperative problems ... we're just all so happy to have our baby dog back. THANK-YOU to all of you who replied and urged me to take her to the vet. Your replies definitely hastened us taking her, so you've all contributed in a massively positive way

Sincere thanks

Good news indeed :)

Good god Molotov, so glad you came on and asked. Good old Mumsnet.

My old boy is quite poorly at the moment. It's shit isn't it? Hope your old lady is ok.

Great news! Best wishes to the Molotov household .